Saas Integration or Software as a Service Integration is computer software that is offered through a remote hosted deployment model that allows for the integration of information between systems.
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Terminology
Saas Integration is computer software that connects software components delivered through software as a service (Saas) or hosted models to other applications. These applications can be themselves Saas applications or follow the typical deployment pattern behind a firewall. The software consists of a set of enabling services that allow multiple processes running on one or more machines to interact across the Internet and other networks. This technology evolved to provide for interoperability in support of the move to distribute functionality between managed and distributed architectures, which are used most often to support and simplify complex, distributed applications. It includes web servers, application servers, and similar tools that support application development and delivery.
A concept refers to the ability of an organization to precisely define, easily integrate and effectively retrieve data for both internal applications and external communication.
A business objective is focused on the creation of accurate, consistent and transparent information flows. Saas integration emphasizes flexibility, agility and responsiveness. It is concerned with how the capability is integrated into business applications as well as how it is passed along from one business process to another.
Definition
The Saas integration model and methods can be extended to include the integration of anything connected to the Internet - desktops, servers or data services. It is an extension of information integration beyond the traditional notion of firewall to include data, information and services that exist independently of one another, and can be regarded as either a capability or a method.
Saas integration is where integration and information standards[1] are able to interact to enable the exchange of information across many types of systems. It is highly dependent upon architectural patterns such as Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)[2] methods such as web services and standards such as XML.
Saas integration is not distributed computing or grid computing software where a program is broken into multiple parts and distributed across a network for processing.
A key difference between Saas integration software and traditional integration is that it has the ability to express the integration points as services rather than end point destinations for data.
Saas integration can be explained as either hosted middleware as a service or the ability to integrate Saas applications.
Views of Saas integration
There are two complimentary views of Saas integration.
First is the capability of offering integration through a hosted outside of the firewall method which require process integration. This is the 'function of integration' itself which is expressed as middleware or information integration through a hosted model.
The second is the process of integrating Saas capabilities into other applications.
Saas Integration is not dependent on a specific technology strategy or related to an explicit definition. It arose to address circumstances where users within organizations and industries independently source, model, manage and access data.
Purpose of Saas Integration
Saas integration can be used for a number of purposes and scenarios, following are examples:
- To increase the flexibility in how an organization or a system can access or provide to different pieces of information
- To bridge disparate pieces of a process together
- To make available to an organization a Saas or hosted application through a common set of data interfaces.
- To reduce integration complexity and expense
System Design
Saas integration is closely related to the mathematical principles described in Complexity or Chaos Theory in that the more participants involved in the integration the further away from absolute control a system is under. The participants are then left to influence one another which are governed by information exchange standards and principles. Architecturally the principles can be based on patterns of Service Oriented Architecture - SOA and business management is based on a series of service level agreements either real or implied all of which are managed under a common governance framework.
The management of Saas integration is enabled through orchestration of data and information flows within the system environment. This function typically takes place within the core systems behind a firewall.
Complexity Increases with Saas Software Deployments
One effect of Software as a Service is that it spawns a number of independent components and functionality that requires integration into other data flows. A simplistic design pattern is to create a point to point integration between systems which grows in complexity as more points are added. point-to-point connections One design pattern to manage this has been the use of a set of shared services to manage the number of interfaces. Another is to add the functionality of the nodes to a core application (such as an Enterprise Resource Planning - ERP) product and project that capability out through a common user interface.
The challenge of integration magnifies as new components are introduced through the Saas model. The number of n connections needed to have a fully meshed point-to-point connections is given by 
. Thus, for 10 application components to be fully integrated point-to-point, 
, or 45 point-to-point connections are needed. This is somewhat magnified in the Saas Software model as many components do not have the ability to integrate through firewalls in a meaningful way. Legacy systems continue to dominate the integration touch points.
Saas Integration does on one level simplify the challenge of integration through its light weight, low foot print methods but it does increase the complexity of subject areas such as data flow orchestration.
See also
References
External links
- Tackling the Saas Integration Challenge
- The Five Tenets of Saas Integration
- Gartner Fact Checks the Five Most-Common SaaS Assumptions
- E-Procurement - Electronic Data Integration Comes of Age- The Application of SaaS to Electronic Data Integration
- SaaS Integration: Real-World Problems, And How CIOs Are Solving Them
- Gartner Approaches to Saas Integration SaaS Integration: How to Choose the Best Approach
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