DataPortal©
by
Connection
Concepts
The
Next Step in
Sharing
and Publishing Business Data
over
the Web
Introduction
The
World Wide Web (WWW or Web) standardized and simplified the exchange
of electronic documents and generated a revolution in productivity
and commerce. A similar revolution could result from the
standardization and
simplification of business data exchange. All
components involved in a complete business process (e.g. an ordering
system which may include inventory, shipping, billing, and receiving
sub-systems) should be able to work together seamlessly, with
effortless sharing of data, resulting in dramatic productivity gains
and significant shifts in the way business systems operate.
Currently,
business systems must conform to demanding and cumbersome Electronic
Data Interchange (EDI) requirements, or programmers must develop
transfer schemes on a case-by-case basis. XML is more general, but is
inefficient and still requires a data conversion effort. There is
no current standard for transferring business data without some
development effort or prior knowledge of the data. Business
processing has yet to experience a revolution in productivity
comparable to that resulting from the introduction of the Web.
Connection Concepts'
Solution – DataPortal
DataPortal
is a new software solution that provides a standardized framework for
exchanging business data immediately and without development effort
or cost and provides a more flexible and efficient alternative to
traditional EDI. While no formal universal standard of business data
exists, many business system operations involve the transfer of data
from one Relational Data Base Management System (RDBMS/Database) to
another. Therefore, Database data can serve as a natural and common
language (lingua franca) for business systems, making
conversion to other
forms (e.g. EDI, XML) unnecessary.
DataPortal
transfers a Database over the Web in its entirety, including both
structure and content, from a source Database to the destination
Database without development or prior knowledge of the source
Database (see Figure 1). Similar to the document-centric Web,
DataPortal can be used to publish a complete Database residing in any
supported, standards-compliant Database system. The published
Database can be transferred, by an authorized client, to any other
supported, standards-compliant target Database. The user requires
only a DataPortal Web URL; no development effort or explicit software
installation on the client is needed, if the DataPortal Applet client
is used. Therefore, DataPortal provides the kind of effortless
business data transfer that is required to reduce or even eliminate
one of the barriers to the integration and automation of business
systems and processes.
Figure1) DataPortal System Overview
As
a practical example, a set of orders can be generated by a business
system and stored as records in its resident
Database. The Database data can be published on a DataPortal server
and the orders can be retrieved by DataPortal clients within partner
business systems. As a result, the order information will reside on
business partners’ native Database systems available for immediate
processing by the associated business systems. Order data can be
submitted immediately, without a data conversion effort, to existing
business partners. Similarly, new and prospective partners can start
receiving orders without being concerned about time delays or
investing in data conversion efforts.
DataPortal
uses existing standards (e.g. JDBC, HTTP) to build a common framework
for accessing Database data from major RDBMS systems and computer
platforms. DataPortal discovers the complete structure of a source
Database and distills it and its contents into an abstract
representation in the form of a serial object stream sent over an
HTTP or SSL channel. The serial data is received by a
DataPortal client, which creates a new Database
with the appropriate structure and populates it with data from the
stream. The result is the creation of a snapshot copy of the source
Database at a destination RDBMS chosen by the client.
For
ease of use and improved firewall penetration, DataPortal uses the
standard Web HTTP or SSL protocols and the client may be a Java
Applet. The user requires only a standard Java enabled Web browser,
and the URL address of a DataPortal server (see
Figure 2).
Figure2) Web Browser User Interface
Additionally, a
more feature-rich, standalone client application, which
responds to HTTP/SSL requests, can be used for DataPortal transfers
that are initiated programatically. All DataPortal clients may be
required to provide authentication information before the server
transfers the requested data. Multiple mechanisms to verify data
integrity have been implemented.
DataPortal
technology provides a standardized business data communication
channel for an automated, integrated, and distributed business
processing infrastructure that will contribute to the next generation
of business computing.