Disclaimer

This material was developed in conjunction with the hardware and software products specified, and is limited in application to those specific hardware and software products and levels. Read full disclaimer

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Overview

The mediated exchange workplace business scenario in this article was developed and tested at IBM by the Software Group Horizontal Integration Analysis team. We provide information about detailed, end-to-end business scenario validation and the various products used to design, develop, and deploy applications that make up business solutions. During testing, multiple products are used together in the context of a business scenario and then validated. (For additional scenarios, visit the product integration overview site.) Acting as the first customer for the mediated exchange solution covered in this article, the Software Group Horizontal Integration Analysis team built the network and applications, integrated hardware, software, and applications, and tested the end-to-end solution. The solution passed through a true cycle of design and deployment. (Note that although other viable solutions to the business requirements are possible, testing focused on only one solution mapped to a set of business requirements.)

A benefit of solution testing is the validation of the integration of multiple products, so we include in this article specific information about the interaction among products for the mediated exchange scenario. You will find:

• An overview of the business scenario with links to other IBM developerWorks articles for more details
• A network diagram
• A product matrix showing the products used and their interactions within the solution

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Understanding the product matrix

Knowing how to read the product matrix is key to this article. Figure 1 shows an example matrix. Dots in the matrix, which represent product integration points, can designate:

• The operating system on which a product is installed (For example, Figure 1 shows IBM WebSphere® Studio Application Developer V5.1 is installed on a Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Server, indicated by the dot at the intersection of the Windows 2000 Server and WebSphere Studio Application Developer V5.1.)
• Two products that interact with each other using an API or protocol (For example, WebSphere Portal V5.0.2 running on WebSphere Application Server - Enterprise V5.0.2 constitutes an integration point.)
• A software artifact built within a tool and deployed in a runtime environment (For example, a portlet application developed using WebSphere Studio Application Developer V5.1 and deployed to WebSphere Portal V5.0.2 results in an integration point between the two products.)

The blacked-out cells shown in the matrix simply indicate where the same products intersect.

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Introducing the mediated exchange scenario

Competitive pressures continue to force companies to look at how they can focus more on their core business proposition. Outsourcing common business services -- such as booking travel arrangements and ordering office supplies -- rather than creating and maintaining separate IT infrastructures saves time and money. However, corporate consumers of these services want to make sure that outsourced solutions can be easily and affordably customized to suit specific company needs, so they aren't left with an off-the-shelf solution that inhibits the way they do business.

The mediated exchange scenario focuses on the business-to-business (B2B) interactions between three distinct companies: a mediator, a service consumer, and a service provider. The mediator allows service consumers to outsource their office supply procurement by offering a customizable, secure, and highly available business process.

The portal-based user interface allows:

• Consumer company employees to submit orders
• Consumer company managers to approve pending orders
• Consumer company business analysts to modify the business rules that govern the process for members of that company

The types of customizable business rules range from those that govern whether or not approval is required (for instance, the price above which approval is required) to those that govern which suppliers are visible for a given product. For example, the consumer company might have a special arrangement with supplier X in which other suppliers are not shown that is only overridden when the person doing the ordering is an executive. Communication between the mediator and the supplier companies is by secure Web services, and the mediator is capable of doing a variety of message transformations to accommodate data formats required by the supplier companies.

The first stage of the mediated exchange scenario implementation focuses on building the mediator's processing layer, including the business process and business rules components, and on building the service bus components required to communicate with the supplier companies. The architecture of the mediated exchange solution can be divided into several components. The components, with the corresponding products used, are shown in Table 1.

The network diagram in Figure 2 shows how the solution was built using the components. You can also view a Flash demo of the mediated exchange scenario now.

The product matrix in Figure 3 shows the mediated exchange scenario product integration points.

See a larger version of this matrix.

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Summary

Deciding which products to use when developing solutions can be a daunting task. Integrating and configuring the products to meet the business needs is another challenge. Hopefully, this article helps you design cross-product IT infrastructures for mediated exchange business requirements by using the example solution that was built and tested in an IBM lab.

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View a Flash demo of this scenario

View a Flash demo of the mediated exchange scenario now.

Disclaimer

This material was developed in conjunction with the hardware and software products specified, and is limited in application to those specific hardware and software products and levels. Your environment might contain hardware and software components not present during IBM testing that significantly alter the performance or operability of any test scenario. Any performance data contained in this document was determined in a controlled environment, and therefore, the results that may be obtained in other operating environments might vary significantly. Users of the material should verify the applicable data for their specific environment. Further, the information contained in this material has not been submitted to comprehensive testing and is distributed AS IS. No warranties or guarantees are given, other than those accompanying the sale or license of the IBM products. The use of this information or the implementation of any of these techniques is your responsibility and depends on your ability to evaluate and integrate them into your operational environment. While each item may have been reviewed by IBM for accuracy in a specific situation, there is no guarantee that the same or similar results will be obtained elsewhere. Customers attempting to adapt these techniques to their own environments do so at their own risk. The information related to non-IBM ('vendor') products in this material, if any, has been supplied by the vendors and is included for your convenience only. IBM assumes no responsibility for its accuracy or completeness. IBM may have patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter In this document. The furnishing of this material does not give you any license to these patents. You can send license inquiries, in writing, to the IBM Director of Licensing, IBM Corporation, 500 Columbus Avenue, Thornwood, NY 10594 USA. References in this publication to IBM products, programs or services do not imply that IBM intends to make these available in all countries in which IBM operates.

Resources

Learn

• Designing and implementing a mediated exchange solution: Get more information about the mediated exchange business scenario discussed in this article.
  
  
• View a Flash demo of the mediated exchange scenario now.
  
  
• Product integration overview: Get more information about other IBM lab-tested product-integration scenarios.
  
  
• WebSphere Business Integration Server Foundation: Discover how this integration platform can help you build and deploy composite applications.
  
  
• WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment: Get more information about advanced deployment services of this product, including clustering, edge-of-network services, Web services enhancements, and high availability for distributed configurations.
  
  
• WebSphere Business Integration Modeler: Get more information about this product, which extends modeling capabilities and provides open systems availability and the ability to generate Business Process Execution Language (BPEL).
  
  
• WebSphere Studio Application Developer Integration Edition: Get more details about the advantages of using this integrated development environment.
  
  
• WebSphere MQ: Get more details about this product.
  
  

Get products and technologies

• WebSphere Studio Application Developer Integration Edition: Download a trial version of this integrated development environment.
  
  
• WebSphere Business Integration Modeler: Download a trial version from developerWorks to design, test, improve, and communicate complex business processes.
  
  
• WebSphere MQ: Get a trial version of this messaging foundation now.
  
  

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Table of contents

• Overview
• Understanding the product matrix
• Introducing the mediated exchange scenario
• Summary
• View a Flash demo of this scenario
• Disclaimer
• Resources
• About the author
• Comments

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