Be ahead of the pack with IPaaS, the successor of ETL

Are you on the prowl for the newest thing in software integration? At DBSync, our approach is to bring you the best information on integration available, and we are now about to push the edge of the envelope once more.

This article is a gentle introduction to iPaaS. In it, we will show you what iPaaS is all about, its benefits, techniques and uses. This is going to put you ahead of the pack, adding valuable concepts to your skill set, and help you create an integration strategy that will put your business on the path to success.

And while reading, relax and learn, as this article is aimed at the less-technical “citizen integrators” and at the curious techies alike.

The iPaaS solution

Prior to the emergence of cloud computing, integration was regarded as either internal or business to business (B2B). The technologies behind these were based on the Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) concept.

The advent of SaaS applications created a new kind of demand, which was met through cloud-based integration. The tremendous success of Salesforce was a key factor for businesses to start considering the integration of cloud-based apps and on-premise apps. Businesses wanted to integrate diverse apps such as Gmail or Quickbooks to Salesforce, and create synergies among them. This was the birth of iPaaS.

iPaaS stands for Integration Platform As A Service. As its name indicates, it is simply that, a means of data integration with the following aspects:

1. It is cloud-based,
2. It can extract data from many different sources,
3. It allows for the transformation the data into more meaningful information
4. It loads the transformed data into target systems.

The 3 “A”s of iPaaS

The main characteristics of iPaaS can be summarized in the 3 “A”s;

• Anything: iPaaS aims at integrating not only data, but also apps, APIs, and things, thus creating a seamless flow of information that increases efficiency and cost reduction in decision making.
• Anytime: iPaaS considers all your needs, such as real-time information, batch processing and streaming. The idea behind this is to automate integration processes, and optimize the conversion of raw data into information.
• Anywhere: iPaaS is a child of the internet. As a result, it aims at integrating your cloud-based apps together with your on-premises systems. In this way, it creates a unified landscape, from where you can make informed decisions.

The main reasons for iPaaS

Integration is a highly specialized field. Thus, the necessary skills can be expensive to acquire. Businesses, particularly those of small and medium size have the need for an easy way to integrate their cloud and on-premise solutions. They need to:

1. avoid custom code as much as possible,
2. base their integration solutions on new concepts, such as sharing available templates, obtain advise from communities of users, and make use of visual interfaces and graphical flows.

Presently, iPaaS tools assist the less-technical person to efficiently and cost-effectively create integration architectures and implement them without difficult obstacles.

The benefits of iPaaS

Integration basically means organizing and transforming data from multiple sources. The benefits are legion. Basically, they can be summarized in that a well-designed iPaaS based integration creates a uniform, updated and comprehensive data set, which can be used for BI purposes or other business-critical needs.

The iPaaS business model

In general the iPaaS business model can be characterized by five features, namely:

• Multi-tenant: many clients using a shared infrastructure on the cloud.
• Operating expense: operated by service companies on a subscription-based pricing model. Therefore, usually there is no need for capital expenditure.
• Third-party software: software and connectors are provided by a service company. Thus, tenants don’t need to spend in any software development.
• Service: the service provider usually deploys and manages the platform.

The four key use cases

There are many possible use cases for iPaaS. Three of them, stand out for their general impact, regardless of business size. They are:

1. Hybrid cloud integration: consist of integrating on-premises apps with cloud-based services. In this manner, you can still make efficient use of those legacy systems that you trust so much.
2. Business expansion: the rich availability of connectors, caters for your business expansion without delays. This expansion includes not only increased production capabilities, but also the usage of Big Data and BI.
3. Obsolete systems: iPaaS makes it possible to retire your obsolete integration platforms easily and fast.

The DBSync iPaaS solution

Mentioned by Gartner and Forrester as one of the top iPaaS solutions for the small and medium enterprise, DBSync is a provider of data management, replication, and application integration for CRM (Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics CRM and more), accounting (QuickBooks Desktop and Online, Microsoft® Dynamics GP & NAV), databases (Oracle, SQLServer, MySQL and more), and data integration markets.

The app has easy to use menus and a template library that includes many typical cases. The number of available connectors is constantly updated.

DBSync also provides support, training and consulting services for its integration solutions.

And, if you wish to try it out, DBSync offers you the opportunity to explore it for free.

An actual case

ANIDirect, an IT network security solutions provider approached DBSync with the need to integrate Salesforce and Quickbooks.

The main challenges were to eliminate double data entry with accurate data visibility, map custom fields from Salesforce to QuickBooks, and to replace an obsolete integration solution. They wanted a reliable and productivity-boosting implementation.

DBSync was able to provide a solution that accurately mapped the custom fields to QuickBooks, and ensured high data visibility.

Most importantly, as Jeff Werner from ANIDirect stated, DBSync was able to provide a “most responsive, qualified and most pleasant support team”.

You can find many other interesting case studies at https://www.mydbsync.com/solution/for-business

Conclusion

We have seen that iPaaS takes ETL integration up to another level. It basically helps you to turn your raw data into organized common sense anywhere and anytime. Moreover, it helps you to create a fast, reliable and secure integration solution without the need of much technical stuff. All you need is your login and the mastery of your business, which you already have.

Ready to get the outcome you want? Check out our website at www.mydbsync.com where you will learn about the power of iPaaS.

Salesforce and ChannelAdvisor integration

How are you reading this article right now? It may be on a laptop, a mobile or a tablet. Whatever the device you are using, it is connected to the Internet.

Data integration is about that: connectivity or the ability to let your apps talk to each other. And connectivity is a wonderful thing. It gives you all sorts of amazing benefits that when rightly applied, result in increased profits.

Data integration is actually quite a simple concept. The secret of its successful application resides in how to implement it.

To help clarify this approach, this article provides you with a simple explanation of the benefits of data integration. It also explains how to practically do it by using the powerful DBSync connectors. It ends by exploring some best practices in the field of integration.

Although it won’t answer all your questions, after reading it, you will have a sound foundation to start working on the integration of your data ecosystem.

Benefits

Synchronize ChannelAdvisor Customer, Order and Product data with Salesforce records

By integrating your CRM and your ecommerce data, you ensure that your customer, order and product data is available in a unified and consistent manner. This avoids errors, data redundancy and eliminates unnecessary human intervention.

The result is an ecosystem that represents your business with a guaranteed true picture. This in turn, gives you a tool for better data driven decision making.

Integrate your inventory with order fulfillment data

Imagine a situation where you have to manually integrate orders with inventory. Keeping an updated record can be very challenging. What could happen if two or more of your sales people trade the same items at the same time without the possibility of knowing that they are colliding?

By integrating ChannelAdvisor and Salesforce, you can be sure that collision is not a problem, and that each product sold is readily available in your inventory.

This in turn leads to increased customer satisfaction, as their needs are serviced with total reliability.

Strengthen your marketing, customer service and support programs

By permitting the use of consolidated data, the integration between Salesforce and ChannerAdvisor positively influences the management of the sale life cycle, from the creation of leads to the actual sale and invoicing.

This improvement can also be felt in the after-sale activities, such as customer support. The possibility of being able to track the full history of the operation may be invaluable in situations where the product is returned or, a complementary product is also sold to the customer. The improved scenarios are many.

How to integrate them

Integrating Salesforce and Channel Advisor can be very easy when using an app like DBSync. Just do the following steps:

Step 1: Create a project

The first step in the integration process is to create a project that will contain all the information related to the integration. For this, click on the Create New Project button. A screen asking for a project’s name will appear. Insert a name and click on the Save button. Your project will be added to the project’s list.

Figure 1: Create New Project screen

Step 2: Create a Salesforce connector

Now, you need to create a connector to Salesforce. This will allow for the communication between Salesforce and DBSync.

In order to create this connector, click on the Create New Connector button, and insert a name for your connector.

Figure 2: Create new connector

Now select Salesforce Connector from the drop-down menu Select Connector Type.

Figure 3: Select Connector Type menu

Click on the Save button. If you are not connected to Salesforce, a screen asking for the login credentials will appear. Fill in the credentials and wait for the connector to be saved.

Figure 4: Salesforce login page

Note that it is a good practice to login into your Salesforce account before you create the connector. In this manner, you won’t need to insert the login credentials.

After this, you will see a page confirming that the Salesforce connector has been added to your project.

Figure 5: Connector’s confirmation

Step 3: Create a ChannelAdvisor connector

The procedure to create a ChannelAdvisor connector is very similar to the previous one. First, you need to click on the Create New Connector button, input your connector’s name and type, and then click on the Save button.

Figure 6: Create New Connector screen

Figure 7: Select Connector Type menu

Figure 8: ChannelAdvisor login screen

Step 4: Create a process

Once you have the connectors in place, you need to create a new process that will contain your workflows. In order to do this, click on the Create New Process button, insert the name of your process, and click on the Savebutton. Your process will appear in the list of processes.

Figure 9: Create New Process screen

Figure 10: List of processes

Step 5: Create a workflow

Now you need to create a workflow that will contain the integration information. For this, click on the Create New Workflow button, insert a name, and press on the Save button.

Figure 11: Create New Workflow screen

Your workflow should now appear in the list of workflows. Note that each workflow in the list can be turned on or off via the status field.

Figure 12: List of workflows

Step 6: Create a trigger

Now you need to define a trigger that contains the information about the data source. In the figure below, the trigger obtains information from ChannelAdvisor. You will also need to select the data source table from the list of available tables.

Figure 13: Create a trigger

Step 7: Create a rule

Once you have the data-source defined, you need to create a data-destination. This is done via the creation of a new rule. For this, click on the Add New Rule button, input a rule’s name, the application that will receive the data, the type of operation, and the table that will store the data.

Figure 14: Create new rule screen

Once you have the data-source and the data-destination, you need to create a map. Click on the Map link, and you will see a screen containing the field from both apps.  You can now link the fields according to your needs.

Figure 15: Mapping

Step 8: Run the process

Now, that you have stored all the necessary information for your integration process, you can run the process by clicking on the Run Now button that appears next to each process included in the process list.

While running, DBSync will show you the executing steps on the console.

Figure 16: Console

Step 9: Check the logs

Once the process has been executed, you can see the results on the logs’ screen. If the run was successful, you will see a green icon with a check mark in the status field. If it was unsuccessful, you will see a red icon with an exclamation mark. You can click on the View button, in order to see the problems encountered.

Figure 17: Logs

Best integration practices

Decide on your data integration practice type

Data integration practices are usually divided into three main sectors: analytic data integration (AnDI), operational data integration (OpDI) and hybrid data integration (HyDI).

Analytic data integration is aimed at business intelligence or datawarehousing. On the other hand, operational data integration involves data integration among different apps and databases, which can be located within one organization or more.  In between them, hybrid data integration exists.

Your choice among them must be based on the technologies that you have available and your business initiatives.

Adopt an enterprise-based data integration initiative

Nowadays, in many organizations, data management is organized in isolated silos, by independent teams, using various and different data management tools for data integration, different database architectures and administration modes, etc.

Thus, a best practice for coordinating these diverse data management sources is to adopt an enterprise data management approach, where data integration supports enterprise wide goals. In this manner, all data management work is aligned to support data driven strategic business goals.

Design your data integration architecture with the long term goal of sustainable data management

An efficient data integration architecture should consolidate databases, reduce the number of required servers and other resources, and eliminate data redundancy.

This, in turn, results in cost reduction, and an increase in data accuracy and data use efficiency.

Useful links

These are some links with useful information on DBSync’s connectors:

DBSync’s Salesforce connector webpage: https://www.mydbsync.com/product/salesforce-crm-adapter

DBSync’s ChannelAdvisor connector webpage: https://www.mydbsync.com/product/channeladvisor

Final remarks

Data integration is about transforming the way we use and manage data. Its benefits are many. Amongst them, it is the capacity to consolidate order, customer and product management. This single view enables an efficient management of the full sale life-cycle.

DBSync is an app that lets you create a connectivity bus between Salesforce and ChannelAdvisor, which can be expanded to the integration of other systems.

This integration must follow an architecture based on a long-term enterprise view that eliminates redundancies and isolated silos.

Find this exciting? Want to try it? Go to our website now at http://www.mydbsync.com/ , and try DBSync for free. You will be amazed by the results.

Optimize your business by integrating Shopify and Quickbooks

There are a lot of questions about Shopify and QuickBooks integration.
What is it exactly? It is something that my business or organization needs to do? If so, how? What are the benefits? How do I get started?
Nowadays, there is a bit of a hype about integration. But be assured, it is a powerful, long-term approach that your business needs to leverage in order to prosper in the present competitive environment.
In this article, you will learn why and how to integrate two important apps: Shopify and QuickBooks. It won’t answer all your questions. But it will equip you with a solid foundation on the benefits and best ways to apply this approach.

Benefits

Benefit 1: synchronize your sales, product and customer data

QuickBooks and Shopify are two different apps, but they complement each other. For this, synchronization between both of them is key.
Imagine your online store, successfully selling your products, but totally disconnected from your accountancy. You will have to create the link via a human task, which is time-consuming, costly and prone to errors.
Now, you decide to integrate both of them. The human is replaced by automation. Now your invoices and payments keep pace with your orders. Your inventory management is updated in real time, based on your orders. Your product and customer data are organized in a complete manner, becoming useful information.

Benefit 2: keep your accounting always accurate and up to date

Good accountancy keeps friendships, says the old Spanish phrase. And, that is true: good friendly relationships ensure trust, avoid problems with authorities, help compliance, and more.
An accountancy that is coordinated with your online sales in an automated manner, gives you an accurate and up to date source of information, and reduces time and effort with reconciliations in QuickBooks.

Benefit 3: obtain a true view of your business

Accurate and updated information is foundational to good business decisions. How to plan sales or production if you cannot know how many product units you have in inventory? How to plan your taxes if your sales are not accurately and timely represented in your books?
An integrated source of data captures the wider canvas in which the totality of the reality of your business can be painted, giving you a true view of your business.
Even more, in this age of AI and powerful machine learning algorithms, a proper and complete source of data can become invaluable when considering using business intelligence tools.

How to integrate them

DBSync’s Shopify and QuickBooks Integration provides a simple and easy solution to synchronize order and fulfillment data from multiple channels with QuickBooks, optimizing your order-to-cash process.
Creating an integration process is easy with DBSync. Just follow these steps:

Step 1: Create a project

First of all, you need to create a new project that includes all the required process integration information. For this, click on the Create New Project button, and assign it a name.

Figure 1: Create new project screen

Step 2: Create a QuickBooks connector

Now, you need to create a connector to your online QuickBooks source. In order to do so, click on the Create New Connector button. You will see a screen asking for a name and a connector type. Input a relevant name of your choice, and select QuickBooks Online Rest Connector from the drop-down menu.

Figure 2: Create New Connector screen

The system will then ask for your QuickBooks credentials, and once accepted, the connection is established, and a confirmation screen appears.

Figure 3: Intuit connection page

Figure 4: Confirmation screen

Step 3: Create a Shopify connector

Similarly to the previous step, the creation of a Shopify connector only differs in the connector’s type choice: in this case, you need to select Shopify Connector from the drop-down menu. Then, you need to input your Shopify credentials.

 

Figure 5: Create New Connector screen

Figure 6: Shopify login screen

Step 4: Create a process

In order to create a new process, click on the Create New Process screen, give a name to your process and save it.

Figure 7: Create New Process screen

Step 5: Create a workflow

Processes are composed by a set of workflows. You can have several workflows in a process. In order to create a new workflow, click on the Create New Workflow button and assign a name to it.

Figure 8: Create New Workflow screen

Step 6: Create a trigger

Your next step is to define the data source from where the process will then read the data. This information is contained in a trigger; which, in order to create a query, requires a data source connector and a source table. This query can be manually modified by using the Advanced Query Builder.

Figure 9: Trigger’s parameters

Step 7: Create a rule

Now, you need to create one or more data destinations. This is done via the creation of rules. Each rule needs a data source connector, an operation (such as update or upsert), and a destination table.

Figure 10: Create a rule screen

Once you have defined your data destination, you need to create a map between the data source and data destination. This is easily done with DBSync. You simply need to map the fields between both data components.

Figure 11: Mapping of parameters

Step 8: Run the process

Now you have everything you need. You can run the process and obtain your results. While the process is running, the console will show you the results obtained step by step, until termination.

Figure 12: Console

Step 9: Check the logs

It is important that you check the logs. They are available through the main menu, and give you information on the number of records read and written, and in case of a failed run, information on errors encountered.

Figure 13: logs

Best integration practices

When integrating data, have a business goal in mind

Data integration is about transforming data. Now, this transformation must be based on a purpose, which in turn, it must be defined by a business goal.
So, when you begin thinking about integrating important apps such as QuickBooks and Shopify, start with this question in mind: what do I want to achieve with my business?
Business goals can be of many natures: speed up order-to-sales processing, reducing costs by replacing personnel with automation and therefore, decreasing the number of human errors, and many more. They are basically defined in the different benefits that you can obtain by integrating.

A data integration solution should have an architecture

Having an architecture simple means “think before you act”. Or, as carpenters say: measure twice before you cut.
Having an architecture is essential because it affects scalability, costs, the capacity to support real-time integration, and the interoperability with other tools.
Very important, your architecture must be based on your business goals. It must be an expression of them.

Data integration is a value-adding process

As you now know, integration is synonymous of data transformation with a purpose. In other words, it is adding value to your ecosystem, as the final result is a new “product” that is more valuable than the original “material” on which it is based.
And, the added value is the foundation of your profits!

Final words

In this article, you have learnt the value of integrating QuickBooks and Shopify. You have seen how to do it in practice by using DBSync. And finally, you have realized the importance of merging your business goals with your integration architecture.
Once you apply these principles, the added value will transform into profits up. Ready to start? Visit our page at http://www.mydbsync.com/

Swagger examined (part 3) How to create a connector to your app using DBSync

— Before proceeding I’d suggest you read Part 1 and Part 2 of this article. —

In this age of integration, you need an edge. The DBSync Swagger API connector is it. If you have a Swagger compliant JSON description of your app’s RESTful API, you can use this tool to create a connector to your app, which can then serve as a bus to connect to other apps, such as Salesforce or Quickbooks, via the DBSync app.

In this tutorial you will learn how to create this kind of connector, enabling you to up your success at creating a meaningful and efficient ecosystem for your business.

Creating a Swagger API connector

Creating a Swagger API connector is simple. You just need to follow these two easy steps:

Step 1: Create a new project.

This step is required only if you don’t already have a project where you want to add the connector. In order to do so, just go to the DBSync app’s menu on the left side, and click on the Projects item. The below figure shows the results screen. Now, click on the Create New Project button, enter the name of your project and press the Save button. Your project will appear on the project’s list on the screen.

Figure 1 – Create a new project

Step 2: Create a new Swagger API connector

Once you have your project ready, select it and go to the main menu item Connectors. Once there, click on the Create New Connector button. You will see a screen asking for a name and connector type. Type in the name of your connector, and select Swagger API Connector from the dropdown menu. Then, click on the Save button. A new screen asking for the connector’s information will appear.

Figure 2 – Connectors’ item in main menu

Figure 3 – Create a new connector

 The, in the next screen (figure 4) enter the following parameters: 

• 1.      The username and password of your account in your app.
• 2.      Authentication type: select from the dropdown menu, among the following values:

a.      NoAuth: when no authorization is required.

b.      BasicAuth: when you are using a basic access authentication.

c.      OAuth 2.0: when you need to use the OAuth protocol.

d.      ApiCodeAuth: when the authorization mechanism is defined in your code.

• 3.      The URL to your RESTful API.
• 4.      Copy and paste the JSON file that documents your API.

Figure 4 – Connector’s parameters

Once all the required inputs are completed, click on the Save button. You will then see the following screen:

Figure 5 – Connector successfully saved

That is it! Your connector is ready to do the work for you.

You can test the connection by pressing the Validate Connection button, just to be sure that all is working correctly.

Final Words

In these series of three articles on Swagger you have seen the importance of Swagger as a standard for creating APIs. You have also learnt how to create a JSON file that documents your app’s RESTful service. And finally, in this third part, you have understood how to create a Swagger API connector by using DBSync.

Ready to learn more? Check out our website and start your free trial now!