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Interoperability sounds like a bit of a complex term. So what does it really mean? As an organisation, your systems will have tons and tons of data stored between them. So when it comes to other departmental systems sharing any of that data with your finance system, the last thing you want is complications to arise. Interoperability allows this information to be shared in an easy and stress-free way. Interoperability defined There are a number of definitions of interoperability, and as this is the world of IT, some are quite technical and opaque. Most people define it as the ability for two software applications to exchange information in real
of some kind. This method has been used for decades and it has some pretty serious limitations: •Due to human error, a file might not get created or loaded properly, or the transfer is missed one week, or it might get loaded twice by mistake, which is a disaster for finance systems as it’s impossible to simply delete data.
Argh! Which data is up to date?
time, without human intervention. Many definitions also include the ability for this to happen on a transactional basis, in other words, an outcome where system 1 generates a transaction that is immediately sent to system 2 in real time. There’s no need for batching things up and waiting for a scheduled transfer to happen at some point in the future. Having said that, there’s no reason why the receiving system can’t batch things up to wait for approval but that’s not a system limitation.
What are the options? There are three basic methods for getting applications to share information:1. Flat File Transfer This is when data is extracted from System 1 and written to a file that can be transferred to System 2 where it will be read and inserted. Typically the file is a comma delimited text file
•Flat File Transfer can work effectively for a one off transfer, but what happens when the original data changes? Even something simple like a change of address can be very difficult to deal with. •It’s difficult to ensure that the routine that selects the data in system 1 doesn’t miss something, or use data that’s already been selected before In short, Flat File Transfer is adequate for one off jobs like loading setup data, but for ongoing transactional processing it’s really a non-starter. 2. Classic “Integration” This solution was very popular around thirty years ago, and involved System 1 and System 2 both sharing the same data objects in the database. For example, both systems might share the same Suppliers Table. Obviously if there’s only one set of data then it’s always going to be “in step”.
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