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 mergers and acquisitions business scenario in this article is the first part of the eMerge scenario developed and tested at IBM by the Software Group Horizontal Integration Analysis Lab. Read this article to get 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 mergers and acquisitions solution covered in this article, the Software Group Horizontal Integration Analysis Lab built the network and applications, integrated hardware, software, and applications, and tested the end-to-end solution. The solution passed through a 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 mergers and acquisitions 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 mergers and acquisitions scenario

Continual business change and organizational consolidation -- whether from a merger, an acquisition, or other event -- results in a myriad of hardware, software, and applications that need to work rapidly together as one solution. From the IT perspective, the response to business integration has traditionally focused on consolidating data and applications. Although this is a valid approach, it is a long-term, high-cost activity that must be balanced with the need to demonstrate a more immediate return on investment.

The scenario focuses on two fictitious insurance companies involved in merging and managing two distributed and disparate IT infrastructures after a company acquisition. One company -- a 50-year-old, well-established business with mainframe-based legacy IT systems -- acquires a new company with an Internet-based infrastructure. The scenario focuses on developing a set of solutions that provides a rapid return on investment by exploiting a combination of process management and enterprise application integration. The goal is to provide a single integrated view to customers, employees, and business partners across the two companies, with minimal disturbance to the existing legacy systems.

The merger of the two insurance companies involves Company A, which has acquired Company B to provide a quick entry into the e-business direct insurance market and to capitalize on Company B's Internet-based IT skills and infrastructure. Company A has been in business 50 years, focusing on motor and general insurance with five-million policy holders. It uses traditional channels, through agents, and an independent call center and has a large IBM S/390® system-based legacy IT base. Company B has less than one-million policy holders, but is an expanding dot-com focused on providing motor insurance through the Internet.

The mergers and acquisitions solution demonstrates that, despite the two companies using disparate and different data formats, they can be merged at the process level, connecting to existing applications and data. First, the foundation of the two companies was established. Then a single, common front end was introduced for access to both companies' applications and data. WebSphere MQ Workflow provided the business process management for the merged companies, with WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker (WebSphere MQ Integrator) transforming, routing and aggregating the data to the maintained back-end systems. Several Web services features were incorporated into policy management, including connection to a Microsoft® .NET company through IBM Web Services Gateway, to allow the merged insurance companies to check the risk of a new policy request.

The scenario details are considerable and are in two sub-scenarios:

• Request quote / accept quote / register claim, described here
• External claims management and assessor automation

Sub-scenario: request quote / accept quote / register claim

The first stage was developed by first establishing the foundation of the two companies. The second was then integrating the two different IT environments with a single common front end for access to both companies' applications and data.

1. Request quote

The quote application lets a user access a Web site where they can request a quote by giving some basic personal information. Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) components within WebSphere Application Server forward the request in XML format, using the request queue in an WebSphere MQ cluster, to WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker. WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker transforms the XML request into the relevant formats and sends out the request to both insurance companies and an internal underwriter Web service.

Logic within WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker requests risk assessment from the internal underwriter. An HTTP request is made to the underwriter Web service running within WebSphere Application Server. The underwriter is queried and returns a risk assessment. The underwriter reply and the replies from the two insurance companies are aggregated by WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker. It applies the risk to the quotes from Company A and Company B systems. The best or lowest quote for the customer is transformed and routed back to WebSphere Application Server using a reply queue in the WebSphere MQ cluster. EJB components and servlets within WebSphere Application Server return the quote to the customer, where they have the option to accept or store the quote. When the quote is stored, the quote object is serialized and placed on a store queue for 14 days.

2. Accept quote

The customer either performs a request quote or retrieves a previously stored quote. EJB components retrieve the quote from the stored queue within the WebSphere MQ cluster (or the quote was already in the EJB), and the quote data is sent in XML format to WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker as an acceptance. WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker performs routing and transforms the quote data from XML to the correct format for the back-end (COMMAREA for Company A's IBM z/OS® system and a different XML format for Company B), which generates customer and policy data. The customer and policy numbers are passed through WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker back to WebSphere Application Server, whereupon the EJBs and servlets display this information with an indication that final details will follow. Upon receipt of the policy number, the customer is insured and receives their policy and a letter by e-mail or through the postal system.

Meanwhile, logic within WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker triggers WebSphere Business Integration Server Foundation to perform a Motor Vehicle Record (MVR) check and credit check. The request is instigated by a Web service call [SOAP/Java Message Service (JMS)]. The Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) business process that hosts the service runs within WebSphere Business Integration Server Foundation and choreographs the aggregation of the MVR and credit check details. The MVR and credit checks are Web services accessed through Web Services Gateway. The gateway looks up (in an external Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI)) the real address of the services and forwards the requests to the appropriate services. MVR and the credit-checking service perform appropriate checks and return the results to the business process that returns the results of the checks to WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker. WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker logic performs any required alterations to the policy resulting from the driving history and credit checks. The back-end company systems give final notification of the customer and policy details through the customer's preferred channel.

3. Register claim

The customer logs on to the Web site and enters their customer number and policy number, which is then passed through WebSphere Application Server to WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker through a WebSphere MQ clustered queue. The customer details and policy details are requested from the respective back end and passed back to WebSphere Application Server which, using EJBs and servlets, prompts the customer to confirm their policy information and enter the details of the new claim. After the details are submitted, the data is first passed through the EJB component residing in WebSphere Application Server, which then passes the data in XML format on to WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker. The WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker transforms the data from XML format to that required for the back-end system to which it routes the data.

After receiving the new claim details, the back-end system generates a claim ID and returns it to WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker. WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker transforms the data into XML format and provides the routing to pass the claim ID data back to the EJB component within WebSphere Application Server. The customer is notified that the claim has been registered and given the claim ID. Meanwhile WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker passes the claim details and claim ID onto WebSphere MQ Workflow to trigger the automated claims process.

The network diagram in Figure 2 shows the components of the mergers and acquisitions solution. (The product matrix in Figure 3 shows the product integration points for the entire mergers and acquisitions solution.) You can also view a Flash demo of the Mergers and acquisitions solution now.

The matrix in Figure 3 shows the product integration points for the mergers and acquisitions scenario.

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 Mergers and Acquisitions 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 mergers and acquisitions 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

• "Coordinate a cross-product infrastructure to develop an eMerge assessor automation solution," (developerWorks, December 2005). Companion article to this one, it covers the next two stages of the eMerge merger and acquisitions scenario.
  
  
• "Merging disparate IT systems" (developerWorks, January 2004) gives you more information about the Mergers and Acquisitions business scenario discussed in this article.
  
  
• Mergers and acquisitions scenario: View a Flash demo of this scenario.
  
  
• Product integration overview: Get more information about other IBM lab-tested product-integration scenarios.
  
  
• WebSphere Business Integration Server Foundation: Get more information about this integration platform that 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: Find out how to get a proven foundation for your Enterprise Service Bus (ESB).
  
  
• WebSphere MQ Workflow: Learn how Workflow can automate business processes.
  
  
• WebSphere Business Integration Message Broker: Discover the features of Message Broker that distribute business event information in real time.
  
  
• Tivoli Enterprise Console: See how this product provides automated problem diagnosis and resolution to improve system performance and reduce support costs.
  
  
• Tivoli Business Systems Manager: Discover how this product can empower executives with real-time knowledge of critical business services and service-level agreements.
  
  
• developerWorks IT Architecture area: Explore the resources here to help you more efficiently design your IT architecture.
  
  

Get products and technologies

• WebSphere Studio Application Developer Integration Edition: Download a trial version of this next-generation integration 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 robust messaging backbone for deploying an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) as the connectivity layer of a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). Download a trial version now.
  
  

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Table of contents

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

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