Integration refers to the exchange of information between two or more different systems. We have implemented various system integrations using the Microsoft Azure Data Factory.
Integration, interface, API, messaging?
Integration is needed when a company decides to implement a new information system and connect it to its existing systems. Integration can be used to combine two or more of your existing information systems if you want to automate routine tasks related to copying, transferring or storing information. Integrations are often also referred to as interfaces or “APIs”.
Integration can also mean connecting data retrieved from an external data source (e.g. the Internet) to the company’s database, or, for example, exporting data from an Excel file to the company’s ERP database.
We also implement basic messaging solutions, where the timeliness and reliability of data delivery is key. We make sure you don’t miss a single message!
Technical implementation
Integrations can be implemented in many different ways, such as with different scripting languages, which are scheduled to execute a command using Task Manager. In fact, most of the integrations we know of are implemented in this way.
At SUPERMIND, we use the modern Azure Data Factory (ADF) integration solution developed by Microsoft, which is one of the most versatile and efficient solutions on the market. ADF is a fully managed and cloud-based data integration platform with pre-built connectors to several ERP systems, databases, and SaaS services.
In connection with integrations, we talk about the ETL process, a three-phase process where data is transferred from one system to another. The process extracts data from the source system, transforms it, and loads it into the target system. The actual data transfer involves one or more steps. We implement all these steps within the same integration platform (ADF). Data transfer between systems can be done, for example, using HTTP requests, SFTP data transfer, network file sharing, or storage solutions from cloud service providers (such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon).
We have implemented integrations between several different ERP systems (e.g. Microsoft NAV, Solteq Tekso, SKJ Jeemly, Lemonsoft, Crafthouse CRS, Kassa.fi) and SUPERMIND using ADF. In addition, we have implemented several custom integrations between various data sources and SaaS services.
Monitoring and notifications
Integrations are dependent on several different information systems, and there may be some problems with transferring data between the systems. The data in the source system data can be faulty and therefore impossible to interpret by a machine. The database of the target system may be locked or inaccessible in some other way. Errors in integrations can occur for a number of reasons, but they always have to be corrected somehow, either automatically or manually. All the integrations we implement are automatically monitored, which means that we immediately receive and forward notifications of possible deviations to the relevant units. We respond to all deviations as agreed.
Would you like to know more?
Do you want to improve your messaging? Are your systems not communicating with each other? Do you want to store data, but you don’t know where or how? No problem! Contact us and we’ll fix everything for you!
Petri Lindholm
+358 400 420 583
[email protected]