XCS eiConsole - PilotFish Technology

PilotFish XCS
e console
i
The tide is changing
Interface development, management, and
maintenance no longer have to be voracious
consumers of precious IT resources. Nor
should interfaces be in the critical path of
system implementations, upgrades, and
conversions. PilotFish Technology’s XCS
eiConsole lets you turn the tide.
A sea of interfaces
There are hundreds of interfaces. They have
accumulated over the years as the result of
mergers and acquisitions, system purchases,
and integration with third parties.
Sometimes companies don’t even know
where they all are. Perhaps the original
authors have moved on. A simple system
upgrade can have a cascading effect, impacting dozens of interfaces to downstream
systems. The unfortunate result is that interface development, management, and maintenance can consume so much time and
money that strategic initiatives are often sacrificed in an effort to stay afloat.
The XCS eiConsole—a real life saver
The XCS eiConsole is a graphical Integrated
Development Environment created for the
express purpose of developing, managing,
and maintaining interfaces. The XCS
eiConsole offers a better, faster, less expensive, and more intuitive approach that makes
managing dozens or even hundreds of interfaces an order of magnitude easier.
The XCS eiConsole delivers exceptional
value to business and technical professionals
alike. The “power user” can use the point,
click, drag, and drop visual interface to
quickly build and deploy interfaces without
requiring expertise in Java, XML, XSLT, or
According to leading research
firms, developing, managing, and
maintaining interfaces consumes
over half of the total IT budget.
other enabling technologies. At the same
time, technology experts will want to use the
XCS eiConsole because it is a much faster
way to create end-to-end interfaces without
requiring tedious hand-coding.
The XCS eiConsole is the developer’s
complement to the XCS eiPlatform. For
each runtime component that comprises an
interface in operation on the XCS
eiPlatform, there is a corresponding development or configuration component on the
XCS eiConsole. Additionally, the XCS
eiConsole acts as a repository for all of the
interfaces, so that any interface throughout
the enterprise can be easily identified, managed, and maintained.
Listener selected. All of the popular Listeners are supported, including Database Table, Directory,
Email (POP3), Encrypted FTP,
FTP, HTTP Post, JMS,
Programmable Java, and SOAP
Web Service. You can also configure Processors at the same time;
for example, you may want to add a
decryption processor from the list
of those available.
Ten easy steps to build
and deploy interfaces
The rapid creation of end-to-end
interfaces is supported in the XCS
eiConsole using a combination of
configuration screens and an intuitive Data Mapper.
Step One: Select the interface
The XCS eiConsole Route File
Management Screen provides a single
place from which to manage all of a
company’s interfaces. When an
existing interface is selected, or
you click “New”, a
graphical representation
of that end-to-end interface is presented with all of its configurable components. Components of the
interface include the Source System,
Listener, Source Transform, Route, Target
Transform, Transport, and Target System.
tion is user defined and might include the
system name, system owner, format type,
etc. Later, this information can be used to
search for interfaces maintained in the XCS
eiConsole.
Step Two: Identify the Source System
Click the “Source System” icon and fill in
descriptive information about the system
outputting the interface data. This informa-
Step Three: Configure the Listener
Click the “Listener” icon, select a Listener
from the drop-down-list, and fill in the
configuration information for the type of
Step Four: Map the source data to
the common XML standard
The XCS eiConsole supports data transformation
using a point, click, drag,
and drop visual interface.
Clicking the “Source Transform” icon presents you with two powerful eiConsole components to enable the transformation of the
data format output from the Source System
into the common XML standard
format. These are the File Specification
Editor and the Data Mapper.
The File Specification Editor lets you
import sample data formats and data from
the Source System into the File Spec Editor,
where it can be visually edited. By clicking
“Save”, the incoming interface format is
converted to a generic XML format–the
first stage in the transformation process.
The Data Mapper is then used to generate
the XSLT necessary to transform the generic XML format into the industry-standard
XML format. This is accomplished by dragging corresponding fields from the Source
schema and the industry standard schema
to a visual map in the middle. Constant values, expressions, tabular mappings, and Java
extensions are also supported through the
drag-and-drop interface.
Step Five: Name the Route (Interface)
Click the “Route” icon and give your route
(or interface) a name, and as much other
user-defined information about the Route
as you like. You can also specify that Transaction Logging should occur for the production interface by clicking a check box.
Step Six: Map the common XML standard
format to the format of the Target System
Clicking the “Target Transform” icon will
again present you with the File
Specification Editor and the Data Mapper.
This time, however, the purpose is to trans-
form the industry-standard XML format to
the format of the Target System. If the
Target System is capable of accepting the
industry-standard XML, simply click the
“Use Direct Relay” check box.
Step Seven: Configure the Transport
Click the “Transport” icon, select a
Transport method from the drop-down list,
and fill in the configuration information for
the type of Transport selected. Transport
types include delivery to a Database Table,
Directory, Email (SMTP), Encrypted FTP,
HTTP Post, JMS, SOAP Web Service, and
programmable Java.
Step Eight: Identify the
Target System
Click the “Target System” icon
and fill in descriptive information about the system receiving the interface data. This
information is user defined
and can be used later to search
for interfaces maintained in
the XCS eiConsole.
The XCS eiConsole Route File
Management Screen (above) provides
a single place from which to manage
all of a company’s interfaces.
The Listener Configuration
panel (right) lets you select a
Listener Type and fill in the
configuration information for the
type of Listener selected.
Step Nine: Test the interface
Feed sample data to your local copy of the
newly created interface and step through all
of the components you have configured for
the receipt, transformation, and delivery
process to test the interface.
allows you to view all of the interfaces for
the entire enterprise in one place. As the
number of interfaces increases, you can
filter and sort the interfaces using userdefined fields. For example, you may want
to view only the interfaces emanating from
a specific system.
administration, use third-party-provider
services, and require integration with inhouse systems for accounting and distribution. Any of the parties can take responsibility for maintaining the interfaces from their
respective location.
Calm seas are ahead
Step Ten: Deploy the interface to the
eiPlatform server
Click “Commit Route” and your interface
will be uploaded to the eiPlatform server
using a secure web service. That’s all there
is to it! Your interface has been built and
deployed into production in less than
1/20th the time previously possible!
Interface Management
and Maintenance
The eiConsole is also designed to simplify
ongoing management and maintenance of
interfaces. The Route Management Screen
Once you have identified a particular interface, it can be “downloaded” from the production XCS eiPlatform, copied, modified,
and “uploaded” back to the XCS eiPlatform
with just a few mouse-clicks.
Subject to security, developers are able to
create, manage, and maintain interfaces
from anywhere that has Internet access.
The advantage of this becomes quickly
apparent when the systems that you are
integrating are in multiple locations and
owned by different parties. For example, a
company may have outsourced some of its
Chart a new course with PilotFish
Technology’s XCS eiConsole. Build, manage,
and maintain your interfaces easier, faster,
and less expensively than ever before
possible.
Call us today at 860-632-9900
and conquer that rising sea
of interfaces.
The Data Mapper is used to generate
the XSLT necessary to transform the
generic XML format into the industry
XML standard format.
About PilotFish Technology
Based in Middletown, CT, PilotFish
Technology provides comprehensive products and services to dramatically reduce the
complexity, time, and cost of developing,
deploying, and maintaining industry XML
standards-compliant applications and
interfaces. More than 175 companies have
licensed our XCS line of products since
their introduction in 2002, helping to
achieve exponential increases in productivity.
www.pilotfishtechnology.com
PilotFish Technology
100 Roscommon Drive
Suite 220
Middletown, CT 06457
Phone 860-632-9900
Fax 860-632-9923
support@pilotfishtechnology.com
© 2005 PilotFishTechnology, LLC