Building your integration

Once you have the connector resources necessary to process API requests and responses between the CIC Integration Engine and an external Web application, the next step would be to build and/or configure corresponding integration Project resources in the CIC Studio to complete the overall integration solution. These resources can be used to build API requests, run transformations, and process API responses, among other things.

The diagram below shows a simple but common integration pattern in which a backend ERP uses a Connector API to post data to a Web application (a new product, for example). From left-to-right, we see that:

1. A Business Process calls a database adapter, which selects data from a backend ERP database.
2. That data is transformed from one format (DB) to a format required by the Connector API (JSON). This transformation takes place using a Ruleset (and the source and target Schemas made available in the Connector Project).
3. Finally, the Connector API sends the request (POSTs new product) to the Web application.

   

The next diagram shows how a Connector requests information from a Web application and then processes the response for integration into a backend ERP. One scenario could be requesting all new invoices, which then need to be processed in the CIC Integration Engine as part of downstream fulfillment. In this scenario, the following occurs:

1. A Business Process kicks off the Connector API, while providing the request details.
2. The Connector API sends a request to the Web App for all new invoices.
3. The Web App sends back the response (new invoice records), which is transformed from JSON to DB format based using a Ruleset.

   

For both examples, all resources other than the Connector APIs and the Schemas would be part of another integration Project.