An organization usually possesses several elements; technical and business processes, legacy systems, and collected data from different sources. At one point that organization might want to combine various elements and put them together to create a unified front to give meaningful and valuable information. Data Integration begins to enter the equation to make the smooth transition of collecting needed data with best practices and provide the desired single view. By then, the organization can easily view and understand the output and derive actionable information. This helps in Business Intelligence (BI) processes and is used to enhance the current state of the business by having a clearer evaluation instead of high volumes of data.

There is no generic approach to data integration. As data is extracted from different sources; files, databases, API endpoints or manual entry, there are technical challenges faced when collecting the data and putting it into a single structure.

When is collecting data enough?

- A company or organization can usually see the desired solution but they don’t often see the road that leads there. They must ask themselves different questions; where does the data come from? Which systems will use the data? Or how frequently the data will be updated? By knowing the answers to many questions, we avoid overlapping data that may emerge new issues in the future.

Dealing with legacy systems or new business demands

- Efforts are also directed to dealing with data that is outdated and missing headers or timestamps that more modern systems usually include. Or on the other hand, newer systems may have data that are real-time and unstructured. Knowing how to adapt to the different sources that are faced to integrate and meet demands is critical, as the volume of legacy systems or new formats pose new challenges.

Keeping up

– The integration server may be up and running but that doesn’t mean that the task is done. Efforts should be met with the best practices and latest demands from the organization.

‍

There are 5 main approaches to these challenges and they all depend on the size of the business, the demanded unified view, and the resources available.

1- Manual Data Integration
In this process, the user manually collects necessary data from different sources by accessing interfaces directly. This method is vastly inefficient and only makes sense in a small organization with few resources.

2- Middleware Data Integration
It’s an approach where middleware acts as a mediator between front-end or client and back-end resources. For example, a client requests data from a database. We might request data from a legacy application, which we can describe as having an outlet and a plug, what we need for them both to comprehend the other is an adapter, our mediator. We can then have a clear communication path to request the desired data.
There are numerous middleware products that establish a connection between a web server and a database system. This enables users to request data from the database by accessing a web browser. Integration Middleware is used based on types of resources incorporated, for instance, Application Integration (A2A) integrates applications together, including cloud-based and remote systems. It links applications and also transfers data between them using Enterprise Service Buses (ESB) which acts as a middleware solution for connecting all the components in an enterprise.

Basically, middleware lets developers build applications without using custom integration anytime they need to connect to services, microservices or data sources. It does this by providing services that enable different applications and services to interact using common frameworks such as JSON, XML, SOAP, or web services. As well as allow components written in multiple languages – such as Java, C++, and Python – to communicate.

‍

3- Application Based Integration
This is an approach that enables applications and systems that work separately on their designed individual purposes to work together, resulting in new efficiencies. It fills the gap between on-premises systems and cloud-based applications.

When considering Application Integration, many components are required to orchestrate processes between 2 or more applications successfully.

- Application Programming Interface (API)
It’s a set of functions that declare how software components should cooperate. It allows developers to access their needed data through a well-defined structure. This is one of the most recent popular ways to integrate applications.

- Events and Actions
In the desired flow, some functionalities may be needed, such as receiving payment or setting a timer. An event triggers an action that performs this functionality in a way that is specific to the application, where that functionality can create, retrieve or update a certain dataset.

- Data Mapping
Data mapping states the information trade that’s to occur. So, when the fields of an application are filled, it triggers the corresponding events of the other application based on the structure of the fields that were built based on said mapping.

‍

4- Uniform access integration is a type of data integration that focuses on creating a front end that makes data appear consistent when accessed from different sources. The data, however, is left within the original source. Using this method, object-oriented database management systems can be used to create the appearance of uniformity between unlike databases.

5- Common storage integration is the most frequently used approach to storage within data integration. A copy of data from the original source is kept in the integrated system and processed for a unified view. This is opposed to uniform access, which leaves data in the source. The common storage approach is the underlying principle behind the traditional data warehousing solution.

In conclusion, integration should be thought of as multiple entities behaving as if they were one to achieve the desired goal using different mechanisms depending on the use case in hand. Staying up to date with the newest technologies and latest methods to integrate is key to having the most efficient integration process.