Service 03 of 08
Integration
Disparate systems are inevitable, but silos don’t have to be. Through APIs, file exchanges, database access or robotic process automation, we connect your digital estate so the data works for you.
Integration plays a part in every modern deployment. We treat it as an architecture question rather than a plumbing job: which system owns which data, how changes flow between them, and what happens when a link fails.
What it covers
What Integration includes
Scoped to what you need, from a single piece of advice to the whole programme.
-
01.
API integration
REST, SOAP and event-driven interfaces between your platforms, with the contracts documented and versioned.
-
02.
Data and ETL
Batch and scheduled data movement, file exchanges, warehouse feeds and direct database access to systems such as DB2 and SQL Server.
-
03.
Robotic process automation
Where a system exposes no interface at all, RPA works its screens the way a person would, reliably and with a log.
-
04.
Platform integration
Microsoft Dynamics, ERP systems, Netcall Liberty Create, telephony and on-site equipment brought into one workflow.
How we deliver it
Four practices on every engagement
Connecting systems is easy. Keeping them connected, and knowing when they are not, is the work.
- 01
Map the estate
Which system owns each piece of data, in what format, how often it changes and who depends on it.
- 02
Design the contracts
Interfaces, field mappings and error handling agreed and written down before anything is built.
- 03
Build for failure
Retries, queues, monitoring and alerts, so a link going down is noticed by you before it is noticed by a customer.
- 04
Prove it
Reconciliation reports and an audit trail that show the two sides agree, and evidence you can hand to an auditor.
Where it applies
Sectors where this matters most
- Local governmentCouncil estates of dozens of systems, where the value is in connecting what is already there rather than replacing it.
- Sales and commercialQuotation, configuration and order systems integrated with Dynamics and ERP so the numbers are right first time.
- Contact centresTelephony, CRM, cameras and on-site equipment operated from a single screen.
Proof
Where we have done it
- Call Centre Control InterfaceAgents operate cameras, payment machines and gates in real time and raise Dynamics cases from one screen.
- Warranty Claims ManagementA legacy RMS system on DB2 given a modern front end through IBM DB2 Connect.
- Quotation Tool with Dynamics IntegrationA quotation builder for a suite of complex products, integrated directly into Microsoft Dynamics.
Further reading
Also from Synapsys
The other seven services
Your estate
Two systems that should talk and don’t?
Tell us what they are. We have probably connected something similar, and we will say early if it cannot be done safely.