Data sources in Webcon BPS
Efficient management of enterprise resources enables users to work faster, do more, and thus – more and more effectively. Therefore, today the determinant is not only having a number of systems for managing broadly understood content, but also the possibility and ease of integrating them with various types of data sources so as to have current, consistent information in one place.
We often hear the term “electronic document system”. How does a document become electronic? For example, by scanning, data capture, and then wrapping with metadata. The IT platform with an appropriately modeled workflow is responsible for the flow, update and acceptance of this information, and a dedicated database is responsible for the storage and sharing of content. Meeting these criteria allows us to speak about an ECM (Enterprise Content Management) solution.
The heart of such a system can be the Webcon BPS platform, which allows you to draw from many sources, e.g.
- Capture files from hotfolders,
- Listen to a dedicated e-mail box – hotmailbox,
- Download data from external platforms using webservices, API, EDI,
- Read properly processed data from OLAP cubes.
Of course, the examples mentioned are not the only possibilities. The sources from which we can capture information are also dedicated network resources or an e-mail box. The Webcon service searches for a new file in the indicated locations and starts the electronic document flow.
Built-in tools allow you to verify and validate data in many ways before the user works on them. An example may be integration with the Central Statistical Office database using SOAP Webservice. After downloading the contractor’s data, you can additionally check its status on the white list, then compare the received data with the dictionary issued from the ERP system in the form of an SQL view. We can also use data exchange mechanisms such as EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) platforms.
These operations can be performed automatically, so that the operator has quite a bit of knowledge by the time he sees the document.
After the user has properly described the case, it is useful to create a document in the ERP system, set up and download the current inventory or price lists for goods using the (REST) API, to finally transfer them to mobile sellers working in a dedicated external application.
When our field worker returns from the delegation, he will create an appropriately written cost for a given department. And if the Management Board wants to take care of project budgeting, it is worth creating data sources that allow for advanced analysis. For such difficult to handle, non-standard data, such as OLAP cubes, we can materialize pivot tables aggregating various areas to finally present the data in the form of a flat text file or a readable table containing billing analysis.
Soon it will be possible to create .xml files and pass them via API to KSEF.
As you can see, our document gradually grew overwhelmed with a network of new information. Connections to client databases give us gigantic, almost unlimited possibilities. They allow the circulation of information on the basis of keys in unrelated systems.
Webcon BPS can function as an integrator, consolidate distributed data from dedicated domain systems, drawing on the enormity of data sources in the form of database connections and views, data transferred and captured via webservices, data downloading from shared programming interfaces, information processing from OLAP cubes. In addition, the platform itself can be a source for other systems and, of course, it allows you to create sources from elements already existing in the system.
To sum up – with the right configuration, building dedicated add-ons, we can become the owners of a platform that will allow us to administer, secure and distribute the company’s most valuable asset – information.
