Next Generation Application Integration: From Simple Information to Web Services

Step 3: Make Sense of the Processes

Once the enterprise data is understood, and baseline information such as the enterprise metadata model has been created, the decision must be made as to how to approach the enterprise business model. This decision will depend on how the particular application integration problem domain is addressed. This view of the enterprise at the process or service-oriented level requires understanding and documentation of all business processes and how they relate to each other, as well as to the enterprise metadata model.

As with the database analysis procedures outlined previously, it is desirable to use traditional process-modeling techniques, such as object modeling (e.g., the Unified Modeling Language, or UML) to ...