SIA - FINALS

Enterprise Architecture

Provides a holistic view of systems and their relationships.;

Legacy Systems

Outdated software and/or hardware that remains in use.;

Common Legacy System Issues

Security risks, high maintenance costs, technical debt, compliance gaps, and limited growth.;

System

An array of components designed to accomplish an objective.;

Systems Thinking

Understand a part through its role in the larger whole.;

System Architecture

High-level organization of interacting components, connectors, properties, and styles.;

Project

A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.;

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Directives

Requirements imposed by management, government, or external forces.;

Stakeholders

Sponsors, project teams, support staff, customers, users, suppliers, and opponents.;

Organizational Structures

Functional, Divisional, Matrix, Project-based.;

Matrix Structure

Combines functional and project reporting relationships.;

Typical Project Phases

Concept, Development, Implementation, Support.;

Requirements

State the essential needs a system must meet to provide value and utility.;

Requirements Describe

What the system must do, not how it will be built.;

Requirements Life Cycle

Elicitation, Organization, Analysis, Prototype, Documentation and specification.;

Elicitation

Gather ideas and candidate problems from relevant people.;

Prototype (Requirements)

Test poorly understood requirements and collect feedback.;

Functional Requirements

Inputs, outputs, stored data, computations, and timing.;

Non-Functional Requirements

Constraints such as performance, reliability, security, cost, usability, and technology standards.;

URS (User Requirements Specification)

What the user expects, may include the FRS.;

SRS (System Requirements Specification)

Detailed description of agreed system services, often serves as a client-contractor contract.;

Types of System Integration

Legacy system, enterprise application, third-party system, and business-to-business integration.;

Business-to-Business (B2B) Integration

Automates transactions and document exchange across companies.;

Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)

Brings all functions into one business chain and automates real-time data exchange between different applications.;

System Integration

The process of joining software and hardware modules into one cohesive infrastructure, enabling all pieces to work as a whole.;

Benefits of System Integration

Increased productivity, more accurate and trustworthy data, faster decision-making, cost-effectiveness.;

API (Application Programming Interface)

The most common and straightforward way to connect two systems, enables transmission of data and functionality in a standardized format.;

Middleware

The hidden software layer that glues together distributed systems, applications, services, and devices.;

Webhooks

Also known as HTTP callbacks, real-time messages sent by one system to another when a certain event happens.;

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)

Exchange of business information in a standard electronic format that replaces paper documents.;

Point-to-Point (P2P) Model

Every system is directly connected to all other systems and apps it needs to work with.;

Hub-and-Spoke Model

Connections between all subsystems are handled by a central hub (message broker), so they don't communicate directly.;

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

A separate specialized subsystem that serves as a messaging backbone connecting other subsystems.;

ESB vs Hub-and-Spoke

In ESB, each system has its own integration engine and adapter, hub-and-spoke has a single centralized integration engine.;

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Architecture Modeling

Choose a common model or design a custom architecture, the most labor-intensive phase.;

Business Systems Integration

Combining information and data from across a company into a single, accessible location.;

Five Benefits of Systems Integration

Improve delivery, operations, connectivity, time management, and efficiency.;

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Data Integration

Combines data from several sources into one view, typically through a master server.;

Electronic Document Integration

Used mainly in B2B, authorizes electronic transfer of business documents in a standardized format.;

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Business Systems Hierarchy

Moving up, scope of business functionality increases while level of exposed detail decreases.;

Business Systems Hierarchy Levels

Virtual Enterprise, Corporate Domain, Business System Domains, Business Processes, Business Applications, Application Components.;

Business System Domain (BSD)

The set of business processes and applications that share components and maintain consistency among their state.;

Virtual Enterprise

Integrates customers and business partners beyond the corporation using the Internet, includes electronic commerce and outsourcing.;

Network Model

Links three primary domains: internal systems, public web applications, and the public Internet.;

J2EE / EJB

Java 2 Enterprise Edition with Enterprise JavaBeans, the preferred technology for the component-based model.;

Intranet

The primary vehicle for internal user access to applications and the exchange of messages and files between applications.;

Messaging Services (MOM)

Message-oriented middleware communicates messages between BSDs and their applications in a store-and-forward, asynchronous mode.;

Message Queue Delivery

Queues guarantee once-and-only-once delivery.;

Organization Directory

Defines who a person is in the organizational context, defines enterprise-level roles distinct from local BSD roles.;

Meta Data Repository

Holds data about data, systems, and interfaces, provides data for runtime operations.;

Knowledge Management (Infrastructure Role)

Not to store knowledge but to help find it.;

Portals

Windows on the enterprise from the public Internet, points of contact and control for access to information and services.;

ebXML (Electronic Business XML)

UN-sponsored standard specifying protocols and documents for B2B exchanges, with reliable messaging guaranteeing once-and-only-once delivery.;

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

A type of software system that helps organizations automate and manage core business processes for optimal performance.;

ERP Single Source of Truth

Coordinates the flow of data between a company's business processes and streamlines operations across the enterprise.;

Business Functions Optimized by ERP

Commerce, Finance, Human Resources, Manufacturing, Supply Chain.;

Enterprise Systems Architecture (ESA) Components

Functional and System.;

ERP Vendors

SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft.;

Three-Layer ERP Architecture

Web servers, application servers, database servers, the most reliable, flexible, scalable, and prevalent.;

Three-Tier Architecture

Web tier plus application tier plus data tier.;

Three-Tier Limitation

Can be very expensive and complex.;

Web Services Architecture

Often described as a fourth tier, the Web tier is split into a Web Services tier and a Web Browser tier.;

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)

Breaks the business tier into smaller, distinct units of services that collectively support an ERP functional module.;

SOA Contract

Between consumer (client) and provider (server), specifies functional description, input/output requirements, precondition/post-condition environment state, and error handling.;

Web Services Open Standards

WSDL, UDDI, and SOAP, all XML-based.;

OLAP

Online analytical processing, the ability to access, present, and analyze data across dimensions.;

Enterprise Content Management (ECM)

Enterprise software products that store, preserve, manage, and deliver content connected to business processes.;

Cloud Architecture

A software service provided over the Internet, securely, by a service provider on a lease basis.;

Cloud Drawbacks

Data security concerns, vulnerability to breaches, possible conflict of interest, not suited for highly competitive industries like biotech.;