I spent some of today using Elite 3E web services to update thousands of objects. This is very impressive easy to use technology. Every form in 3E has a corresponding web service, so understanding them and configuring them is straightforward for a 3E developer.
This is better than patching things with SQL behind the scene. Instead I use SSIS to generate the XML from source systems which is then submitted to 3E workflows, evaluated using business rules and posted if valid, or left for correction by users in the form if not valid.
A bit of a shame I've known it worked that way for six years, and never really tried it before. It beats some of the integrations in the past - rigid web services that only worked for a limited set of objects and attributes, dropping text files in folders to be read in the middle of the night, live SQL updates, manipulating csv and excel files to be in the right format, or handling the many date formats that seem to exist.
I think this process could also be used to do simple migrations, for instance adding a large number of clients, matters and WIP transactions in a firm merge, or to start a new installation with legacy data put into spreadsheets. By using front-end processes, business rules can be adhered to, posting can be monitored and controlled, and the system will balance using normal BAU processes, rather than by carefully calculated journals.
This is better than patching things with SQL behind the scene. Instead I use SSIS to generate the XML from source systems which is then submitted to 3E workflows, evaluated using business rules and posted if valid, or left for correction by users in the form if not valid.
A bit of a shame I've known it worked that way for six years, and never really tried it before. It beats some of the integrations in the past - rigid web services that only worked for a limited set of objects and attributes, dropping text files in folders to be read in the middle of the night, live SQL updates, manipulating csv and excel files to be in the right format, or handling the many date formats that seem to exist.
I think this process could also be used to do simple migrations, for instance adding a large number of clients, matters and WIP transactions in a firm merge, or to start a new installation with legacy data put into spreadsheets. By using front-end processes, business rules can be adhered to, posting can be monitored and controlled, and the system will balance using normal BAU processes, rather than by carefully calculated journals.
