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Chapter 2 • Systems Integration 47

Steps in Integrating Systems
In conjunction with systems integration, management has to work with the information technol-
ogy group to come up with an approach for the seamless integration of data and services to
support the new organizational structure and business processes. As mentioned before, organiza-
tions tend to add functionality to meet organizational demands. At times, application systems are
added to the environment. These applications, while not encouraged, are developed on different
platforms. Information system organizations often have to be able to support a variety of systems
with multiple platforms and vendors. This could mean supporting multiple operating systems,
databases, or development environments. Most IT organizations today support a Windows and
flavor of UNIX. A database can be Oracle or MS SQL and even MySQL. Most important is the
support of a development environment. This area continues to grow. At one point in time, C or
C++ with SQL was the key development tool. That has somewhat given way to Java and SOAP
with SQL. Integrating and supporting multiple platforms requires planning. System integration
generally involves the eight steps in Table 2-1 (this is not an exhaustive list).

TABLE 2-1 System Integration Steps
Step 1 Resource Take an inventory of the various hardware and software
categorization resources focusing on vendors, operating systems platform,
IS architecture used in these resources.
Step 2 Compliance and Check whether the database and other technologies used in
standards various applications are such supporting standards as
JDBC/ODBC compliance for databases.
Step 3 Legacy systems support Develop a policy in support of older legacy applications.
Step 4 Middleware tools Think of middleware tools because most organizations will not
dispose of their old system right away for systems integration.
Middleware tools are essential for integration in the short
term—if existing applications must be used by the organization.
Step 5 Authentication and Develop a single sign-on policy for application and data
authorization policies access because all employees and external partners will need
access to an integrated system from anywhere, anytime.
Step 6 Centralized IT services Instituting IT support for an integrated systems environment
and help desk support is necessary to avoid support and maintenance problems
with the integrated system. Centralization does not mean
that they are all physically in one location. The IT staff can
be all over the organization, but they need to be able to
support all applications and platforms with a centralized
IT help desk support.
Step 7 Backup, recovery, Planning data and disaster recovery for organization’s data
and security policies in an integrated system IT is crucial for building the trust
and confidence for the new system. A good backup and
recovery system is essential if there is a system failure or a
major disaster.
Step 8 Hardware and software Develop organization standards and policy on acquisition of
standardization policies new hardware and software which are aligned with
organization IT strategy.