The world of data processing is far different than it was 10 years ago. More and more of it is being done externally by highly specialized service providers. This enables companies to utilize the best available services -- without having to reinvent the wheel -- and incorporate those services into their core business processes. The resulting approach is also more agile, enabling companies to respond quickly to ever-changing business needs.
You can think of your business users as your subject matter experts. They are the ones who have first hand, daily experience with your data and processes. In a perfect world, they are the people who would be designing your processes, and in today's environment, that means taking full advantage of external services.
Your IT administrators are the gatekeepers. They are charged with protecting your business from threats and maintaining the security of your data. The last thing they want to see are your business users exposing the company's data to external services without their knowledge, involvement, or control.
There are many products on the market that allow individual users to include external services in their personal process flows. This means that the interaction is initiated entirely on the user's device and there is no way for administrators to reign in all the services being accessed. For security and governance reasons, admins would prefer that all these services are accessed on behalf of the business, and not individual users. That is one of the fundamental differences between a personal productivity tool and a scalable business solution. It would also reduce the stress levels of the admins to know that only authorized services are being accessed, that all communication is done securely server-to-server, and that all communication is logged.
In the past, that kind of server-to-server interaction with an external service required a lot of hours from a skilled application developer, taking it completely out of the realm of typical business users. It also greatly increased the cost, hence the demand for effective no-code and low-code solutions.
So how can you provide your business users with ability to create and maintain processes that integrate seamlessly with external data services, while maintaining the strict security and governance that companies need?
The iPhora Approach
Our goal was to create a framework in which application developers can create reusable connectors for internal and external services, connectors that can easily be consumed by business users in their own applications.
We learned the requirements and expectations of businesses during the many years we spent consulting in the field of process automation. Time and again, we had to create connectors for a variety of different data services using different approaches. Based on that experience, we identified the three primary components of a connector: an authentication and verification module, a module to handle the data transaction between the servers, and a UI component that handles the visual representation of a connector within a process flow.
Since the authentication and verification process varies from service to service, the framework had to be full-featured and flexible. Therefore, we created scalable approach that allowed the creator of a connector to select different fixed options, along with the ability to include custom options.
Our process flow architecture already had the ability to add custom action nodes, and this was extended to data connectors. Rather than hard coding the data transaction process (endpoints and webhooks), we wanted a fluid way that can be easily modified and updated, since service providers routinely change their specifications. The solution was ActionStreams. As you recall in our previous blog post, we talked about ActionStreams, which are reusable flows that can be used to perform actions within a process. We implemented the endpoints and webhooks of a service using ActionStreams, with all of the advantages of that format, including simplified data mapping and role mapping.
Many solutions like Zapier advertise integration to thousands of apps. However, the fidelity of each integration can be very limited. This is fine for individual users, but businesses often need more than just the one or two most popular endpoints. With the use of ActionStreams, developers can add as many endpoints and webhooks as needed, all of which can be incorporate into the workflow process of your business users.
This granular approach also extends administration. There may be cases in which your business does not want to allow certain endpoints or webhooks. So, administrators have the option of turning on only the parts of a service that they need, as shown below.
We are currently expanding our list of supported connectors, ranging from financial to social media. We would like to hear from you. Which services are most important to you?
We are getting near to the end of our iPhora Journey series. Next time, we will talk about bringing all things together.
The iPhora Journey - Part 10 - ActionStream - the Heart of iPhora
The iPhora Journey - Part 9 - Flow-based Programming for Your User Interface
The iPhora Journey - Part 8 - Flow-based Programming
The iPhora Journey - Part 7 - Transforming Domino with Microservices
The iPhora Journey - Part 6 - An Application, Rethinking and Redefining
The iPhora Journey - Part 5 - Dammit Jim, I'm a LotusScripter not a JavaScripter
The iPhora Journey - Part 4 - JSON is King - The How
The iPhora Journey - Part 4 - JSON is King - The Why
The iPhora Journey - Part 3 - Creating an Integrated UI Framework
The iPhora Journey - Part 2 - Domino, the Little Engine that Could
The iPhora Journey - Part 1 - Reimagining Domino
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