Frequently Asked Questions

• What is Enterprise Enabler?

  Enterprise Enabler Server is a Microsoft based technology that integrates processes, applications, and data sources residing on Microsoft and non-Microsoft platforms.

  (EE) is business integration software that gives you the power to migrate, integrate and manage (MIM) all of your data and information, wherever and however it exists; and drive your business process management (BPM) to unparalleled heights of connectivity and simplicity.

  In the most basic terms, Enterprise Enabler uses groundbreaking architecture that combines the next generation of adapter technology and advanced data transformation services to provide EAI and ETL in a single environment. The flexibility and adaptability of EE’s SOA-compliant permits the mash-up of disparate data types and information from Microsoft and non-Microsoft platforms simply and reliably.

  To see how to take your BPM processes to the next level, take a look at all of EE’s features…

• What is an APPCOM?

  Think of AppComm technology as the next-generation of adapter. It is the connectivity mechanism used by Enterprise Enabler (EE) to communicate with various applications and data sources. AppComms are the portion of the architecture that decouples the knowledge of how to connect to a particular type of application or data source from the assumptions about the specific instance. While a traditional adapter is a full integration in itself (with predetermined source, destination, and mapping) an AppComm is completely metadata driven and reusable without any modification. The AppComm architecture is always streaming, and offers high speed, native connectivity.

  To the difference between an adapter and an AppComm can be expressed this way:

  Adapter	AppComm
  Inflexible	Reality
  Static	Dynamic
  Not Reusable	Reusable
  High Maintenance	Zero Maintenance
  Fixed Rule Base	Adaptive Intelligence
  Disadvantage	Competitive Advantage

• What technology is EE based on?

  Enterprise Enabler (EE) is built on the Microsoft .Net 3.5 Framework. It leverages all the features and enhancements of the Framework and passes them on to the end user allowing for the easy build of plug-ins, reusable code snippets , business rules, process nodes and AppComms. In addition, EE supports the reuse of any libraries written in .net/com outside of EE, so that they become accessible, reusable components through the standard EE development environment.

• What does Enterprise Enabler integrate?

  Enterprise Enabler supports integration to wide variety of applications, messaging systems, message formats, message transports etc. Some of them are listed below

  Transport Protocols	HTTP/S, S/FTP, SMTP, POP3, Web Services (SOAP) and more!
  Applications	CRM, ERP, Web Portals, Custom Line of Business Applications, Legacy & Niche Analytics, and many, many more
  Standards	RosettaNet, HL7, AS2/3, HIPAA, SWIFT, XML , EDI, and more
  Documents and Files	XML, EDI, Flat Files, Delimited Files (CSV, TAB, etc.), IDOCS, LOBS, Custom Formats, and more
  Data Stores	SQL Server, Oracle, IBM DB2, Sybase, Informix, MySQL, and many more!
  Messaging Systems	TIBCO, WebSphere MQ, MSMQ, JMS and more
  Instrumentation	SCADA, Process Control Systems, Electronic Instruments, etc.

• How is Enterprise Enabler's licensing policy implemented?

  The licensing policy of EE depends on 'per CPU basis' and the network card MAC ID on a particular Server. If one changes the network card on server, then the installation of the server for that particular CPU needs to be done once again. The registration module takes the first available MAC ID and uses it for generating the registration code. Therefore, sometimes changes a particular network card may not need re-registration. Check with your SBT representative if you have any questions about your specific license.

  Some EE licenses are “Restricted Use” licenses. That means that in addition to the CPU basis, legal usage of the license is restricted to a specific use. That could be for a particular project, a particular department, or other specified use. For example, EE-B2B, which is a derivative of EE, is licensed solely for transferring data between your company and a business partner. Special component such as RosettaNet and ecommerce standards are included. If you have a Restricted Use license and need to use it for other purposes, contact your SBT representative. If you licensed EE-B2B and decide to use it to connect two internal systems, you must advise Stone Bond and update the license to be in compliance.

• What is the role of metadata in Enterprise Enabler Technology?

  All aspects of EE are metadata driven, so metadata is captured about applications and connectivity, about how data transformation should occur, and about business process workflow. External metadata is discovered and captured through intelligence built into each AppComm, and iInternal metadata is captured during integration development. The existence of metadata describing processes and integration allows for the computerized monitoring and management of change and its impact across the environment. All metadata is stored, encrypted and compressed, in SQL Server 2005.

• Which platforms does EE support?

  Operating System Windows Server 2000/2003, 2008 Windows XP

  Operating System Windows Server 2003, 2008

  Framework Microsoft .NET 4.0

  Database SQL Server 2005

                    SQL Server 2008

                    SQL Server 2005/Express

                    SQL Server 2008/Express

                  Windows Server 2003 (32/64bit)

                  Windows Server 2008 (64bit)

                  Windows Server 2008 R2 (64bit)

   

• What makes Enterprise Enabler different?

  Enterprise Enabler (EE) is so different from any other business integration platform – it’s hard to decide where to start. Here are just a few of the reasons EE is the new standard:

  • No data transformation engine used
  • All data handled in native form
  • Virtually data-format agnostic
  • End-to-end shared metadata
  • Zero coding, visual definition of transactions and processes
  • Permit easy collaboration between BDC (SharePoint Server 2007) and BCS (SharePoint Server 2010)
  • Works with data sources on Microsoft and non-Microsoft platforms
  • Requires no standard protocols (e.g. SOAP, FTP, HTTP,etc.) for integration
  • Memory transformations require no data caching
  • Handles many-to-many transformations in mixed relational and hierarchical formats
  • Open and extensible RAD tool to manage the most complex workflows and data integration
  • Process nodes and applications are not limited to web services

  Read more about the features that make EE so powerful…intuitive…and simple to use.

• How does Enterprise Enabler work?

  Enterprise Enabler (EE) uses the next generation of adapter, called AppComms, that permit the decoupling of the knowledge of how to connect to a particular type of application or data source from the assumptions about the specific instance. Each AppComm is completely metadata driven and reusable in its "off-the shelf" form without any modification. All aspects of EE are driven by end-to-end shared metadata.

  EE’s data transformation services eliminate the constraints of typical transformation engines by handling all data in native form. This means no more designing, building, and maintaining a staging database for one-to-one integration mapping

  The broad spectrum of connectivity to hundreds of data sources, along with robust data transformation services enables a rich, flexible and adaptable mesh of web services in concert with non-web service and non-XML applications, data, and processes. Inherent SOA compliance built into the architecture permits EE to adopt quickly all aspects of the emerging web services standards.

  The existence of metadata describing processes and integration allows for the computerized monitoring and management of change and its impact across the environment. All metadata is stored, encrypted and compressed, in SQL Server 2005.

  Here are just a few of the integration possibilities:

  DBase	IBM DB2	AS/400	Delimited Text
  SQL	Oracle	OLE	ODBC
  ADO Persistence XML	UDL	Custom	Oracle E-Business Suite
  OSIsoft PI	IHS SubPUMP	OPC Data	PIMS
  Advisor	SAP	EDI	IBM WebSphere MQ
  MSMQ	TIBCO Messages	Peachtree	Microsoft Office Excel
  Intuit Quick Books	Sybase	XML	Microsoft Office Access
  HL7	EDI	CTMS	CDISC
  Web Services	Salesforce	FoxPro	Microsoft Dynamics AX
  Microsoft .NET Objects	Com+ Objects	Virtual Store	Microsoft Dynamics CRM

• Enterprise Enabler and SAP integration

  Enterprise Enabler’s SAP AppComm can connect SAP with virtually any application or data source, including sources such as process controls, electronic instrument, energy management systems, web services and SaaS applications. Since the SAP AppComm is built on 100% .NET managed code, the environment is fully extensible permitting any external programs or utilities to be connected to meet the business-specific needs.

  The ability to handle “many-to-many” data transformations at run time is inherent in the SAP AppComm. Regardless how complex the data relationships and mapping, the AppComm resolves them at run time when the data is transferred. This eliminates the need for designing, building, and maintaining a staging database for one-to-one integration mapping.

• What type of protocols, applications, documents, data and file formats can EE support?

  Enterprise Enabler supports integration of a wide variety of applications, messaging systems, message formats, message transports…virtually anything. Some of them are listed below:

  Transport Protocols	HTTP/S, S/FTP, SMTP, POP3, Web Services (SOAP)…
  Applications	CRM, ERP, web portals, custom applications, legacy & niche analytics…
  Standards	RosettaNet, HL7, AS2/3, HIPAA, SWIFT, XML, EDI…
  Documents & Files	XML, EDI, flat files, delimited files (CSV, TAB, etc.), IDOCS, LOBS, Custom Formats…
  Data Stores	SQL Server, Oracle, IBM DB2, Sybase, Informix, MySQL…
  Messaging Systems	TIBCO, WebSphere MQ, MSMQ, JMS…
  Instrumentation	SCADA, process control, electronic instruments, energy management…

  The biggest challenge in using Enterprise Enabler may be finding what you can’t do with it.

• Why does database destination template need blocks with key columns?

  For database template in update or insert/update mode the block needs a key column. While performing the above two operations, the database App Comm. will use the key column values to frame the 'where' clause and issues the DML commands.

• Does EE support both EAI and ETL?

  Strictly speaking the answer is, yes – but, Enterprise Enabler (EE) goes so far beyond simple EAI and ETL we call it Agile Enterprise Integration Software (AIS). EE combines the full capability of Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) and Extract Transform Load (ETL) in a single environment…and much more. Fully extensible, EE makes practical the collaboration and bi-directional flow between the Business Data Catalog (BDC) in SharePoint Server 2007 and the Business Connectivity Services (BCS) in SharePoint Server 2010 – permitting all mission-critical external data sources to be connected to the BDC or BCS.

  Read more about Agile Enterprise Integration Software (AIS)…

• Does EE support visual mapping, transactions and process flow?

  Yes…and more. Enterprise Enabler (EE) provides:

  • Visual definition of transactions and compensating activities
  • Visual definition of process flow using decision nodes (if, switch, parallel, etc.)
  • Visual data mapping of complex mixed relational and hierarchical input and output
  • Easily building of relationships by visually relating heterogeneous data sources
  • Graphical metadata building for processes, mapping, and endpoint schemas
  • Reusable processes, business rules, functions and inline .NET code

  With zero coding and a highly visual, intuitive UI business process integration has never been so simple, flexible…and powerful.

• How does Enterprise Enabler handle data caching and transformation?

  To understand data caching and transformation by Enterprise Enabler (EE), you have to rotate your concept of these processes 180 degrees. Unlike other business integration software, EE does not require data caching and essentially does not transform the data. EE creates virtual data relationships through the use of native metadata and direct relationships of information without using conventional transformation engines, mapping or staging. Data relationships and mapping are resolved at run time, when the data is transferred.

  This unique approach permits easy mash-ups of many-to-many in mixed relational and hierarchical formats and high speed, native connectivity to proprietary formats.

  EE's runtime engine takes advantage of multiple application domains to isolate each process instance, and within each domain multithreading is utilized to further support parallel processing. The result is high performance and scalability combined with robustness enhanced by isolation that greatly reduces the potential for severe failure.

• What is EE's MessageBox?

  You can communicate with EE using Http/s, s/Ftp, POP3, Web Services, IBM Websphere MQ, Tibco Rendezvous, Microsoft MQ and EE's MessageBox.

  You can do either 'Request Only' or 'Request-Response' type of messaging patterns with MessageBox. Message are posted to the MessageBox using a port location. You can post messages to 'Inbox' and receive response in the 'Outbox'. Within EE, you use the 'MessageBox Send' process node to send messages and 'MessageBox Receive' process trigger node to receive messages from the MessageBox. From external applications, you can use MessageBox API in the SBT.EE.ClientAccess.dll to communicate with the MessageBox. You can administer MessageBox using the 'MessageBox Monitor' and the 'Port Monitor' windows in EE' Studio.

  After the messages are processed, they are archived in the MessageBoxArchive. These messages in the MessageBoxArchive are meant for Audit purposes. Looking at those messages, you can determine if the trigger node has processed it or not. If at all you want to delete messages from this folder, try deleting the messages that are older than a certain period of time that you feel reasonable/acceptable. You can reprocess a message in the MessageBoxArchive by activating it in the 'MessageBox Monitor' window.

• Is the message with the URL port in the MessageboxArchive populated from the Port Status being equal to True therefore it will still be populated even if the inbound document router is disabled?

   

  What happens if the Port Status equals False? At what point is that instance of the message populated in MessageboxArchive? 

  If the Port is disabled, the MessageBox cannot receive any messages on that port. Irrespective of Port status, ‘MessageBox Receive’ trigger node processes messages that matches the Port Location and Folder type (Inbox/Outbox).

  The MessageBoxArchive is populated by the ‘MessageBox Receive’ trigger once it launches the corresponding process with the retrieved message.