|
|
7. External Data Sources and Applications
In Barrier #5 – “Normal SQL Server Databases” – we talked about using custom SQL Server databases to increase performance and “normalization” scenarios for information within SharePoint. However, organizations have data in many other external data sources and applications. They may be part of custom database applications, separate point solutions, or applications with web services interfaces. A significant enterprise use of SharePoint would be to start to use it as the front end application environment.
Here are a number of scenarios where this would apply:
- SharePoint front end for legacy mainframe application
- SharePoint front end for SQL Server database application
- Creating new business processes within SharePoint interacting with applications/services on external applications
- Relational integration of separate enterprise data sources, such as having Purchase Order documents in SharePoint related to Customers in a CRM system
- Exposing data from external data sources within SharePoint
Mashups of data from outside of SharePoint with each other
- Mashups of data from outside of SharePoint with data inside of SharePoint
To accomplish these, we again use the Data Integration Toolset. It has the same functionality and richness when dealing with non–SharePoint and non–SQL Server data sources and applications. It can access any data sources via a Web Service or an ODBC connection. By fully leveraging its capabilities, however, you can create some robust, complex solutions leveraging your enterprise resources and Internet services. Below we’ll look at its use with an Internet mapping web service integrated with SQL Server data.
Executive View of Customer Locations
In this scenario an executive wants a view of where their customers are located. The data about his customers lives in a SQL Server database (which could be any type of database or application). The solution is mapping this customer data
and displaying it in this map view. This solution is again just a group of modular components that are configured to make the connections, without custom code development.
Click here to see this display in the Executive Dashboard of Breeze.
Integrating Hoovers (Dun and Bradstreet) Web Service
This solution allows an Executive to dynamically retrieve real time Hoovers data about their customers. There customers are stored in SQL Server.
They click on a customer name in the display and it connects to a Hoovers web service to retrieve the information. This is one of thousands of web services that are availble for integration.
Click here to see the Hoovers integration in the Executive Dashboard of Breeze.
|
|