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Getting full value from an Enterprise BPM solution requires that it integrates data and information from a multitude of business systems that each functions as an “island”. Effective integration of applications, data and services is a critical success factor in any process management project.
The ongoing maintenance and support of the integration is sometimes even more crucial due to the complexity of the underlying systems. Upgrades or changes to any of those systems can have a catastrophic impact on the process management solution if the integration is not carefully managed. Maintaining complex integration code in multiple places in the process management solution adds to the risk and cost of changing processes or supporting business systems.
XMPro enables the business to keep existing systems and to integrate to ERPs, legacy systems or information islands where necessary. XMConnect is the component of XMPro that provides this integration functionality. XMConnect uses a CRUD approach (Create, Read, Update or Delete) and are dynamically created to update underlying applications.
These Drag-and-Drop integration connectors take XMPRO to a new level of providing an integrated solution to the client, eliminating duplication of work, simplifying the integration and reducing the risks and costs associated with upgrades and changes to existing ERPs and Legacy systems.
XMConnect provides a standardised way for IT (developers) to make data from external applications available to process consultants to drag and drop into the relevant process activity. The goal of XMConnect is to have an area where integration code is centrally managed and it enables a “zero code” approach to process consultant. The process consultant maps the relevant XMPro form fields to the Connector by dragging the field on a relevant XMPro form to the corresponding field or variable in the XMConnect connector.
These connectors can be application or data oriented. Developers can create their own bespoke connectors, and maintain features and updates in this repository, or process consultants can access the library of Connectors that is supplied with XMConnect. The standard XMConnect Data Connectors enable business users to connect directly with tables and stored procedures for the following database applications:
> MS SQL Server
> Oracle
> MS Access
> MySQL
> SQLite
> MS SQL Server Express
> PostgreSQL
> DB2
> OLEDB
> ODBC
These Database Connectors or “Database Helpers” are available as “drag & drop” properties in the XMPro Data Explorer View. This enables a process consultant to simply drag the relevant database connection onto a process.
XMConnect Application Connectors for Microsoft Dynamics include integration connectors for:
> Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 (CRM 2011 to be released)
> Microsoft Dynamics AX
> Microsoft Dynamics GP
Other standard XMConnect connectors are:
> Microsoft BizTalk
> Microsoft SharePoint
> Microsoft Word
XMConnect provides drag and drop integration to more than 300 other applications and data systems through the XMConnect iWay connector. For more information on all the specific iWay integration components see: http://bit.ly/XMConnectiWay |
