Enterprise integration
On this page 9 topics
Overview
Topics
- APIs
- events
- ESB
- iPaaS
- batch
- file exchange
Learn first
4 h of practice (estimate)
Learning outcomes
- Compare integration styles: synchronous APIs, events, ESB, iPaaS, batch, and file exchange.
- Choose an integration style per interface from latency, volume, coupling, ownership, and the capabilities of the systems involved.
- Design an integration landscape with canonical data where it helps and without it where it doesn't.
- Plan error handling, monitoring, and ownership for each integration.
Lessons
Lab and exercises
Lab
ARC-009-LAB1 · Larkspur integration architecture
Outcomes: 1–4 · Time: ~4 h
- Build the interface catalog: system pair, style, direction, volume, latency, owner, error handling.
- Cover ERP, CRM, payments, stores, and carriers.
- Justify the style of each interface using latency, volume, coupling, ownership, and system capabilities.
- Decide where canonical data is used and where not.
- Draw the target integration diagram.
- Define monitoring, retry, dead-letter, and escalation rules per interface.
Acceptance: every interface justifies its style; failure handling defined.
Exercises (case-based; six exercises)
| ID | Outcome | Task |
|---|---|---|
| ARC-009-EX01 | 1 | Compare API, event, ESB, iPaaS, batch, and file exchange for Larkspur across latency, coupling, and operational cost. |
| ARC-009-EX02 | 2 | Choose a style for five interfaces (payment authorization, order to ERP, stock updates from stores, carrier tracking, CRM customer sync) and justify. |
| ARC-009-EX03 | 2 | The ERP's API allows 20 calls per second; the platform needs 200 order updates per second at peak. Propose a design. |
| ARC-009-EX04 | 3 | Decide where Larkspur should use a canonical Order model and where not. |
| ARC-009-EX05 | 4 | Write the failure handling for the order-to-ERP interface when the ERP is down for two hours. |
| ARC-009-EX06 | 4 | Assign owners and define three monitoring checks for each of four interfaces. |
Show solutions
- EX01 API: immediate, coupling of availability; event: loose, eventual consistency; ESB: central mediation, bottleneck risk; iPaaS: quick connectors, vendor limits; batch/file: simple, high latency, fits legacy.
- EX02 Payment: synchronous API; order to ERP: event with adapter and queue; stock: events; carrier tracking: carrier API with polling fallback; CRM sync: events with periodic reconcile.
- EX03 Buffer through a queue, batch updates, and rate-limit toward the ERP; keep the platform as system of engagement for orders; sync to ERP asynchronously.
- EX04 Canonical Order and Customer events between platform, CRM, and reporting; no canonical model for the carrier API, handled by an adapter.
- EX05 Queue orders durably, retry with backoff, idempotent posting, alert when backlog exceeds threshold, dead-letter for bad messages, reconcile after recovery.
- EX06 Owner per interface (named team); checks: lag or backlog, error rate, daily reconciliation count; alert thresholds and escalation path.
Workplace evidence: an integration architecture you designed across enterprise systems.
Quiz
Outcomes: O1 integration styles · O2 choosing style per interface · O3 integration landscape and canonical data · O4 error handling and ownership.
A self-check for you: nothing is graded, saved or sent anywhere. Choose an answer, then check it. You can try again as often as you like.
Practical part
Integration design review of the lab catalog and diagram plus exercises ARC-009-EX01 to EX06. Pass: quiz at least 8/10, at least five of six exercises correct, and a catalog where every interface justifies its style and has defined failure handling.
Common mistakes
One style for everything; point-to-point sprawl without ownership; ignoring the ERP's real API limits.
Assessment
Integration design review.
Workplace evidence
An integration architecture you designed across enterprise systems.
Career relevance
Integration patterns and enterprise systems (ARC-024, ARC-032).