In SystemsDevelopment projects, often SystemIntegration can be a bigger task than programming.
And in recent climate where a lot of IT decisions favor ApplicationServiceProvider, OutSourcing, use of EnterpriseResourcePlanningSoftware, etc, SystemIntegration can become the most complex task. Programming duties can sometimes become a nonevent.
A well designed and planned IntegrationTest will be an essential component of TotalQualityManagement.
And perhaps the shift towards more SystemIntegration instead of SystemsArchitecting, is the driving force behind the recent attention given to InformationTechnologyServiceManagement type initiatives.