Enterprise Application Integration - Implementation Pitfalls

Implementation Pitfalls

In 2003 it was reported that 70% of all EAI projects fail. Most of these failures are not due to the software itself or technical difficulties, but due to management issues. Integration Consortium European Chairman Steve Craggs has outlined the seven main pitfalls undertaken by companies using EAI systems and explains solutions to these problems.

1. Constant change: The very nature of EAI is dynamic and requires dynamic project managers to manage their implementation.
2. Shortage of EAI experts: EAI requires knowledge of many issues and technical aspects.
3. Competing standards: Within the EAI field, the paradox is that EAI standards themselves are not universal.
4. EAI is a tool paradigm: EAI is not a tool, but rather a system and should be implemented as such.
5. Building interfaces is an art: Engineering the solution is not sufficient. Solutions need to be negotiated with user departments to reach a common consensus on the final outcome. A lack of consensus on interface designs leads to excessive effort to map between various systems data requirements.
6. Loss of detail: Information that seemed unimportant at an earlier stage may become crucial later.
7. Accountability: Since so many departments have many conflicting requirements, there should be clear accountability for the system's final structure.

Other potential problems may arise in these areas:

• Emerging Requirements: EAI implementations should be extensible and modular to allow for future changes.
• Protectionism: The applications whose data is being integrated often belong to different departments that have technical, cultural, and political reasons for not wanting to share their data with other departments