The next step is to develop, configure, and test the integration. The following are some helpful tips for developing an integration solution:

• Utilize the existing code and functionalities for integration; extend as needed.
• Keep the message format generic as far as possible so that the same integration point can be used with other applications if needed. Use the XSLT transformation or other transformation tools to transform the messages into an appropriate system schema.
• Build an error handling and notification mechanism to monitor the failure. Keep a closed loop; there should be a mechanism to notify other applications of the success or failure of message processing.
• Develop the test data and a unit test scenario; perform unit testing before end-to-end integration testing.
• Develop a test simulation, if possible, for system testing. This can save a lot of time during the end-to-end testing process.
• Perform load testing by generating a large set of data. Often, the integration solution fails on the production load as the development or test environment does not have sufficient data to simulate the production load.
• Prepare a test plan that includes positive and negative scenarios. Test all exceptions and boundary scenarios. Also, test the end-to-end business process on integration data to avoid any fallback impact in the production environment.
• Develop a security and deployment plan for integration solutions and test deployment and security in the test environment before moving to production.

Finally, let's explore some of the best practices and recommendations related to integration solutions.