Systems integration consists of connecting System A to System B (and potentially System C, D, E, F, G etc) using a common data definition, and with the ability to apply business logic at the level of the data transfer.

A common data definition, combined with business modules and generator support, ensures consistent implementation across multiple adaptors regardless of communications technology used. When a data definition is changed, all the adaptors are rebuilt, ensuring consistent representation across all subsystems. If the communications technology changes, the associated generator is changed without impact to core data definition.

Leveraging Structs And Nodes Development (SAND),

1. The data definitions are declared as java source code to directly integrate with standard development build/test processes and version control management.
2. Full documentation is generated directly from the source code definitions providing a reliable and complete reference at all times.
3. Component subsystems are defined by the business data they receive and produce. These communications may be synchronous (query/response or transaction/acknowledgment) or asynchronous (general information broadcast, business rule triggers, notifications).
4. The processing components of each subsystem are defined the same way as the top level components, allowing for drilldown visibility at all levels.

At the application level, SAND separates communication requirements from communication APIs, allowing consistent definitions across the full range of communication technologies:

FTP/RSS/email SOAP or other Web Services JMS/socket messaging Direct call messaging

By providing clear and consistent communication definitions, SAND makes the communications backbone of your enterprise (aka enterprise nervous system or "ENS") visible, which in turn enables business process management. If you are using a commercial Enterprise Services Bus (ESB) to organize your applications as a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), then this picture looks exactly the same:

An Enterprise Services Bus (ESB) can also be thought of as email for corporate applications. Each application decides what to put on it, what respond to, and what to just read. The advantages of using SAND together with ESB are:

1. The data definitions are guaranteed to be consistent across all applications.
2. Accessing the data is transparent to application developers.

See also new application development.

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