 The horizontal scheme can be misleading, however, if it is thought that the cost of intermediate data transformation or the cost of shifting responsibility over business logic can be avoided.A common data format is an integration method to avoid every adapter having to convert data to/from every other applications' formats, Enterprise application integration (EAI) systems usually stipulate an application-independent (or common) data format.The EAI system usually provides a data transformation service as well to help convert between application-specific and common formats.