Some organizations have a centralized team for integration that they call their Integration Competence Center or ICC. An organization that uses Nexus Link to become an agile digital company will need an ICC. This ICC develops and maintains their digital platform. We call this team the Nexus Link ICC (referred to as "NL ICC" below).
The digital platform normally uses a number of integration capabilities, provided by Nexus Link SaaS services. (referred to as "NLS" below). The usage of NLS needs to be administrated by the NL ICC.
Exactly how this is set up in an organization can vary widely. The intention of this article is to give an introduction of what to expect from an NL ICC.
A very important difference between a traditional ICC and an NL ICC is:
- An ICC is very technical and is a critical resource within the organization,
- NL ICC is business oriented. They are technically skilled but can be easy to replace.
Job description
On a high level this is what the NL ICC team does (further described in the sub chapters below).
- Model the business
- Develop and maintain the business API, contracts and some adapters
- Write and maintain the documentation
- Administrate NLS usage
- Data stewarding
- Develop and maintain the integration tests
- Release updates
- Monitor the Digital Business Platform
- Resolve problems
- Support suppliers that build Nexus Link Adapters
Model the business
To move toward a digital platform, it is best that the NL ICC team and domain experts are involved from an early stage. We model the business so it corresponds on a 1-to-1 basis with the IT side implementation.
The further an organization has come on its digitalization journey, the more the NL ICC will be able to contribute with proactive business development suggestions.
Develop and maintain
When models are modified software development is required. The NL ICC creates or modifies contracts to corresponds to the changed models. The NL ICC then implements those contracts in the Business API. This often involves simulating capabilities for test purposes until the backend system is ready. Throughout this process, the NL ICC proactively optimizes the stability and efficiency of the Business API.
When the project is far enough along, a contract will be implemented by a backend system, in most cases by a Nexus Link Adapter. This is preferably done by the supplier that is responsible for the backend system. If there is no suitable supplier, the NL ICC will often take responsibility.
Write documentation
To make the digital platform readily usable for client use, the NL ICC writes and maintains documentation of the models and the APIs.
Administrate NLS usage
The digital platform normally uses a number of integration capabilities, provided by NLS. The usage of these services needs to be configured. For instance Business events would need to be configured. This would involve setting which clients can publish the relative events and which clients can subscribe to them. This is all handled by the NL ICC.
Data stewarding
Some of the Nexus Link services have important run-time data that needs to be scrutinized and maintained. For instance, the Value Translator service has a database backend that contains information on how different systems are connected.
The Data Synchronization Engine service contains the current state and the history of all data synchronization between systems. This database must be meticulously configured and closely monitored to make sure that data is synchronized correctly. Old logs and database records will need to be purged from time to time.
Develop and maintain integration tests
It is of utmost importance that the digital platform is reliable. Therefore, the NL ICC is responsible for testing all parts. The NL ICC will check that any changes to the platform have the least possible risk of impacting the platform. One part of this testing is integration tests. These test can be run automatically to verify that all parts of the platform are still working.
Release updates
The NL ICC is responsible for releasing updates to contracts and the Business API.
Monitor the digital platform
The Digital Business Platform needs to be monitored continuously. This monitoring can often be set up to be mostly automatic. The NL ICC members are alerted when things go wrong. The NL ICC must set up such monitoring and have routines for being notified.
Resolve problems
Problems that arise often need immediate attention. Since it is front end, the Business API is programmed to show any problems. It is often the job of the NL ICC to do the initial research and debugging.
Support suppliers
A existing backend system requires a Nexus Link Adapter to implement any assigned capability contracts. The NL ICC usually provides a code template to any support suppliers and assists them in developing a Nexus Link Adapter.
Roles and skills
The team needs the following roles, which are further detailed below:
- Business architect
- Software architect, a.k.a. dev lead
- Software developer
- Data steward
Business architect
- Has a good understanding of Nexus Link Services from a business perspective
- Responsible for the capability map, the entity map and the process maps
- Responsible for the business part of the documentation
- Good at modelling in general
- Fluent in the Nexus Link Modelling Method
Software architect, a.k.a dev lead
- Has a good understanding of Nexus Link Services from a technology perspective
- Responsible for the Business API and the IT contracts that utilize the Nexus Link Adapters
- Experienced C# developer
- Good understanding and experience of building REST-based API:s
- Experienced in Git and CI/CD
Software developer
- Basic C# developer skills
- Experience with Git and CI/CD
Data steward
- Experience with Microsoft SQL Server
- Good knowledge of relational databases
- Good understanding of the Nexus Link services database models