ENTERPRISE INTEGRATION
Information should not stop at the boundary of one system.
Enterprise processes may cross portals, DMS/ECM, electronic records management, workflow, ERP, business applications, databases, identity services, AI and analytics.
ALTAIR designs integration to preserve not only data, but also meaning, process context, responsibility, relationships, permissions and security rules.
- DMS / Records
- Business Applications
- Identity & Security
- AI & Automation
INTEGRATION AS ARCHITECTURE
Integration is not a connector. It is part of the enterprise architecture.
Design must establish the source of truth, ownership of data and documents, why and when information moves, required scope, semantic context, identity and permission mapping, error behaviour, auditability, versioning and long-term maintenance. Integration is a governed relationship between systems and organisational processes.
END-TO-END PROCESSES
The process must continue beyond the application boundary.
One organisational process can combine a DMS document and metadata, a business-system case, enterprise identity and permissions, workflow tasks and decisions, ERP data, AI classification or extraction and portal communication. Systems remain separate, but the process must stay coherent and controlled.
WHAT WE INTEGRATE
We connect information, processes and systems.
Documents and content include files, versions, metadata and relationships. Processes and events include tasks, states, decisions, approvals and triggers. Structured data supplies operational and reference context. Identity carries roles and permissions. AI receives controlled document context and returns results to the business process.
INTEGRATION PATTERNS
One integration pattern is not right for every situation.
Synchronous APIs suit immediate queries or operations. Event-driven and asynchronous patterns reduce dependency on simultaneous availability. Batch processing supports volume, synchronisation and history. File, database, older web-service and proprietary interfaces remain relevant in brownfield environments. The pattern must fit the process and its operating constraints.
INFORMATION CONTEXT
Moving data is not enough. Its meaning must be preserved.
A document can lose value without its case, customer or entity, author, version, approval, permissions, relationships, metadata and lifecycle. Integration therefore carries semantics, provenance, relationships, responsibility and lifecycle—not only a technical format.
DMS / ECM INTEGRATION
DMS must not become an information island.
Data already governed elsewhere should be reused, and business systems should not create uncontrolled document copies. Integration separates where information is governed from where it is consumed and allows processes to continue across applications.
ELECTRONIC RECORDS MANAGEMENT
Records management must be part of the organisationʼs information processes.
A document may originate in a business system, be registered automatically in DEPO or records management, receive metadata, exchange states, continue through dispatch or delivery and remain available in its business context. Integration connects the regulated document lifecycle with the real administrative process.
AI INTEGRATION
AI must connect to context, not to an uncontrolled pool of data.
Document AI needs the correct document, metadata, process context, permissions and related information. Its result must return to a governed process: Document → AI extraction → Validation → DMS metadata → Business rule → Business system → Workflow.
RELIABLE INTEGRATION
The integration process must expect that something can fail.
Timeouts, retries, idempotent processing, queues, failure states, dependency outages, compensating handling, monitoring, diagnostics and alerts may all be relevant. Enterprise integration must know what happened to information even when one part of the environment fails.
OBSERVABILITY
Integration that cannot be observed cannot be operated reliably.
Traceability links the process origin, integration operations, participating systems, failures, retries, completion state and required manual intervention. Technical logging must connect with process-level evidence: not only which API failed, but which organisational process was affected and what state it is in.
SECURITY
Integration must not bypass the security model.
System and user identity, authentication, authorisation, least-required data, protected transport, audit, credentials and secrets all matter. Secure integration protects the legitimacy of the complete information flow, not only the connection.
INTERFACE LIFECYCLE
Interfaces change with the systems they connect.
Integration contracts, interface versioning, documentation, controlled change, compatibility where required, integration testing and dependency tracking make interfaces long-term managed enterprise assets rather than one-off technical artefacts.
BROWNFIELD INTEGRATION
The hardest integration challenges occur in real, not ideal, environments.
Modern REST APIs may coexist with older web services, database interfaces, messaging, file exchange, proprietary interfaces and manual processes awaiting automation. Integration creates a controlled route from existing architecture toward its future state without demanding wholesale replacement.
FROM INTEGRATION TO AUTOMATION
When systems cooperate, the process can continue automatically.
A received document can be classified and extracted, enriched with business context, registered in DMS, evaluated by a business rule, routed for automated handling or human decision, and reflected in downstream systems. Integration is the foundation of end-to-end process automation.