The simplest tier of integration is presentation integration. Data from multiple sources are accessible and provided side-by-side within a single interface, such as that of a web portal, such as Microsoft SharePoint Portal or SAP NetWeaver, though this is not the only technology to provide this capability.
SmartPlant Explorer is one such example of presentation integration, presenting information from the SmartPlant Enterprise engineering tools. SmartPlant Foundation can also be used in this context. For example, a user could navigate from data within SmartPlant Foundation, such as a plant tag, to corresponding data in other systems – e.g. to a maintenance procedure in SAP, to associated records in Documentum, or to real-time data in OSI-PI – and have it all presented in the same client interface to promote the decision support process.
Data from two source applications are presented side-by-side within the same interface. An action or selection of data in one system view may trigger a pre-determined response from the other system view. To the end-user, it appears that the data may in fact be integrated (supplied by one integrated system), when in reality it is not.
This type of integration is most beneficial to users for whom information creation is not their primary role, such as the managerial, clerical and manual workforce. In this illustration, SAP NetWeaver is providing the portal technology.