System Integration was long one of the least considered areas within information technology. Only recently, with the emergence of electronic business and Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), it is starting to receive more attention. Even though system integration has existed since the first two IT systems were connected by an interface, only in the last couple of years have standards for the fields of design, method, and implementation became established. This chapter illustrates how UML can be used to model messages and processes for the exchange of these messages.
We understand system integration to be the embedding of existing and new IT systems into an existing IT environment. Embedding can take place in-house, where we generate interfaces to other IT systems within the organization. Embedding can also span several organizations, where we connect the IT systems of different organizations. Whether the IT systems that need to be integrated...