CIS 8020 Systems Integration

Blog Votes and Statistics

2009-12-04T08:33:00.000-08:00

Blogger of the Class: Michael Morgan
Runner-up: Ashar Attaluri
Honorable mention: David Bowles, Tarun Dhawan

Best blog site: http://mavericks8020.blogspot.com/
Runner-up: http://nucleus-inc.blogspot.com/

Some statistics will be updated later.

Please export your blogs and submit

2009-12-01T15:30:00.000-08:00

This is the last action item for your blog project. Please go to your blog "Settings" --> "Basic" --> "Blog Tools" and export your blog as an XML file. Please email me a copy of your XML file. I need to have a record of it. Plus, it will be easier for me to integrate all your blogs and comments to do some statistics.

Assignment 3: Survey on the blog project

2009-11-20T17:43:00.000-08:00

This survey about the blog project is your 3rd assignment. Please download the survey and a consent form, fill them out at your own time (the URLs are provided below), and print them. The survey is anonymous so please take it easy. I will collect the survey and consent form in class on December 1st. Please spend some quality time on responding to the survey, as your input is invaluable to the design of this project for future classes.

1. Consent form:
http://gzheng.cis.gsu.edu/teaching/cis8020/files/consent.doc
2. Survey:
http://gzheng.cis.gsu.edu/teaching/cis8020/files/blog-survey.doc

Blog Voting for Bonus

2009-11-17T15:30:00.000-08:00

Please have a look at the voting form for blogs.
http://gzheng.cis.gsu.edu/teaching/cis8020/files/blogvote.pdf

I am going to collect the votes in class on December 1st. You have two weeks to review all of our blogs and sites, and determine your nominations. You may bring a printed and filled form to class; I will also distribute the form in class. Results will be announced in class and on this blog site.

Please view the voting results as more of spiritual encouragement, and peer recognition, than just a few bonus points.

Hardware Integration Analogy

2009-11-10T13:00:00.000-08:00

Here are some examples of hardware integration styles. Can you find the similar styles in "system integration"?
1. Swiss army knife, leatherman (thanks to Steve), and other N-in-1 tools
2. Universal remote
3. Constructicons/Devastator
4. Lego
5. Converter/adaptor, for power plugs, A/V cables, etc.
6. Screwdriver with replacable heads
7. USB
8. iPhone

Do you have other good hardware integration examples?

Design Project Instruction is posted!

2009-10-20T15:58:00.000-07:00

Please see the "Course Resource" section on the sidebar, or the "Course Work" section in the online schedule webpage (you can also download some example papers that show how to describe a solution).

Assignment 2 Blog Example

2009-10-13T10:30:00.001-07:00

[Title: CIS 8020 Assignment 2 JZ Google Pie Chart]

A small stock tracking website collects stock buy and sell information from many mutual funds. It produces percentages of buy/sell of any stock by all mutual funds within a certain period of time. Besides just presenting these numbers as pure text, the web site wants to put them in charts for better appearance.

Google Chart API is a good candidate solution for this problem. It generates static chart images which can be easily integrated to any webpage. The website just needs to prepare the input data (the percentages of buy and sell) and configure a few setting on its style. A chart is prototyped as following:

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=p3&chd=t:70,30&chtt=Intel(INTC)&chs=400x200&chco=00FF00,FF0000&chl=Buy|Sell

Built upon this, the website also provides a dashboard-like page for all Dow 30 stocks.

Compare to other solutions, this is easy to use and implement. Such an API saves the development and maintenance effort. It also saves computing power and bandwidth. The application can be nicely integrated to the website. Service speed is also satisfying.

Assignment 2

2009-10-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

http://gzheng.cis.gsu.edu/teaching/cis8020/files/assignment2.pdf

Conceptual Integration Framework 2

2009-10-05T04:34:00.000-07:00

This is a follow-up to my earlier post on a conceptual integration framework. Here I use a crow's foot style ERD to illustrate a high-level framework. In this framework, each of these entities (problems, solutions/strategies, and technologies) will be described by some more structured attributes (dimensions), besides textual descriptions. Then their applications (the relationships) will be described with the discussion on advantages and weaknesses. This should lead to a collection of high level patterns (both theoretical and practical). The framework is still very preliminary; more details on need to be worked out.

Integration Technologies Hype Cycle

2009-10-04T14:21:00.001-07:00

Gartner publishes their hype cycles every year on many subjects. The image below is for the application integration domain in 2006. You can see many of the technologies we have discussed.

Visit here for more hype cycles since 1995

Is XML getting old?

2009-09-29T12:42:00.000-07:00

We had nice discussion in the class on XML, and its advantages and weakness. There are different opinions about XML and I was a bit surprised when Phil showed that a search on "Why XML Sucks" returns many results.

The debate is not just in this class. It's just a miniature of the outside world. Here are two recent blogs (right after our session on XML) on this issue:

"XML on the wane? Say it isn't so, Jack" http://blogs.zdnet.com/service-oriented/?p=2986
"What's the future of XML?" http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/soa-talk/whats-the-future-of-xml/

Transforming XML using MapForce

2009-09-27T20:10:00.001-07:00

MapForce is a good visual tool for a simple XML transformation, such as that in your assignment 1 from Atom to RSS 2.0. You can download a trial version for 30 days at
http://www.altova.com/mapforce.html

You can view a tutorial or a demo for XML transformation here (click the link below and choose the "XML Mapping" Section): http://www.altova.com/videos.asp?type=0&video=mapforce

One note: you can open XSD schema and you can also directly open your Atom XML file (a schema will be automatically generated).

As you can see, MapForce is pretty easy to use for visual mapping. You can also search for "MapForce" in YouTube and you will get some more video tutorials there.

Assignments

2009-09-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

Individual assignments will be posted on the schedule web page, in the right column, under the "Course Work" section: http://gzheng.cis.gsu.edu/teaching/cis8020/schedule.htm

Free XML/XSLT Tools

2009-09-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

We will do some hands-on XML/XSLT work. The Notepad can help with the editing work, but a better XML/XSLT editor may be more helpful.

I posted some free tools here:
http://cubicle-h.blogspot.com/2009/09/free-xmlxslt-tools.html

If you know some other free and better ones, let us know.

A Conceptual Framework for Integration Problems and Solutions

2009-08-31T10:27:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to find a good and pretty comprehensive way (framework) to summarize the problems and solutions in the system integration subject area. Many good articles provide some aspects to this work; but I have not found a comprehensive and detailed one. Please share with us if you know one, or find one during your future research.

I am also thinking about developing one from scratch, or at least based on some existing framework (like the three dimension model from Hasselbring et al. 2000), both for the research purpose and the teaching purpose. This will be a good exercise for the semester and let's see if we could have a satisfying framework by the end of this semester.

Even if there is an excellent one already there, the development of this framework would still be a facilitator for our learning and understanding of the subject area. Because knowledge is not obtained by being given, but rather it is an active synthesizing process for each particular person.

I will post the framework in a separate document (webpage) and update it constantly for the semester (URL to be determined). Please post your comments and share your thoughts here. Thanks!

- Wilhelm Hasselbring et al. (2000), "Information system integration", Communications of the ACM, Volume 43, Issue 6 (June 2000), Pages: 32-38

Developing a Professional Blog

2009-08-28T11:57:00.000-07:00

Here I found something online that may give you some tips using blogspot.com:
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/03/24/8-steps-to-a-more-professional-blogspot-blog/

Presentation Schedule

2009-08-27T05:52:00.000-07:00

[Update] The schedule is finalized. Check the class schedule web page for presentation schedule.

Please check the schedule web page for weekly plans. I got a large number of requests on certain weeks. I cannot accommodate all of your requests; please forgive me. I considered your preferences and the date/time of your request. Let me know if you definitely hate both of the topics you are scheduled. I will see if we can make some additional adjustments. Thanks.

And, please email me your recommended readings for your presentation, as well as posting them as a blog. Thanks.

More about your blog sites

2009-08-27T05:34:00.000-07:00

I have finished putting all your blog sites on this main site. Please check out the "Student Blog Updates" frequently. Reading these blogs and making comments are part of your course work.

Please also place a link to http://cis8020.blogspot.com/ in a noticeable place on your blog site. You can use the Links Gadget. This will provide convenience to readers.

Happy blogging.

Good Books on System Integration?

2009-08-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

I have been looking for a good book on system integration. I asked the question around, posted a discussion in Linkedin groups, and searched the Internet; but I did not find a satisfying one. If you have one to recommend, please let me know (or just comment this blog entry). Thanks!

Welcome to CIS 8020 Blogging Project

2009-08-18T10:14:00.001-07:00

One aspect of effective teaching and learning is the active participation of students, both in the classroom and outside the classroom. This project is designed to have students participate in course activities in a unique way: through online blogging. Blog is used widely by information technology professionals for information sharing and informal knowledge contribution. In this class, each student group will create a group blog site and contribute to the discussion by writing something related to the course content, and giving active feedback to other’s blog as well. This informational writing (compared to term papers) is an effective and efficient way of learning and knowledge sharing.

For more detailed information, please read the PDF document listed in the right panel.