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EAI Consulting: Case Studies
EAI Consulting: Case Studies
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National Bank
Application - Banking Systems

Background
Customer wanted to architect a middleware strategy to allow any client application, whether on the same platform or not, to access functionality and data from various legacy systems. The middleware strategy was accomplished using various middleware technologies along with component based development techniques. The strategy included three key elements: Architecture, Infrastructure, and Guidelines.

The Architecture provided a framework that allowed components to access functionality and data from various legacy systems that are written in a variety of technologies.
The Infrastructure is the tools and techniques that help analysts, designers, and developers build systems and components that collaborate.
The Guidelines are documented industry-standard processes and best practices.

Case Studies:
National Bank
International Paint Manufacturer
ATC Role/Accomplishments
1) ATC contributed to the design and development of an enterprise architecture that provided a framework for developing applications that allow any client component, whether on the same platform or not, to access the functionality and data of legacy systems. All communication between components was performed through a messaging infrastructure that encapsulated the physical location and the technical mechanism of communication.

2) ATC assisted in the design and development of a library of foundation classes providing services for storing, retrieving, and maintaining data of an object. Other foundation components included messaging services, transport services, data marshaling services, security services, and error reporting and logging services. All design was modeled and documented using Rational Rose.

3) ATC assisted in defining and documenting the software development process used by the Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) group of the National Bank. The process drew upon concepts and processes defined as part of the Rational Unified Process (RUP) and techniques and tools defined as part of the Unified Modeling Language (UML). The process, which is publishing on the Corporate Intranet, delineates the phases and activities of the software development process and defines which artifacts (deliverables) are required or recommended during each phase of the project. Best practices and standards were also developed.

4) ATC defined and documented the process for managing all use case and design models defined in Rational Rose under version control (Visual SourceSafe) in a multi-user team environment.

5) ATC mentored team members in object-oriented analysis and design, Rational Rose, the Unified Modeling Language (UML), Visual SourceSafe, and the Rational Unified Process (RUP).

6) ATC designed and developed a Code Generator to generate key pieces of source code from the Rational Rose model required to implement each mainframe component. Additionally, the Code Generator creates the key artifacts (XML Input/Output Schemas) needed to define each transaction/message in the BizTalk mapping tool. The Code Generator has significantly reduced the implementation time, improved the quality of the components, and has make it easier to add additional modeling, development, and middleware resources to the team. With the Code Generator, all parties that provide and utilize a function/message are kept synchronized with the information retained in the Rational Rose model. The Code Generator also provides support for webMethods as well as BizTalk. Like BizTalk, the Code Generator generates XML code that is imported into webMethods thus significantly reducing the time to create a new transaction/message.

7) ATC participated in the analysis, design, and implementation of a system that replaced three core front-end systems. The first system was used by the tellers at the retail branches, the second system was used by the customer service representatives at the retail branches, and the third system was used by the customer service representatives that provide phone support for the 800 number. The new GUI (Graphical User Interface) front-end system sends messages to SMI (Shared Message Infrastructure) who in turn routes and delivers each message to the system and component that can process the request. SMI uses Microsoft BizTalk and IBM MQSeries as the middleware software.

8) As part of a small team of analysts/designers, we defined over 350 components (wrappers, business process objects) to perform all the various business functions available from the various core back-end systems. All the functionality needed by the new front-end system (Argo) was made available through these components. All the components were designed and documented in Rational Rose.

Customer Testimony
The following are a few comments that our customer has said about our people:

"As expected - delivered earlier than anticipated - and right on the money. Super Jim to the rescue! Thanks Jim - it looks great."
"Great having someone on the team who takes the ball and runs with it! Really appreciate all of your contributions!"

"I can't tell you how much I respect what you've been able to do for us in the past months. This is just another example of that!"

"Thanks again for all of your hard work! I couldn't get thru this difficult time without having people around who can be relied on!"

"Thanks for all of your modeling guidance! :)"

"Once again, you dazzle us with your brilliance!"

"Also, a BIG THANKS to Jim Berg for a well documented production migration process."

"Thanks for spending so much time coaching/mentoring our people."

Contact us today about your software development needs!