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The PeopleSoft InternetArchitecture and Web Services
A Technology Overview
PeopleSoft Technology Whitepaper March 2002
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2002 by PeopleSoft, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Printed on recycled paper.
Restricted Rights
Printed in the United States of America.
The information contained in this document is proprietary and confidential to
PeopleSoft, Inc.
No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, for
any purpose without the express written permission of PeopleSoft, Inc.
This document is subject to change without notice, and PeopleSoft does not
warrant that the material contained in this document is error-free. If you find any
problems with this document, please report them to PeopleSoft in writing.
This document contains or may contain statements of future direction
concerning possible functionality for PeopleSofts software products and
technology. All functionality and software products will be available for license
and shipment from PeopleSoft only if and when generally commercially
available. PeopleSoft disclaims any express or implied commitment to deliver
functionality or software unless or until actual shipment of the functionality or
software occurs. The statements of possible future direction are for information
purposes only and PeopleSoft makes no express or implied commitments or
representations concerning the timing and content of any future functionality or
releases.
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The PeopleSoft InternetArchitecture and Web Services
Overview
When designing the PeopleSoft Internet Architecture (PIA), PeopleSoft
engineers focused on two main goals:
1. Pure Internet Access: Any end usershould be able to access PeopleSoft
applications using standard internet protocols. HTML over HTTP was key
to this.
2. Pure Internet Integration: Anysystem should be able to access
PeopleSoft components and integrate seamlessly with PeopleSoft systems
using standard internet protocols. XML over HTTP was key to this.
Both pure internet access and integration have taken off since the design and
development of PIA. Pure internet access received much of the initial attention
in the market place. Now with the emergence of web services, pure internet
integration is beginning to receive equal billing.
This white paper provides an overview of web services technology, the
PeopleSoft technologies that deliver web services, and where PeopleSoft
believes web services are going in the future.
It is intended for both technical and non technical readers and contains the
following sections:
Overview ...................................................................................................... 3
Web Service Defined ................................................................................ 4
PeopleSoft Web Services Technology.......................................................... 6
PeopleSoft Enterprise Integration Points and Web Services ...................... 12
The Future of Web Services Technology ................................................... 13
eopleSoft
engineers focused
on pure internet
access and
integration when
designing PIA.
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Web Service Defined
Web Service is an extremely generic term and is quite often defined using a
long list of technical jargon. The PeopleSoft definition of a web service is ratherstraightforward. A web service is simply an application component that is
accessed programmatically over the internet using XML over HTTP.
Any discrete component of application functionality can be exposed as a web
service. Examples include product inventory, employee address, and customer
profile. Any of these application components can be published and accessed
over the internet as web services.
Loose Coupling
Why are web services becoming so popular? A big reason is loose coupling.
Previous attempts at distributed computing such as CORBA, DCOM, and
Distributed Smalltalk are not appropriate for low overhead, ubiquitous B2B
Internet processing because they require tight coupling between systems. These
tightly coupled integration technologies require that the developer thoroughly
understands and has control over both ends of the connection. The problems
with tightly coupled integration are not unique to internet-based integration but
also apply in many instances to intranet-based integration.
Web services are loosely coupled. They have well defined, published interfaces
and can be easily accessed from remote systems over the internet. They require
a much simpler level of coordination between systems and the underlying
technology behind the web service can be changed and replaced without
impacting the systems that invoke it.
This loose coupling nature of web services simplifies the integration process,
lowering the cost of integration and making it easier to integrate applications
than techniques used in the past.
Internet Accessible
Another issue with past integration technologies is that they were not designed
to work securely over the internet. Web services make use of the existing,
ubiquitous transport protocol of the internet: HTTP. This is the same transport
protocol that is used to deliver content over the web. Piggybacking on HTTP,web services leverage existing infrastructure and can comply with corporate
firewall policies.
Web Services Technology Stack
Web services consist primarily of the following technologies:
Web service are
application
components
accessed
rogrammatically
over the internet
using XML over
HTTP.
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HTTP
XML
SOAP
WSDL
UDDI
HTTP and XML are widely known internet standards. HTTP is the standard
internet transport protocol. XML is the widely accepted format for exchanging
data over the internet. XML is also the fundamental building block for SOAP,
WSDL, and UDDI.
XML and HTTP are critical for web services as a result of their ubiquity. They
are the most basic requirements for a web service. If an application exposes its
functionality using XML over HTTP, it is a web service. SOAP, WSDL, and
UDDI are not requirements for web services, but they make cataloging,
discovering, and implementing web services easier.
Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
SOAP is the primary web services protocol. It uses XML over HTTP for
messaging and RPC-style communications.
A SOAP Message is an ordinary XML document that consists of three sections:
1. A SOAP Envelope The top element of the XML document representing
the message and defines the content of the message. It defines the
framework of what is in a message, how to process it, who should deal with
it and whether it is optional or mandatory.
2. A SOAP Header This section is optional. It contains header informationand attributes that can be set to encode and further identify the type of
processing and additional features of the message.
3. A SOAP Body This section contains the call and response information
intended for the recipient of the message. This is the message payload.
HTTP Header
SOAP Envelope
SOAP Header(optional)
SOAP Body
XML Document:
SOAP Sections in an XML document
ML is the
undamental
building block forSOAP, WSDL, and
UDDI.
ML and HTTP are
critical for web
services as a result
of their ubiquity.
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SOAP is not a requirement for exposing a web service, but should be used when
appropriate when implementing a web service. Many web services today
expose functionality over XML/HTTP without using SOAP.
Web Services Description Language (WSDL)
The shape and contents of the SOAP XML will not be the same for each
transaction. One transaction might require several input parameters, while
another might require many. The structure and contents of the request XML
must be communicated to other parties who want to invoke a given web service.
Likewise, the structure and contents of the response XML that is sent back with
the results of the transaction need to be communicated as well.
WSDL is an XML-based description of how to connect to a web service. It
references a schema which describes the inputs and outputs of a web service and
the URL to post requests to in order to invoke the web service.
WSDL is not a requirement for a web service. It simply makes it easier for theprogrammer who wants to invoke the web service to understand it.
Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI)
UDDI represents a set of protocols and public/private directories for the
registration and discovery of web services.
UDDI can be used both inside and outside the firewall. It is an emerging
standard that companies can use to catalog and publish the numerous integration
points within their business processes. The internet public directories have
received much of the early attention around UDDI, but intranet deployment
behind the firewall is where UDDI will most commonly be used.
Being registered in a public or private UDDI-based directory is not a
requirement for a web service. UDDI simply makes it easier to catalog and
locate web services.
PeopleSoft Web Services Technology
The heart of the PeopleSoft web services technology is the PeopleSoft
Integration Broker (PIB). The Integration Broker is an XML messaging hubwhich publishes and subscribes both synchronous and asynchronous XML
messages between multiple systems and provides XSLT support for message
transformation. PeopleSoft Application Messaging is the primary PeopleTools
technology used within the Integration Broker for this messaging functionality.
For additional information on the Integration Broker and Application
Messaging, see theIntegration Technology of PeopleSoft 8 white paper.
eopleSoft
applications can b
both web service
clients and web
service servers
eopleSoft
application can
invoke a web
service or a
eopleSoft
application can a
as a web service.
WSDL is an XML-
based description o
how to connect to aweb service. It
describes the input
and outputs of the
web service and the
web service URL.
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PeopleSoft Integration Broker & Web Services
The Integration Broker transports messages to and from the systems it is
integrating using XML over HTTP. It also has native SOAP support for sending
and receiving messages with other systems that communicate using SOAP.
Using the Integration Broker technologies, PeopleSoft applications can be bothweb service clients and web service servers a PeopleSoft application can
invoke a web service or a PeopleSoft application can act as a web service.
The following are several examples that explain where web services-based
messaging takes place with the Integration Broker.
Synchronous Web Services Support
All PeopleSoft components can invoke or can be invoked as web services using
Integration Broker. The following explains how this works.
The following diagram summarizes the message flow of PeopleSoft SCM
invoking a Customer Profile web service in PeopleSoft CRM.
PeopleSoft
SCM
Integration
Broker
PeopleSoft
CRM
XML
XML
1.) Publishes Customer
Profile Request Message
2.) Transforms and routes
message to PS CRM
3.) Subscribes to message,
invokes Customer Profile
Component, formats message,
sends reply
4.) Transforms and routes
message back to PS SCM
5.) Recieves Customer
Profile Request reply
message and continues on.
PeopleSoft SCM Invoking a Customer Profile Web Service in PeopleSoft CRM
PeopleSoft SCM fetches a Customer Profile from PeopleSoft CRM using the
following steps:
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1. PS SCM publishes a synchronous Customer Profile Request message which
contains the customer key data. This message is transported to the
Integration Broker over XML/HTTPS.
2. The Integration Broker receives the XML message, does any message
transformation that is necessary, and routes the request to PS CRM over
XML/HTTPS.
3. PS CRM subscribes to the message, invokes the Customer Profile
component using the customer key data that is passed in the XML message,
updates the message structure with the Customer Profile data, and replies to
the XML request from the Integration Broker.
4. The Integration Broker then replies back to the original PS SCM XML
request, passing it the Customer Profile data.
5. PS SCM receives the Customer Profile Request reply and continues on with
its processing, using the Customer data fetched from PS CRM.
It should be noted that in the above example, either PeopleSoft systems could be
replaced by non-PeopleSoft systems that communicate with the Integration
Broker using SOAP or XML/HTTP. Integration Broker was specifically
designed to integrate both PeopleSoft and non-PeopleSoft systems.
Asynchronous Web Services Support
Most discussions around web services are based on synchronous, RPC-style
integration. But sometimes the calling program does not want to incur the
overhead of synchronous calls to remote systems or deal with the scenario of the
remote system being down. Using PeopleSoft Application Messaging, webservices can be invoked asynchronously.
The following example is an asynchronous web service of PS CRM publishing a
new order to PS SCM. The example is asynchronous since PS CRM does not
need any information back from PS SCM.
Using PeopleSoftApplication
Messaging, web
services can be
invoked
synchronously or
asynchronously.
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PeopleSoft
CRM
Integration
Broker
PeopleSoft
SCM
1.) Publishes "New
Order" Message
2.) Transforms and routes
message to PS SCM
3.) Subscribes to message, and
invokes the New Order
Component and processes the
New Order data
XML
XML
PeopleSoft CRM Asynchronously Invoking the New Order Web Service in
PeopleSoft SCM
PS CRM asynchronously invokes the New Order component in PS SCM using
the following steps:
1. PS CRM records a new order. An asynchronous New Order message ispublished and delivered to the Integration Broker over XML/HTTPS.
2. The Integration Broker receives the XML message, queues the message,
and replies back to PS CRM that the message has been successfully
received. It then does any message transformation that is necessary and
routes the request to PS SCM over XML/HTTPS.
3. PS SCM subscribes to the message and invokes the New Order component
to process the message.
Customers can integrate with any PeopleSoft component asynchronously using
PeopleSoft Application Messaging.
PeopleSoft to Mainframe Web Services Integration
Many PeopleSoft customers, especially CRM customers, store much of their
critical data in home grown mainframe systems. Using the PeopleSoft
Integration Broker, PeopleSoft applications can invoke mainframe services as
web services.
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PeopleSoft
CRM
Integration
Broker
Mainframe
XML
MQS
eries
1.) Publishes Customer
Profile Request Message
2.) Transforms message.
Invokes MQ Series , passing
the XML message over MQ
Series
4.) The Customer Proifile
component executes and the
Customer data is passed back to
MQ Series
5.) Transforms and routes
message back to PS CRM
6.) Recieves Customer
Profile Request reply
message and continues on. 3.) MQ Series then invokes the
Customer Profile component on
the mainframe
PeopleSoft CRM Invoking a Mainframe Service as a Web Service
PeopleSoft CRM fetches a Customer Profile from the mainframe service using
the following steps:
1. PS CRM publishes a synchronous Customer Profile Request message which
contains the customer key data. This message is transported to the
Integration Broker over XML/HTTPS.
2. The Integration Broker receives the XML message and does any message
transformation that is necessary. It then invokes an MQ Series service,
passing it the XML message.
3. MQ Series then invokes the Customer Profile service on the mainframe,
passing it the customer key data.
4. The mainframe system invokes the Customer Profile component using the
customer key data that is passed in from MQ Series, updates the message
structure with the Customer Profile data, and replies to the MQ Series
request.
5. The Integration Broker then replies back to the original PS CRM XML
request, passing it the Customer Profile data.
6. PS CRM receives the Customer Profile Request reply and continues on with
its processing, using the Customer data fetched from PS CRM.
Using PeopleSoft
ntegration Broker,
eopleSoft
applications can
invoke mainframe
services as web
services.
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Mobile Agent Synchronization and Web Services
The PeopleSoft Mobile Agent is new with PeopleTools 8.4. It is device resident
application that mobile users access to view and update PeopleSoft data when
not connected to a network. PeopleSoft Mobile Sales and Field Service are two
applications based on the Mobile Agent.
Periodically, the Mobile Agent synchronizes its data with the PeopleSoft server.
The Mobile Agent uses web services technology to do this synchronization. It
communicates with the Mobile Synch Server using XML over HTTPS to pass
data to and from the server. Using web services technologies, the Mobile Agent
can synch from anywhere in the world to the corporate server securely across a
firewall.
Mobile Synch
Server
PeopleSoft
Component
Interfaces
Mobile
Agent
Mobile
Agent
Mobile
AgentMobile
Agent
XMLXML
XML
XML
Mobile
Agents Communicate to the Mobile Synch Server over XML/HTTP
Native WSDL Support
Using PeopleTools 8.4, developers can generate the XML Schema for a
PeopleSoft Enterprise Integration Point (EIP). W3C, DTD, and BizTalk format
schemas are supported. This XML Schema, along with their Integration Broker
configuration information, can be used to generate WSDL for an EIP.
In futures releases of PeopleTools, full WSDL import and export will be
supported.
Using web services
technologies, the
eopleSoft Mobile
Agent can synch
rom anywhere in
the world to the
corporate server
securely over a
irewall.
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Native UDDI Support
Since all UDDI transactions are implemented using SOAP, developers can just
use the XML Messaging in the Integration Broker to query UDDI repositories.
PeopleSoft Trading Partner Management can search for web services in a UDDI
repository and then create a new trading partner corresponding to theinformation located in the UDDI repository.
Based on the information found in the UDDI repository, the application
developer can invoke the SOAP services using PeopleTools 8.4.
PeopleSoft Enterprise Integration Points andWeb Services
PeopleSoft delivers hundreds of Enterprise Integration Points (EIP) withPeopleSoft 8. All of these EIPs can be accessed as web services in PeopleTools
8.4 through the Integration Broker.
And if a customer needs to change an EIP or develop an EIP that has not been
delivered, this can be done using Integration Broker integration tools such as
Application Messaging and Component Interfaces.
To get a complete list of EIPs, visit the Open Integration Framework web site:
http://www.peoplesoft.com/corp/en/products/technology/oif/index.asp
PeopleSoft B2B Web Services Partners
The following is a list of partners that PeopleSoft has worked with to deliver
web services based integration with PeopleSoft 8. All of these partners are
either exposing web services that PeopleSoft applications invoke to access
content and data, or invoking PeopleSoft web services to access content and data
in PeopleSoft applications
Authoria H&R Block Sabre/GetThere
BeyondWork Ceridian Dell Computers
EbenX ProBusiness Acxiom
GeoAccess Inlumen Embark
TALX Moreover IPrint
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Intuit Factiva Boise Cascade
RecruitUSA CustomerSat HireRight
AIRS JustTalk HP
PeopleSoft B2B Web Services Partners
PeopleSoft expects this list of partners to grow over time as web services
become more prevalent.
The Future of Web Services Technology
PeopleSoft is quite confident that web services technology will become more
prevalent over the next several years. The following summarizes what
PeopleSoft expects to occur in the web services space by 2004:
The intranet is where web services technology will be used the most over
the next several years. XML / HTTP is already a common approach for
intranet integration. Hundreds of live PeopleSoft 8 customers are using our
web services-based integration technologies for intranet-based integration
today.
SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI will become more prevalent. UDDI servers will
act as corporate catalogs for integration points within their business
processes. These UDDI / WSDL servers will play a key role in driving
collaboration between systems within the corporate firewall.
Private trading exchanges will fully embrace SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI in
order to lower the cost of integrating new trading participants.
The jury is still out on whether or not public UDDI repositories will really
take off.
Once comfortable with intranet use of web services technology, companies
will deploy and access more web services over the internet, resulting in true
internet-based business processes.
Tools and applications vendors will continue to invest heavily in web
services technologies.
PeopleSoft will continue to innovate and lead in the in the web services
space.
eopleSoft will
continue to
innovate and lead
in the web services
space.