Enterprise Application Integration

Summary module description:
This module concerns the use of software and computer systems architectural principles to integrate systems and applications across an enterprise. Typically, an enterprise has existing legacy applications and databases and wants to continue to use them while adding or migrating to a new set of applications and technologies in a distributed computing environment. Students will be exposed to the crucial integration issues at different levels, e.g. enterprise, business process, people, information/data, and IT applications and technologies. Such complex integration in the enterprise can be supported by a collection of technologies and services which form a middleware. This module will enable students to design and engineer an enterprise application integration (EAI) solution by adopting social-technical systems theories and methods.

Aims:
This module enables students to inquire EAI that impacts on business performances, and to develop a holistic view of the IT applications by seeing how existing applications fit into the business model, and then devising ways to efficiently reuse what already exists while adding new IT applications and data. The EAI analysis and solutions design methods delivered in this module allow students to build competence in perusing career as EAI analyst and designer.

Assessable learning outcomes:
A student completing the module should be able to
- Appreciate the importance of EAI to support business operations, performance, and sustainability;
- Understand the EAI features, components, and their roles in the enterprise computing environment;
- Describe the EAI needs for the enterprise aligned with the business growth and strategy;
- Model an EAI architecture and design the technical capabilities of EAI at the appropriate tier in the architecture;
- Apply SOA principles to social-technically develop EAI solutions for agility of the enterprise.

Additional outcomes:
The module also facilitates students to develop the systems thinking and competence in designing coherent solutions to solve EAI problems.

Outline content:
- Basic concepts, principles and industrial standards of EAI
- Generic enterprise reference architecture
- Types and structures of EAI for articulation of legacy and new IT applications in an enterprise
- Middleware analysis driven by service-oriented architecture - a central theme within organisations
- Technical components of EAI and their design and implementation, e.g. data integration, information integration, and enterprise integration in relation to syntactic, semantics, and pragmatics in computing recourse utilisation
- The current technologies and services for EAI and the trend

Brief description of teaching and learning methods:
This module will take a problem-based learning approach. The lectures will introduce students the theories, concepts and underpinning principles of EAI. Students will be supervised in the practicals to apply the concepts and principles to a given problem context and develop a suitable solution. Both lecture and practical will enable students to research into EAI cutting-edge solutions and apply the methods to design and document solutions.

Summative Assessment Methods:
Written exam 50%
Set exercise 50%

Other information on summative assessment:
A technical report for an EAI?s design is required to demonstrate a research in state-of-the-art of EAI and application of the basic concepts and principles complied with the EAI?s standards. A coursework may be organised as group work when appropriate.

Formative assessment methods:

Penalties for late submission:
The Module Convener will apply the following penalties for work submitted late, in accordance with the University policy.
where the piece of work is submitted up to one calendar week after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for the piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of five working days;
where the piece of work is submitted more than five working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/qualitysupport/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf
You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Length of examination:
One 90-mins examination paper in May/June.

Requirements for a pass:
40%