The Integration Engineer
When it just has to work.

This is a mapping exercise that will go through the process of creating a paper map, or mapping document.  We will start with an empty paper map that you can get here.  And we will end with a completed paper map document that documents what data from the source goes into what fields on the target.  This process will take more than one post, and I will link them together so that you can follow from one to the next.  Along the way, we will discuss the things that we are doing so that you can apply this technique in your mapping using the target and source in your own mapping tasks. (more…)

There are job or task specific tools that will have a high importance to each integration task.  When working on an SAP system, your SAP tools will be very important.  But there are tools and skills that are also important regardless of the systems and technologies that you are working on.  For me, these are the top 5 tools that an Integration Engineer should be able to use proficiently.  Do you use any of these?  Do you have others? (more…)

Definition:  A database is a structured collection of records or data.

Many moons ago, I was shown an database that was constructed back in the 50s.  It was hand held and consisted of a stack of cards that contained information about plant biology.  There was a series of holes that wrapped around the cards, some of the holes were notches, and others were not.

To query the database, one placed a pin through one of the wholes and let the cards that had a notch fall out of the stack.  You could continue this process by removing and adding pins to select different combinations of data.

Once you had narrowed your search, you could read the cards, and retrieve the data.

This was a very manual process, and I doubt that anyone today would take the time to learn to use such a tool, let alone update or add records to it. (more…)