EAI Blog

XML Troubles

jdwalton@uwm.edu (ADMIN) — Sun, 04 May 2008 06:56:11 GMT

I am currently trying to get the schema to stick to my completed XML document. I currently don't understand why it works for some of the examples, and not for mine (implamented in the same fashion.

I will update this when it is done.

Oops!

jdwalton@uwm.edu (ADMIN) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:18:22 GMT

I am a little late with this entry, but am back dating it to help keep track of which entries belong to which weeks.

This was quite the productive past seven days. Our group project has really taken off. We have completed the SAP side (both in a messy "test" form, and in a cleaned up final form), and our website is almost ready to roll!

Aside from the project, I am finishing out the rpML transformation of my paper. This has been a really busy week to say the least with me being the last one out of Lubar twice this past week. Aside from everything going on in 746, two projects are coming to fruition.

These last few weeks are going to be hectic, but the finish line is in site.

Group Work, End of Semester

jdwalton@uwm.edu (ADMIN) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:21:45 GMT

So, Team II met again this weekend to get a good start on our project. I think we have a good portion of the front end completed as well as a good portion of the back end completed in SAP. I am not expecting too much time to be required next weekend to complete this task, so that is good as it will leave time for me to convert my paper to the xml format. I noticed that while working in SAP, I was remembering quite a bit from the labs, so I am glad I am retaining the information we are covering.

It is hard to believe the semester is almost over and that only a few weeks are left. I am going to keep with it and finish strong... I was a little worried at the beginning of the semester about what to expect from grad school, but I have to say it has been a good experience and I look forward to upcoming classes.

Group Meeting, Assigned Paper

jdwalton@uwm.edu (ADMIN) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:59:57 GMT

So our internet went out last night, so I have been relegated to write this over my lunch break at work. Good times, huh.

So yeah, Group II (of the Grad Groups) met again over the weekend and have our next deliverable already completed. I have agreed to start the leg work for the .net side of our online store. Although I am relatively unfamiliar with this (never having done anything like this before Lab1) I feel confident I will be able to figure it out and get everything linked to the appropriate web services. In general, I enjoy working with this group and think we will accomplish some great things.

For today, we also had to turn in our questions and comments on the BPM paper. I thought it was an interesting topic in its relation to the newer regulatory compliance mandates set out by Sarbanes-Oxley and the like.

So, yeah, that is about it for now. Back to work, then studying.

Long weekend (it has been)

jdwalton@uwm.edu (ADMIN) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 04:17:36 GMT

Once again, I met up with my group to go over our project for class. We turned in a deliverable already and are hoping to get some good feedback before the due date.

Beyond that, I have finished my term paper on grid computing. I will link it here when I get it on the web. Because I can, I will display the intro to it below.

2. Introduction

In the early 90’s the term ‘Computational Grid’, a type of distributed computing, was popularized by Ian Foster and Carl Kesselmans in their paper "The Grid: Blueprint for a new computing infrastructure". The term was used as a metaphor comparing distributed computing to the electric power grid of the early 1900’s ¹. Distributed Computing, and in some cases grid computing, utilizes a computer network to interface a group or cluster of computers allowing them to work together to accomplish a set of computationally intensive instructions. A cluster of computers working in a grid are able to accomplish a similar workload to that of a super computer, but without the expense. This technology was popularized in the late 90’s by distributed.net and again in 1999 by SETI@home to harness the power of networked PCs worldwide. Since its popularization, distributed computing has become so powerful its systems can be so powerful they rival the fastest supercomputers and access to these systems can be obtained for a comparatively small investment. Currently a few of the areas utilizing virtual supercomputers for data analysis are molecular modeling, brain activity analysis, and high energy physics.

So yeah, I am done for the weekend. Have a good one everyone.

Group Meeting/Project

jdwalton@uwm.edu (ADMIN) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:11:17 GMT

I met with Kandy and Bretton this past Saturday to discuss the online group project. We went over the various parts that were going to be needed for next week's deliverable and made great headway on the first part of our project. We have a few questions that could use some clarifying, but for the most part I think it will be smooth sailing. I look forward to working with my teammates on the completion of this project.

End of break, SAP issues

jdwalton@uwm.edu (ADMIN) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 03:58:44 GMT

I threw out my back a couple of days ago and it still hurts to sit, let alone stand. As such, I have been putting off doing part b of lab 3. I have been having some issues with it at home, so I plan to try it at school tomorrow in one of the campus labs. Other than that chapter 16 was a good read on webservices and the various security methods used to protect the information. I guess for now, I am heading to bed.

Spring Break...

jdwalton@uwm.edu (ADMIN) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:47:32 GMT

I am taking the week off as it is spring break. I will be back by Sunday with a new entry though.

Exam: Thoughts

jdwalton@uwm.edu (ADMIN) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 03:06:04 GMT

So I just finished the exam, and I am reasonably confident in my work. I have to say though I was a more lax with my time usage than I should have been. When taking open book exams, I always feel like more information needs to be added (especially for open ended questions) as all the information is available. In essence, I feel like I rely less on my knowledge and more on my ability to verify the information I am putting down. For me this leads me to spend more time on each question to make sure I have all the required information. I guess that I will just have to adjust my strategy for taking the next exam.

Oh, well, at least I am past this hurdle.

Paper Proposal

jdwalton@uwm.edu (ADMIN) — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:21:19 GMT

I submitted my paper proposal and I plan to write my term paper on the ‘grid’. Computer hardware has always been of high interest to me. For my own personal use, building the fastest computer at the lowest cost has always been a fun and interesting process. I have fooled around with over-clocking, over-volting, and water-cooling trying to eek out as much power as I can per set price point. Grid computing so far in concept seems to be an extension of my desire to learn more about how to utilize components to the best of their ability.

The IBM definition of grid computing is, "the ability, using a set of open standards and protocols, to gain access to applications and data, processing power, storage capacity and a vast array of other computing resources over the Internet. A grid is a type of parallel and distributed system that enables the sharing, selection, and aggregation of resources distributed across 'multiple' administrative domains based on their (resources) availability, capacity, performance, cost and users' quality-of-service requirements".

My paper will include (,but is not limited to), definitions, current technology/implementations, standardizations, security, and current projects.

I have to say, I was apprehensive about this project before I started looking into the various topics, but once I chose my topic, I was excited to learn more. I think this paper will be a great learning experience into a great topic.

Health Services and SOAs

jdwalton@uwm.edu (ADMIN) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:31:40 GMT

So, I was slightly confused as to what is due tomorrow***. The class website indicates that the next reading is due a week from today, while the syllabus states that reading #2 is due tomorrow. To be on the safe side, I decided I would do the reading tonight.

I thought that in general the article was interesting and well written. I really had no idea the medically based software companies were so cutthroat about doing business. I guess it kind of makes sense, especially if a healthcare provider will only be willing to purchase from 2-3 vendors to ensure proper integration and functionality.

My experience using and writing web services is very limited, so I found it very interesting to find out how powerful they could be. The article talked about how integration of disparate systems was possible through the use of web services and about how such integration made it possible for the information to be accessed through a variety of means and locations. Now that I think of it though… I don’t remember that article talking about the downside of this choice for integration. Nearly every chapter in the book indicated that each type of integration method had both an upside and a downside. The article mentions very little of the downside of this type of integration method. If I hadn’t already submitted my questions, this would now be one of them.

In general though, I liked the article as it highlighted yet another method of integration, in a field we have had yet to talk about.

Well I guess that is if for this week. Have a good one.

*** Edit - I was thinking the syllabus was written like that of another class I have... Oh well, the article is decent and you will have fun reading it when it is actually due... Maybe a little more sleep is in order for me.

Chapters 6 and 7

jdwalton@uwm.edu (ADMIN) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 21:32:48 GMT

Since I have not read any additional articles of interest which would pertain to this class, I guess I will write about the required chapters due for this week.

For tthis week, we were supposed to read chapters six and seven. Chapter Six was the interoductory chapter in the use of middleware in the integreation process. The chapter outlined the basics of middleware including is use, funtionality and the types of middleware modles which are being utilized today.

Some of this basic overview included a discussion of communication methods (synchonous vs asynchronous, direct vs queued etc.). The chapter then goes on to describe types of middleware. For the sake a brevity, and because this topic is covered in more detail in chapter 7, I will talk about this later in this blogging.

As stated above, chapter seven flushes out the details of the specific types of middleware. These types include:

· RCPs

· MOM

· Distributed objects

· Database oriented middleware

· Transactional middleware

· Integration servers (not covered in chapter 7)

Chapter 7 does a good job of describing each of the pros and cons of each tpe of system. I thought it did a nice job of also laying out potential questions the reader might have had and their solutions which have been described in detail using real world examples. Specifically, I really liked the chapter’s description IBM’s Mqseries enviroment and the inovation it has brought to the market.

So yeah, that is about it. Till next time folks.

Also as a short note. Professor Haines sent me a link to the document I refernced in my last blog. I have updated the previous blog with the link for anyone who might want to read it.

Data Scrapers and Business Intelligence

jdwalton@uwm.edu (ADMIN) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 18:12:31 GMT

I figure that because there are enough blogs written on the assigned chapters, I will write about a paper I read which directly pertains to our discussion of data scraping in the last class.

For BUS ADM 814 I read a paper entitled "Competitor Analysis and Its Defense in the E-Marketplace". Specifically, this paper talked about the use of Intelligent Agents (IAs) which were described to be automated bots which could utilize data scraping in order to obtain information about a competitor's company though information posted on their website. The data which had been scraped could then be mined for useful information, and in the example of price aggregators, could be reused to set price standards for their own online company.

Using data scraping in this fashion allows for competitor analysis and in the case of price aggregators, allows for fewer man-hours to be charged as the system becomes self automated (providing your competitors don't block your ip).

The rest of the article talked about how bots could be used aggressively against a company, and how to potentially defend against an attack. All in all I thought it was a good article and I enjoyed learning how the functionality of tools written for the purpose of Enterprise integration could be used for Business Intelligence.

Addendum - This article can be found at (thanks to Professor Haines):

"The Internet, Intelligent Agents, Competitor Analysis and Its Defense in the

 E-Marketplace," with Yihua Sheng and Charles Litecky. Communications of the ACM,

 August 2005, Vol. 48, No. 8, pp. 107-112.

First Entry

jdwalton@uwm.edu (ADMIN) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 17:20:17 GMT

This is my first entry. I will write more when I get a chance.