Integration Catalogue
The integration catalogue is the list of every interface, what it carries, who owns it, and what depends on it. Organisations that cannot produce one cannot safely replace any system.
If you change this
It implies 4 topics across one module.
See the path ahead →Why it matters
The catalogue is the thing you need before a replacement, not after. Without it, impact assessment is guesswork and discovery happens during testing.
- It scopes replacement: You cannot estimate replacing a system without knowing what connects to it.
- It locates ownership: Interfaces without an owner decay.
- It reveals complexity: The count itself is the honest measure of how tangled the estate is.
The workflow
- 01
Discovery
Interfaces found, including the undocumented and the scheduled scripts nobody claims.
- 02
Recording
Source, target, payload, pattern, frequency, volume and owner captured.
- 03
Dependency mapping
What business process fails when this stops.
- 04
Ownership assignment
A named person per interface, on both sides.
- 05
Review
Revisited on a cycle, and whenever a system changes.
- 06
Retirement
Interfaces decommissioned deliberately when their purpose ends.
The interfaces that hurt are the ones nobody knew existed — a scheduled script on someone's machine, a nightly extract set up years ago for a report that still circulates.
What you need in place
- A discovery method: Network, scheduler, database links and file drops, not just documentation.
- A consistent record: The same fields for every interface, so the catalogue is comparable.
- Business impact per interface: What breaks, expressed in business terms.
- Two owners: Technical and business, on each side.
- A review cycle: Catalogues decay faster than the estates they describe.
Questions to ask
01Completeness
How confident are we that the catalogue is complete?
Undocumented interfaces are the ones that surface at cutover.
02Impact
For each interface, what fails if it stops?
Expressed in business terms, not technical ones.
03Ownership
Does every interface have a named owner on both sides?
Orphaned interfaces are the ones that break silently.
04Shadow integration
Do we know about spreadsheets and scripts moving data?
They count, and they are usually excluded.
05Currency
When was the catalogue last verified?
Documentation drifts; verify rather than trust.
Metrics and KPIs to track
Catalogue coverage
Known interfaces against those discovered in audit.
Ownership coverage
Interfaces with a named owner both sides.
Catalogue currency
Time since last verification.
Retirement rate
Interfaces decommissioned per period.
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