Methods and computer program products that manage communication interfaces between order handling programs

1. A method of managing a communication interface between an order generating program that generates orders and an order processing program that processes orders, the method comprising:

computer-implemented monitoring at least one metric that is based on orders passing from the order generating program to the order processing program by generating a trend over time of elapsed time between orders passing from the order generating program to the order processing program;

computer-implemented determining that the communication interface between the order generating program and the order processing program has failed based on the monitored metric by evaluating elapsed time since an order has passed from the order generating program to the order processing program based on the trend over time; and

computer-implemented restarting the communication interface between the order generating program and the order processing program based on determining that the communication interface has failed.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein monitoring at least one metric that is based on orders passing from the order generating program to the order processing program comprises monitoring time of arrival of orders from the order generating program.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the communication interface between the order generating program and the order processing program has failed based on the monitored metric comprises determining when a threshold time has elapsed since an order has passed from the order generating program to the order processing program.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the threshold time varies based on time of day.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the threshold time varies based on day.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

monitoring at least one metric that is based on orders passing from the order generating program to the order processing program comprises generating an association between time of day and elapsed time between orders passing from the order generating program to the order processing program; and

determining that the communication interface between the order generating program and the order processing program has failed based on the monitored metric comprises evaluating elapsed time since an order has passed from the order generating program to the order processing program based on at least time of day.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein monitoring at least one metric that is based on orders passing from the order generating program to the order processing program comprises generating an association between time of day and a maximum elapsed time between orders passing from the order generating program to the order processing program.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein restarting the communication interface between the order generating program and the order processing program based on determining that the communication interface has failed comprises:

invoking a program object that removes a proxy for the communication interface between the order generating program and the order processing program; and

invoking a program object that creates a proxy for a new communication interface between the order generating program and the order processing program.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising reporting when the communication interface is determined to have failed.

10. A computer program product for managing a communication interface between an order generating program that generates orders and an order processing program that processes orders, the computer program product comprising program code embodied in a computer-readable storage medium, the computer program code comprising:

program code that when executed by a computer is configured to monitor at least one metric that is based on orders passing from the order generating program to the order processing program by generating a trend over time of elapsed time between orders passing from the order generating program to the order processing program;

program code that when executed by a computer is configured to determine that the communication interface between the order generating program and the order processing program has failed based on the monitored metric by evaluating elapsed time since an order has passed from the order generating program to the order processing program based on the trend over time; and

program code that when executed by a computer is configured to restart the communication interface between the order generating program and the order processing program based on determining that the communication interface has failed.

11. The computer program product according to claim 10 , wherein the program code that is configured to monitor at least one metric that is based on orders passing from the order generating program to the order processing program comprises program code that is configured to monitor time of arrival of orders from the order generating program.

12. The computer program product according to claim 11 , wherein the program code that is configured to determine that the communication interface between the order generating program and the order processing program has failed based on the monitored metric comprises program code that is configured to determine that the communication interface has failed based on determining when threshold time, which varies based on time of day, has elapsed since an order has passed from the order generating program to the order processing program.

13. The computer program product according to claim 11 , wherein the program code that is configured to determine that the communication interface between the order generating program and the order processing program has failed based on the monitored metric comprises program code that is configured to determine that the communication interface has failed based on determining when threshold time, which varies based on day, has elapsed since an order has passed from the order generating program to the order processing program.

14. The computer program product according to claim 10 , wherein the program code that is configured to restart the communication interface between the order generating program and the order processing program based on determining that the communication interface has failed comprises program code that is configured to remove a program proxy for the communication interface between the order generating program and the order processing program, and program code that is configured to create a program proxy for a new communication interface between the order generating program and the order processing program.