As mentioned, Oracle has taken to heart the idea of establishing well-defined, easily accessible APIs for all of their products. The integrations to be discussed in the next sections show the standard integration between P6 and the main three Oracle ERP systems. These integrations are pretty basic, but are also useful to the majority of companies. If you want to create your own system to be built upon the Oracle integration fundamentals, you can do so using the Oracle APIs. For example, work orders are not addressed in the standard integrations, but once a company can define proper scope, it is quite possible to integrate work orders between systems. And of course, as Oracle makes advancements in the products, more integration points and capabilities are expected to come with every new release.
The integrations from Oracle for JD Edwards and E-Business Suite are based on a set of technologies developed by Oracle.
At the base of this technology is Oracle Fusion Middleware (FMW). This is a set of software components such as WebLogic Server, Java Enterprise Edition, and SOA Suite. They are fairly generic tools that can be used to develop other applications. Many Oracle products are moving towards using Fusion Middleware as their foundation, and this can easily be seen in the latest releases of Primavera P6, where WebLogic Server and BI Publisher are now core components.
The Application Integration Architecture (AIA) is a set of tools built on top of FMW. These tools are designed to facilitate integrating data among systems. Components include definitions of standard business objects, a messaging and orchestration system, connectors to read and write data, security, versioning, and process flows, to name just a few.
The Process Integration Packs (PIP) are product-specific formalizations of integration data flows and processes. For example, the integrations between EBS and P6 are implemented in a PIP.
This may sound confusing and complicated. Perhaps this analogy will help. Pretend that you are five years old and are going to have a tea party with your friend. You will make the tea party set out of Lego bricks. If integrations were a Lego tea-party, then Fusion Middleware is the Lego brick itself. They are the preformed, yet generic items that you can use to build whatever you like, such as a set of tea cups. Application Integration Architecture is the cups and plates that you build with the Lego bricks, as well as the rules of etiquette when pouring tea. The Process Integration Pack is the specific tea party between you and your friend, with Chamomile tea and Madeline cookies. It's not so complicated when viewed that way, is it?