Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Plan for Integration

Planning is an integral part of any data integration effort. When integrating
Microsoft Dynamics AX with other systems, one of the initial steps is the
planning phase. In which the Implementation team must define high-level
requirements and make integration design decisions. After these requirements are
defined, the partner, Information Technology (IT) staff, and development staff
can then work together to define the best way to implement the exchange in AIF.
The integration design decisions that must be made fall into two primary
categories:


Data: At the core of data integration is the data itself. While
planning your data integration, many decisions must be made about
the data that is being exchanged and the associated business rules.
This phase often involves the expertise and knowledge of business
users because they understand the meaning of the data and define the
requirements for integration. This category addresses the "who, what,
and when" requirements of the integration.


Configuration: Configuration requirements define the environment
of the data exchange. Factors that affect these requirements include
the network configuration, the hardware and software configuration
of the external system, and the level of trust between Microsoft
Dynamics AX and the external system. This category addresses the
"how" requirements of the integration.
Before writing any code or configuring document exchanges, the implementation
team should consider the following questions.


Category Question Design Impact
Data What data elements are
involved in the exchange
and what screens do those
elements come from? Are
there any calculated
values?
Helps determine which AIF
documents support the
business needs.
Data Is the data being sent from
Microsoft Dynamics AX
to an external system or is
the data received by
Microsoft Dynamics AX
from an external system?
Helps determine how a
document exchange is
configured.


Data Does the external system
request data from
Microsoft Dynamics AX
or is there an event in the
application that triggers
the sending of data to the
external system?
This information helps
determine how a document
exchange is configured.
Data Are records in Microsoft
Dynamics AX being
created, updated, or
deleted?
Helps determine whether
the AIF documents will
need any customizations.
Data What are the business
rules associated with the
data? For example, if data
is created or updated,
which data elements are
mandatory? If data is
deleted, what are the
conditions under which a
record can be deleted?
Helps determine whether
any customizations must be
made to existing AIF
documents.
Data Do the documents that
ship with Microsoft
Dynamics AX contain the
data that must be
exchanged?
Helps determine whether
any customizations have to
be made to existing AIF
documents or if new
documents must be created.
Data Do the relevant documents
support the actions that
must be performed on the
data (read, create, update,
or delete)?
If the existing documents
do not support some of the
data integration
requirements, developers
might need to make
customizations.
Data Does the data need to be
transformed by Microsoft
Dynamics AX? This could
be transformations that
need to be performed
before data is sent or when
data is received. What is
the extent of the data
transformations?
Lets the team determine
whether AIF value
mapping or XSLT
transformations should be
used.


Configuration Does the local Microsoft
Dynamics AX system
have any restrictions on
how data is exchanged?
Determines how a
document exchange is
configured. For example, if
there is a requirement to
use Message Queuing as a
transport mechanism, then
the MSMQ adapter would
be used and the exchange
would be asynchronous.
Configuration Does the external system
have any restrictions on
how data is exchanged?
Does the external system
have any restrictions on
how data is exchanged?
Configuration Are there any constraints
on the data? For example,
is the document exchange
limited to a particular
vendor or customer?
Determines how a
document exchange is
configured.
Configuration Is the external system an
in-house system or
external trading partner?
Impacts how users and
security are configured.

IMPORTANT: This planning information is a guideline for what you might need
to consider when planning your data integration. For more information about
your specific implementation, contact your partner.
Whether you require integration with internal legacy systems or external trading
partners, planning the integration process involves common key steps.


1. In a typical integration scenario, users who have business expertise
first determine the document exchange needs. These are
requirements from a business perspective. The business users work
with the Implementation team to specify:


a. What data is to be exchanged.


b. Any business logic related to that data.


c. The external systems with which data is to be exchanged.


d. The conditions under which data is sent from or received by
Microsoft Dynamics AX.


2. The partner or system implementer works with the customer and
their IT staff to determine the hardware and software requirements
for AIF. They analyze the existing environment and recommend any
new hardware or software that must be installed.


3. The customer's IT staff installs and configures any required hardware
and software to support AIF.
 

4. The partner or customer developer programs the document exchange.
They can make customizations to the AIF documents or create new
documents to meet the requirements of the business users. How AIF
is configured depends in part on the network environment.
Therefore, the developer may work with IT staff when implementing
an integration scenario.


5. IT staff monitors the document exchanges and troubleshoot any
errors that are generated.


Regards,
Hossein Karimi

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