Informatica - 3

Informatica extensions and optional features

PowerCenter Enterprise Grid Option

Numerous users, countless volumes of data, and - simultaneously - constant need for providing timely and accurate data. How is it possible to keep it payable? The answer is PowerCenter Enterprise Grid Option - a solution that's designed for facilitating the process of responding to changing conditions that impact data. Enterprise Grid Option reduces the need for data mapping modifications, making the process faster and easier. With less times there's data mapping modification needed, PowerCenter solutions reduces the overall cost of solution scaling. It's possible thank to supporting enterprise data integration with grid computing architecture.

Enterprise Grid Option features

The key features of PowerCenter Enterprise Grid Option are:

• Session and workflow on grid. Basically, it allows to spread a single session processing among numerous server nodes (on a grid). As a consequence, grows the cost-effectiveness - low-cost hardware is used for supporting data integration demands. Finally, increased investments in processing capacity allow to disable the limitations in the PowerCenter platform scalability.
• Adaptive load balance. While facing spikes in data, adaptive load balance guarantees smooth operations. Moreover, there's no single node aligned to each session – the best one is chosen dynamically and the criteria are availability and requirements. Finally, it factors on metrics that are based on cost – process size, CPU utilization, memory requirements, so on and so forth.
• High availability which might be ensured thank to PowerCenter self monitoring. Such self control ensures the incessant monitoring and the shortest time needed for recovery processes.
• Dynamic partitioning helps making the best use of currently accessible nodes. Thank to no logic involvement requirement, nodes might be dynamically controlled. By adapting to available resources, it also helps increasing the performance of the whole Informatica platform.
• Web based administration interface. It simplifies the usage significantly and reduces the cost needed for deployment at the same time. In general, such interface allows users to keep the incessant control on the grids, nodes, services, and resources. What's important, all these things can be controlled from within a single console what also facilitates the work.
• Integration with Data Integration Platform. PowerCenter Enterprise Grid Option is well prepared for sharing most of functionality with other tools within the platform. The whole integration is driven automatically and – simultaneously – more than one operating system may be used. Finally, integration capabilities help sharing resources among different areas of the platform.

Enterprise Grid Option benefits

While reacting to changing business conditions, every second could be important. Thereupon, PowerCenter Enterprise Grid Option is prepared for shortening the time needed for introducing changes. By allowing differentiated applications to access data resources, Enterprise Grid Option makes a great step forward along its road to ultimate business responsiveness. Deep down the solution, complex but transparent architecture boosts system's reliability. Simultaneously, the IT productivity is enabled to grow.

Unstructured Data Option

Efficient data integration becomes one of the most problematical challenges different organizations have to face. PowerCenter Data Option supplies the PowerCenter platform's functionalities with unstructured data formats accessing capability. What does it mean to the whole enterprise system? Basically, it's a great facilitation when it comes to working on data coming from different sources, business systems, and forwarded in different (not the most popular) formats. Unstructured Data Option guarantees well cooperation with data of the strangest origins. Data of any format can - therefore - be easily readable and operable what brings company data integration onto a completely new level.

Options in Unstructured Data Option

According to the name of the tool, the most important its aspect is how it works with different data formats. Nonetheless, that's what Unstructured Data Option has absolutely no difficulties with. It supports all - Microsoft Office World, MS Office Excel, MS PowerPoint, WordPerfect, Adobe PDF, Star Office documents the same as ASCII reports, RPG, ANSI, HTML files, and undocumented binaries. Moreover, AFP and PostScript widens the range of accessed files.

The best tools with the widest ranges of appliances rarely are used by a lot of people. The reason is complicated interface which becomes a real barrier in reaching to the maximum of provided options. Unstructured Data Option puts itself into service oriented architecture (SOA) composition of PowerCenter platform what enhances the performance.. Simultaneously, the maintenance costs can be lowered while increasing the productivity. Additionally, similar systems allow to shorten the time needed for development significantly.

What's crucial to Unstructured Data Option work, is automatic data parsing. Data elements hidden in unstructured documents are automatically processed what impacts meaningfully the time required to perform each operation. As a result, grows the productivity of IT departments which involvement, hand coding, nor step by step data parsing no longer are needed.

In a very few words, then, the Unstructured Data Option tool helps usual users get significantly deeper into data. They, provided with an unlimited insight, can gather more useful information and - therefore - make better decisions. Next, business responsiveness grows. The tool shortens the time needed for data integration and - therefore - the time needed for answering to newer and newer business requirements. It's one of the most important challenges today's organizations have to struggle with. Finally, with all its benefits, Unstructured Data Option can help reducing the maintenance cost. One of its crucial benefits - no need for hand coding - saves a lot of efforts from IT departments which no longer (or - at least - not as strongly as formerly) are needed.

Unstructured data across today's organizations

All in all, there is only one more question yet to answer. What's that for? Unstructured Data Option - not accidentally - can be called an extension. It enriches the Informatica PowerCenter platform with unstructured data reading capabilities. Is such data so common to require a special attention? The facts are amazing. In the times which all organizations depend on IT systems and attach more and more weight to data segregation, even 80 percent of data which is being used every day remains in unstructured formats. These are - to point out only a few most common ones - e-mails, PDF files, MS Office Word documents, MS Office Excel spreadsheets, so on and so forth. With Unstructured Data Option, business users across the organization may benefit from both - structured and unstructured - data at the same time what influences on the efficiency. It also puts most of data in order simplifying simultaneously each user's work.

Informatica PowerExchange for TIBCO

Informatica PowerExchange for TIBCO is an extension in PowerExchange family which widens already quite a wide capabilities of Informatica platform. PowerExchange for TIBCO integrates seamlessly with Informatica PowerCenter and provides comprehensive options for developing integration solutions that meets all the today's organizations requirements. TIBCO thereby plays a role of transport mechanism, after all, and the PowerExchange for TIBCO is more or less a bridge between the PowerExchange applications and differentiated TIBCO message queues. Once broader data access from different sources becomes necessary, TIBCO alone no longer remains sufficient. With strongly restrained capabilities, it cannot read data quickly and efficiently enough, and suiting the solution up to constantly growing requirements is extremely expensive, risky, and - therefore - unprofitable. PowerExchange for TIBCO helps breaking this technical barrier.

PowerExchange for TIBCO is designed to allow PowerCenter read and write any TIBCO messages directly. Moreover, it doesn't result in lowered reliability as it remains on the already reserved solely for integrated platforms level. 
Additionally, CDC Option makes it possible to capture, enrich, and publish changes in databases without a need for any hand coding. It results in shortened time needed for developing integration interfaces that are easily maintainable and automated. And it no longer is a time difference whether they base on mainframes, midranges, relational databases services oriented architecture (SOA), Web services, nor other applications. And what's the best about Informatica PowerExchange for TIBCO is the fact that it's one product that works using only single set of skills, and it all is enough to access everything that might be needed now or later, when the business conditions change.

What also is important, PowerExchange for TIBCO ensures that all metadata coming from all used sources of data is being shared among all the applications and solutions within the Informatica platform. Thereupon, all the changes that are proposed might be introduced immediately and - what matters - confidentially. By the way, it leads to easier solving the problems which occur during compliance exercises and audits.

Key features of Informatica PowerExchange for TIBCO

• Makes business events the only to drive and control integration processes.
• Improved and trouble free integration of Informatica data integration platform and TIBCO environment.
• Provides resilience to failure at already unknown level. There is only one, reliable delivery required to make PowerCenter integration and transactional TIBCO access work efficiently together.
• Allows to support differentiated compliance initiatives on each stage of development and execution process. It's possible due to strict enforcement of TIBCO security, followed by complex data encrytpion mechanisms.
• Doesn't require any hand coding. Thank to eliminating coding need, Informatica PowerExchange for TIBCO allows to save a lot of time and - what also is important - money. Additionally, less TIBCO skills is required.

  PowerExchange for SAP NetWeaver Key Features and Benefits

  Today's companies data integration requirements grow in proportion to the number and complexity of different sources which data used for everyday analysis comes from. However, it hardly ever is easy to work out procedures needed for data integration process automation. Logic happens to be complicated and - to ensure sufficient efficiency of integration - experts involvement usually is needed. If that's still not enough to realize the weaknesses of standard data integration solutions, reasonable it would be to think not only about the initial implementation, but also about further maintenance which also is problematical.
  Thereupon, the time and cost needed for implementation has to be followed with the efforts needed for adjusting the data integration system once any of its components changes. Evolving environment, upgraded applications, and modified structures - these all are the arguments against stiff data integration.
  PowerExchange solution's role is, then, to enable SAP data sourcing and targeting without a need for additional intermediation. It makes any collateral staging tables and message queues equally superfluous.
  The best about Informatica PowerExchange solution is that it works like a fully integrated platform. It's easy to develop (with no additional code needed to integrate two interfaces) and bases on set of skills enough to access the most differentiated products. What's more, the integration can be facilitated thank to efficient metadata management. The system collects metadata of all inputted data immediately and spreads it among all the components of the Informatica platform.

  Real time Data Integration

  The faster data spreads over the organization, the better. Even a few-hour delay might be serious in consequences, therefore waiting for so called nightly windows sometimes is not suggested. To answer the need for immediate data spread, PowerExchange integrates data in a real time. Followed with seamless integration with the rest of Informatica platform and its additional extensions, it results in efficient data integration and transformation.
• PowerExchange ensures fast and efficient transformation and cleansing of data coming from any supported source.
• It integrates SAP-owned data with other organization's data sources as soon as it's needed (on demand).
• PowerExchange supports event-driven architectures.
• It provides CDC capabilities and instant access through the functionality of PowerCenter.
• Registers changes to master and transactional data immediately (when they actually are occurring).

Codeless development

Data Integration is quite a complex task and truly difficult it happens to keep it free from errors that occur during the process. However, the interface designed exactly for SAP environment is prepared very well for working with multiple SAP sources and targets at the same time. It results in significant data quality enhancements. The problem of different data formats has also been solved, therefore PowerExchange is now prepared for meeting even the most complex industry standards. Finally, it's easy to access and expose web services.

Automated metadata capturing

The more the solution could do automatically, the less attention it requires and the better results it might bring. Thereupon, Informatica PowerExchange is programmed to capture all accessible metadata immediately. Once the metadata is captured, it's next delivered to the repository of Informatica, and - then - spread across other connected systems. The already mentioned metadata:

• enables ABAP generation,
• provides authorization control,
• allows to validate user input,
• and supports SAP data accessing and converting.

Wide integration support

Wide SAP NetWeaver integration capabilities:

• support business analysis,
• facilitates business content integration,
• are certified for CA-DMI and ALE/IDoc,
• execute BAPI/RFC,
• and include SAP Tables.

  Data Masking in Informatica

  Today's organizations base on data stronger than ever before. No longer anything remains intuitive once every decision must be motivated with proper and accurate analysis. However, most today's companies consist of different departments, divisions and sub-companies, usually widely spread geographically. Organizations make huge efforts to secure the data in production environments, however very often non-production environments, such as development, test, or training, are overlooked. 
  Having said this, the test/dev environments are a potential interesting target to malicious users, especially when the data is sent to an outsourcing or offshore external vendor.
  Informatica PowerCenter Data Masking Option is using randomization algorithms which transform production data into realistic looking anonymized data that has nothing in common with reality. 
  In a very few words, PowerCenter Informatica Data Masking Option ensures that - even if some part of data gets out of the organization - it couldn't be properly understood. What strangers see is faked data that might be looking similarly to their demands. 
  Even though it's estimated that developing the comprehensive data security system could last even half a year, Data Masking seamless integration with PowerCenter platforms allows to reduce this time significantly. Moreover, hurry does not result in inaccuracy once the time can be shortened due to pre-built components. 
  
  The Data Masking tool itself creates functional and production looking data which is used to retain the original data's properties and preserves referential integrity.

  Informatica Data Masking components features

  From the technical point of view, Informatica Data Masking Option:
• Uses numerous and differentiated algorithms and techniques to mask crucial fields of forwarded data. Among many others, techniques used are non-deterministic randomization (which replaces each field with randomly chosen data), blurring (modifies the original data within a specific range), repeatable masking, and substitution.
• Maintains repeatability with built in methods
• Geneates efficient randomized output, while preserving the original data properties like datatypes, formats, lengths, etc.
• Provides own list of names and addresses which original ones can be substituted for (so for instance John Smith may be replaced by Timothy Adams, and not 'AABB CDE')
• Contains a set of rules used for modifying data from special fields (tax id numers, credit card numbers generating rules, for instance)
• Fully supports PowerCenter connectivity what ensures data from all types of sources can be masked
• Widens platform's transformation options what helps with ensuring proper protection
• Randomly substitute original values with false but realistic-looking values
• Integrates seamlessly into the PowerCenter environment (a plug-in idea)

  Informatica PowerCenter Real Time Edition

  Every solution has its worse and better releases. The differences between them are the consequence of further upgrades, modifications, and the type of users each release is addressed to. Informatica PowerCenter Real Time Edition platform is designed to take care about data integration. Unlike other editions of the platform, this one is supplied with wide capabilities for real time data operations what makes it more usable to the companies which are placed in dynamically growing and constantly changing markets.
  Among many other, the most important features of Informatica platform's Real Time Edition are:
  • change data capturing within relational data sources,
  • ease of integration with diverse communication systems,
  • dynamic partitioning supported with data smart parallelism,
  • standard support for scalable data services creation,
  • multiple process orchestration and human workflow options.
  These and other capabilities allow the platform to be used for highly differentiated purposes. In most of cases, then, PowerCenter Real Time Edition is used for data synchronizing and replicating, and data warehousing. Master data management also is important, the same as data migration and data consolidation. Finally, the platform might be used for integrating data across the whole organization.

  PowerCenter Real Time Edition features and benefits

  Here is what PowerCenter Real Time Edition platform's users might benefit from:
• real-time, trickle-feed, and batch data integration latency support is integrated in one product
• zero latency engine enables incessant data processing
• constant capturing information about data changes in all related data sources
• JMS, TIBCO, webMethods Broker, MSMQ, MQ Process Orchestration, and other messaging systems support for reading and writing
• even the most complex data integration demands are supported with process oriented data integration
• business process modeling free from coding requirements (meeting the most common orchestration standards like BPEL and BPEL4People or WS*
• Web services protocols (SOAP, WSDL, XML, so on and so forth) are enough to access data, metadata, and workflows
• PowerCenter Web service hub facilitates supplying consuming applications with data in the appropriate form and demanded semantics
• delivery time reduction caused by using Web services and built in WSDL editor
• centralized reporting and monitoring allows to reduce the administrative overhead
• support for numerous Web service hubs ensures enhanced scalability
• horizontal scalability supports enables giant real time data volumes handling
• real time data integrity guarantees sufficient data loss and duplication prevention
• visual controls for different partition schemes

Increasing business agility, and enhancing business performance and cost effective scalability. These are the three areas which PowerCenter Real Time Edition strength is the most visible at. In a very few words, its work can be boiled down to delivering all the data that is needed immediately. 
Real time capturing has a meaningful influence on organization's performance. Finally, the advanced scalability capabilities allow the PowerCenter Real Time Edition work well not only in case of quickly growing data volumes, but also when there's more and more concurrent requests at the same time.