business-to-business architectures (system-to-system

Business-to-business architectures(System-to-system viewpoint)D.Sc. (Tech) Tuomo Honkanen1.12.2004

2 © Metso Corporation 1.12.2004

Metso in brief

• Global supplier to the pulp and paper industry, and the rock and minerals processing industry

• Key supplier of process industry automation and control technology

• Four business areas:- Metso Paper- Metso Minerals- Metso Automation- Metso Ventures


Metso in brief

• Net sales of EUR 4,250 million in 2003

• Approx. 24,100 employees in more than 50 countries

• Listed on the Helsinki (ME01V.HEX) and New York (MX.NYSE) Stock Exchanges

• Approx. 25,000 shareholders


Metso industry characteristics

• Business-to-business operations• Products (equipment) are used in industrial production• From standard & configurable products (industrial valves) to

highly customised (paper machines)• No “bulk” manufactured (bolts, bearings, nuts), just sold• Investment products and spare parts • Few consumables


Application Integration Point to Point

Down-loadfile

Down-loadfile

Down-loadfile

Screenscrape

Screenscrape

Screenscrape

Screenscrape

Trans-action

file

Trans-action

file

Trans-action

file

Trans-action

file

Messagequeue

Messagequeue

Messagequeue

Sockets

SocketsORB

Message

RPC

Message RPC

CICS gateway

APPC

APPC

CICS gateway

ORB

Source: Gartner Group


Systems Theory SaysKerr, R. (1991) Knowledge-based manufacturing management: Applications of artificial intelligence to the effective management of manufacturing companies. Singapore, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Inc.

• In a perfectly connected system, where all the subsystems are connected to each other, there are n⋅(n-1)/2 interconnections

• Two approaches to simplify subsystem interactions:- form clusters of subsystems that interact with each other by

using a specialised interfacing system- decouple subsystems to avoid interaction analysis. De-coupling

can be done by using buffers, slack resources or standard procedures• Buffers = inventories, time, memory• Slack resources = redundant functions, CPU capacity• Standard procedures = standard interfaces and interactions


Interfacing System


Metso Paper

Metso Minerals

Metso Automation

Metso Ventures

Customers Metso

BusinessPartners

Internet

Business Hub

Original Vision for ICT DevelopmentVision 2001


ICT Business Environment

Business Process Management (Business Process and Workflow Modeling)

Standard Library for Business Messages and Processes (XML, RosettaNet, SOAP, WSDL, etc.)

ERP FinancePDM

DataWarehouse

Business Management PlatformEAI Hub

Integration, Message Flows and Business Process Automation

HR

Customers

Suppliers

Distributors

Partners Systems

Marketplaces

S2Si

Vendors &Partners

Customers

Employees

People

Portal

CMMSCRM Notes Billing

Other Application


De-coupling: Standard procedures


Business transactions characteristics

• Complex product structures• Expert services needed in designing, selling, delivering,

commissioning and using the products• Medium to low volume (1000 - 1 units / sale) sales• Medium to high price (5 kEUR - 500 MEUR) products


E-business process prioritisation currently (according to Nokia framework)

(RosettaNet) standards in this segment are not sufficient. Development interest of Metso.

Managed with EDI / eBill (xCBL). Key suppliers only. RosettaNet deployment under consideration.

EDI / Key suppliers only.


Usage of standards in B2B(according to P.Kotinurmi / HUT framework)

External (future) Internal (current) External (current)

Applicability unknown

Open


Semantic normalisation in message mapping

SemanticsSemantics SemanticsSemantics

SyntaxSyntax

FormatFormat

SyntaxSyntax

FormatFormat

O(n2)

Normalised message

(business object)

Normalised message

(business object)

“Purchase Order”

O(2n)

“Purchase Order” “Purchase Order”

PIP 3A4 ORDERS / EDI

XML ASCII


Semantic normalisation in B2B messaging

External integration

B2BPartners

B2BPartners

EAICoreRules

EAICoreRules

B2BAdapter

Mappings

B2BAdapter

Mappings

EAIAdapter

Mappings

EAIAdapter

ERPsERPs

XMLEDI

RosettaNet

OAGIS OAGIS

Mappings ASCII

WebServices

Internal integration


De-coupling: Buffers


Case: Electronic Invoice Processing

Metso WAN/LAN

Suppliers

Invoice Processing

Database Replication

Invoice Transformationand Routing

EDI / Others

Pros and cons?


B2B S2S should be based on asynchronousmessaging

• Asynchronous Messaging - Sender and receiver applications do not have to be on-line at the

same time. Reliable transport and message queuing needed.- Data transferred in whole business documents rather than

database replication or API function calls

• Forces the business documents to contain all the needed data in one packet

+ data integrity guaranteed in single document transaction+ no need for conversation management of API calls+ asynchronous sending channel is always available and the message

delivery can be trusted+ traceability (audit trail) according to document references (order

number, invoice number), not from technical logs


De-coupling: Standard procedures & Slack resources


Case: Connecting two systems over the Internet

• Data moved rarely, HTTP(S) out of question, proprietary data format

• FTP over VPN• SFTP over SSH• FTP over SSH• PGP messages over FTP• Messages over e-mail


Case: Connecting two systems over the Internet - solutions

• Data moved rarely, HTTP(S) out of question, proprietary data format

• FTP over VPN VPN client compatibility issues?• SFTP over SSH No command-line level authentication?• FTP over SSH Complex configuration?• PGP messages over FTP User ID and passwords in plain text?• Messages over e-mail Messages in plain text?

• STANDARISE THE COMMUNICATION, HAVE A BACKUP!

Best

Selected

Backup connection


Summary

• From B2B point of view machinery industry is different from consumer electronics industry - focus on different aspects

• A specialised decoupling and interfacing system is needed to manage the complexity

• B2B (S2S) should be based on asynchronous messaging• The fewer standards the better!


Thank You - Questions?

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business-to-business architectures (system-to-system

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