Implement Your ESB Using a Stepwise Approach
Bring order to the chaos of your system traffic to share, organize, and monetize your data.
- Due to application proliferation, organizations today are having trouble integrating an increasing amount of data between siloed business unit applications.
- This creates frustrations not only for IT, where a complex integration environment complicates its ability to support the business, but can slow the speed of business, impacting the bottom-line and profitability.
- The ESB market is a crowded space, with differentiation focused around architecture and deployment models rather than out-of-the-box functionality.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- De-risk your ESB with a pilot deployment. Learn from a small town road trip before tackling the big city traffic. A pilot project will grow confidence in the project team and expose gaps that should be addressed early.
- Not all systems should be passengers on the bus; grow your passenger base with the right systems. Target the high-priority systems that will provide the business with the greatest benefit from ESB integration.
- ESBs – like real vehicles – need regular maintenance. Define integration governance measures to take care of the maintenance and keep the bus in top running order.
Impact and Result
- With the increasing focus on SOA, and the growing connectivity and messaging requirements expressed by the business, IT departments require an integration solution that is scalable and highly flexible.
- Integration connections become more brittle and complicated as environments change and grow. Integration middleware, namely an enterprise service bus (ESB), streamlines application integration by serving as a central connector.
- The ESB implementation project helps you to prepare for the ESB implementation, to implement the selected ESB platform, and to test and sustain the ESB solution. An ESB implementation plan will be created to guide implementation effort and to plan for an ESB proof-of-concept project. An ESB architecture will be designed to support the implementation.
- A test plan will be established to test the implementation holistically. By doing so, the ESB will lead to cost reduction by aligning data and services, increasing security, and creating an IT environment that is easier to support and maintain.
- While the ESB implementation is underway, this blueprint helps you to establish necessary governance to make sure processes and governance bodies are in place to operate application integration effectively. A repeatable ESB development framework is created to streamline future ESB development.
Workshop: Implement Your ESB Using a Stepwise Approach
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Stage the Environment for the ESB
The Purpose
- Develop a foundation of knowledge regarding the ESB and what it takes to be ready to start the project, as well as the estimated return on investment for the project.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Clear objectives of the ESB project, as well as tools for communicating the benefits of the ESB to secure sustained buy-in from management.
- Gain knowledge of how the ESB can benefit both IT and the business.
- Understand the critical aspects of an organization that need to be in place before starting to implement the ESB, and strategies to become ready if these aspects are not in place already.
Activities
Outputs
Facilitate activities from Phase 1 including project scoping, ROI calculations, and resource planning.
- ESB Readiness Assessment Tool
Begin conducting an inventory of the organization’s integration environment.
- ESB ROI Calculator Tool
Map integration scenarios.
Meet with system and data owners to discuss pertinent implementation details and get them on board.
Module 2: Architect and Plan Your ESB Pilot Project
The Purpose
- Create a plan for the pilot project, which will help you to start with a more realistic scope of implementation and achieve quick wins.
- Choose systems that will most benefit from being a part of the pilot project.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Having a fully scoped implementation and test plan for the pilot ESB will ensure that the greatest benefit for the least risk is achieved.
Activities
Outputs
Document the architecture environment.
- ESB System Identification Tool
Make critical architecture decisions. Identify the systems that will be the first to be a part of the ESB solution as a pilot.
- ESB Implementation Plan
Begin creating the ESB implementation plan.
- ESB Test Plan
Document high-level solution requirements and complete the pilot implementation and test plans.
Module 3: Architect and Plan Your ESB Solution
The Purpose
- Determine a strategic plan that outlines the key steps required to implement the full ESB solution.
- Determine timing of system onboarding.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Establish a clear plan for the ESB solution.
- Build a step-by-step outline of how to effectively implement the ESB.
- Have prioritized initiatives with dependencies mapped out.
Activities
Outputs
Produce detailed plans regarding the full implementation of the ESB after the pilot, including a system onboarding roadmap.
- ESB System Identification Tool
- ESB Implementation Plan Template
Review testing principles and procedures that will ensure that the ESB is providing the expected ROI.
- ESB Test Plan Template
Module 4: Set up an Effective SOA Governance Program
The Purpose
- Identify the roles required for effective SOA governance.
- Understand how to set up an integration CoE and how to integrate ESB governance bodies with existing data governance bodies.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Without effective governance and controls of the ESB integration solution, the project could end up providing less value than promised.
- Proper oversight of the solution will ensure that the technology provides the business with the data it needs.
Activities
Outputs
Identify and begin to create the relative policies and procedures for effective governance of the ESB.
- ESB Implementation Plan Template
Meet with the project manager to discuss results and action items.
- Integration Center of Excellence Charter
Wrap up outstanding items from the workshop.
About Info-Tech
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We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.
Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.
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Guided Implementation 1: Stage the environment for the ESB
- Call 1: Launch your ESB selection and implementation project.
- Call 2: Develop your organization’s ESB requirements.
Guided Implementation 2: Test and implement your ESB pilot project
- Call 1: Identify the systems that will make up your pilot project based on the organization’s priorities and requirements.
- Call 2: Launch a comprehensive implementation and testing plan for the pilot ESB project.
Guided Implementation 3: Plan and implement the full ESB
- Call 1: Learn from the results of the pilot project to understand how to deal with challenges and leverage opportunities.
- Call 2: Create a refined implementation and testing plan based on the results from the pilot.
Guided Implementation 4: Implement governance and maintenance of the ESB
- Call 1: Create your organization’s governance framework for SOA governance.
- Call 2: Create the policies and procedures that will enable sustainability in the ESB project and help you gain trusted status in the organization.
Contributors
- IntegrationWorks
- Intricity
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