BizTalk Server

Ballard Chalmers provides a full range of BizTalk Server integration solutions for all ERP, CRM, EDI, Salesforce, databases and custom applications.

BizTalk Server provides the tools to securely connect to business applications, exchange data and manage workflows to automate their integration and offers speed to market, scalability and future-proofing for business-critical applications.

We provide expert services in the design, development, deployment and monitoring of BizTalk Server artifacts:

• Schemas & Maps – BizTalk Server uses XML Schema Definition (XSD) to define the structure of the messages. 
• Orchestrations – manages workflow and message flows between systems.
• Pipelines – custom message handling services including managing non-standard message formats and encryption decryption.
• Send and Receive Ports – end points through which data is exchanged.
• Adapters – used to connect to directly to line of business systems such as SAP or from underlying data sources such as SQL Server or FTP. Custom adaptors are developed to support proprietary systems.

• Business Rules Engine (BRE) – provides a version generic rules engine to support business rules that can be updated by business users. 
• Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) – all transactions can be monitored, and BAM acts as a miniature real-time Business Intelligence model to cater real time monitoring.
• Continuous Integration & Continuous Deployment – Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) and BizTalk Deployment Framework (BTDF) provide for automated deployment.

Other components/frameworks we provide services in include:

BizUnit – a unit testing tool for BizTalk offers a flexible and extensible declarative test framework.

BizTalk 360 – web-based support/monitoring tool for BizTalk Server environments which we can configure to monitor the service status.

BizTalk Server can be deployed on Azure Virtual Machines, optionally using a standard template.

For a pure serverless approach to Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) Microsoft offer Azure Logic Apps. Logic Apps encompass many of the core features of BizTalk and come with connectors, enabling connectivity to line of business applications, including:

• Managed API connectors – provides access to services including Azure Blob Storage, Office 365, Dynamics, Power BI, OneDrive, Salesforce, SharePoint Online, etc

• On-premises connectors – provides access to SQL Server, SharePoint Server, Oracle DB and file shares

• Integration account connectors – provides XML validation and transformation, encoding decoding flat files, AS2, EDIFACT, and X12 protocols

• Enterprise connectors – provides access to enterprise systems including SAP and IBM MQ Series

• BizTalk Server connector – for connecting Azure Logic Apps to BizTalk Server

Logic Apps include many of the constructs through a series of Triggers and Actions including:

• Schedules – for running logic to a schedule, or after a delay
• Request / Response – allowing Logic Apps to be called from other apps
• HTTP– allows logic apps to make HTTP requests
• Azure Functions – custom code that can be called from a logic app
• App Services – lets Logic Apps can call other cloud services

We provide expert help to determine the best strategy for your Enterprise Application Integration from:

• BizTalk on-premises
• BizTalk deployed in Azure
• Logic Apps in Azure
• Hybrid BizTalk / Logic Apps

To assist companies that wish to maintain their existing or new BizTalk systems, our expert Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) can provide help on-site with:

• BizTalk Development
• BizTalk System Administration