SIA 2

System

Is a group of interacting or interrelated entities that form a unified whole.

Integration

The action or process of integrating.

Architecture

The complex or carefully designed structure of something

Information System (IS)

These projects begin for specific reasons—not by accident.

Understanding the Origin

Whether you’re creating a new system or improving an old one, what helps a project ensure better planning, stakeholder alignment, and success.

Problems

May either be current, suspected, or anticipated. These are undesirable situations that prevent the business from fully achieving its purpose, goals, and objectives. 

Current

Type of Problem: Existing and impacting users (e.g., system bugs).

Suspected

Type of Problem: Possibly occurring but needs validation (e.g., lag during high traffic).

Anticipated

Type of Problem: Predicted future issues (e.g., storage overload within a year).

Opportunities

Are chances to improve the business even in the absence of specific problems. This means that the business is hoping to create a system that will help it increase its revenue, profit, or services, or decrease its costs.

Directives

Are new requirements that are imposed by management, government, or some external influence i.e. are mandates that come from either an internal or external source of the business. 

System Integration (SI)

Is the process of bringing together various subsystems or components into a unified, larger system that functions as a coordinated whole.

Determine Requirements

Identify business needs and integration goals.

Conduct Analysis

Study current systems and integration challenges.

Design Software Infrastructure

Define how systems will communicate.

Develop a Management Plan

Plan resources, schedules, and risk handling.

Design System Integration

Create a detailed blueprint for integration.

Implement the Solution

Execute the integration using tools and technologies.

Perform Maintenance Checks

Regularly monitor and update the integration.

Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)

Focuses on integrating different enterprise-level applications to ensure seamless communication and workflow between them.

Service-based

Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) is what, it uses software services (e.g., APIs or middleware) to exchange data between incompatible systems in real time.

Data Integration (DI)

is the process of combining data from different sources into a unified and consistent view, typically for analysis and reporting. It involves steps like data extraction, cleansing, transformation, and loading (ETL) into a central repository such as a data warehouse.

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

Is a standardized method of electronically exchanging business documents between organizations, such as purchase orders, invoices, or shipping notices.

Conceptual Blueprint

System integration and architecture serve as a what that defines a system’s structure, behavior, and interactions—helping developers and stakeholders make informed decisions throughout the system's lifecycle.

Long-standing Principles

The discipline of system architecture is rooted in what borrowing ideas from civil architecture—and has evolved over time through engineering practices, not created overnight.

Proposal or Design Plan

System architecture and integration acts like a what, aligning technical frameworks with user needs and organizational goals.

Architecture Description Languages

A system architecture outlines components, their interactions, and serves as a foundation for building interoperable systems, often described using what?

Rapid Technological Advances

Examples such as Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software, ERP systems, and web services, businesses have required businesses to integrate systems more efficiently and focus on information management to remain competitive.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Is a form of system integration that keeps the business up to date on each customer’s contact details, transaction history, accounts as well as communication.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Is designed to manage all business processes and automate various backend or back office functions that need not be carried out manually.

Point-to-Point Integration

Consists of simple connections between two subsystems rather than a complex network. The simplicity of this method makes it ideal for businesses that focus on enhancing one function instead of implementing an entire database.

Star Integration

Also known as spaghetti integration, is a collection of point-to-point connections in a star polyhedron sequence. This structure is not only able to connect software but also makes interconnections between other subsystems.

Horizontal Integration

This integration establishes a subsystem that acts as the centralized database that all other software connects to. This reduces the number of connections needed to integrate all processes by eliminating interconnections. Thus, minimizing links saves time, capital, and effort required to build and maintain the solution.

Vertical Integration

This integration method forms individual silo structures based on the subsystems' functions. In other words, this strategy groups similar software together without making interconnections to systems handling other operations