Altova FlowForce Server

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Altova FlowForce is an easy-to-use management and automation tool for data conversion and integration tasks offered as a free public beta test to all licensed users of Altova MapForce 2012 Enterprise Edition and MapForce 2012 Professional Edition.

Advantages

• No code generation
• No need to compile generated code or combine source code for data mappings with other administration modules for later execution
• Fully integrated workflow from mapping design to deployment and job definition
• Automated job execution
• All job execution steps are logged in detail
• Easy-to use web interface for local or remote administration

Triggers - FlowForce Server supports definition and execution of triggers to start data transformation jobs based on various criteria:

• One shot execution to start a job at a specific date and time
• Repetitive execution based on days, day of week, date in month, and more
• Repeated triggers to run jobs at user specified intervals
• File triggers to start a job when a specific file changes or when a new file has been created in a directory (hot folder)
• Remote triggers that poll for changes on an http server
• To provide maximum flexibility, any number of triggers, even of different types, can be defined for single job.

Actions - A FlowForce Server job can include a series of actions to be performed when one of the triggers fires. The available actions are managed in packages:

• Any MapForce mapping can be deployed to a FlowForce package directly from the MapForce graphical environment. This allows you to use all the powerful data transformation features of MapForce in an automated server environment, including XML, databases, flat files, EDI, Excel 2007+, XBRL, and/or Web services.
• Built-in actions include copying or moving files, creating or removing directories, or executing arbitrary command lines. This allows you to move or delete intermediate working files, and much more.
• A FlowForce Server job can include a long series of actions that watch for incoming files, perform data transformations, extract or insert information in databases, process EDI files, recognize and react to changes on remote http servers, move or delete intermediate working files, and much more. With its powerful set of scheduling features and advanced data mapping functionality, FlowForce Server Beta 1 lets you efficiently manage, control and automate today’s complex enterprise-level data integration tasks.

FlowForce Server Architecture

FlowForce Server - The FlowForce Server is the core of the FlowForce system and runs as a background service without a graphical user interface. FlowForce Server continuously checks for trigger conditions, starts and monitors job execution, and writes detailed logs. To execute job steps that use a MapForce mapping package, it sends an execution request to MapForce Server.

MapForce Server - MapForce Server is an implementation of the MapForce Built-in execution engine that executes mapping packages previously deployed via the MapForce graphical environment. MapForce Server is always installed on the same machine as FlowForce Server.

FlowForce Web Administration Interface - The FlowForce Web Administration Interface is the front-end of FlowForce Server. It is a standalone web application that can be installed on the same machine as FlowForce Server or on any other machine in your environment. The user interface runs in an internet browser and allows administrators to configure the specific server operations including jobs, triggers, etc. The beta version supports Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 and 8 or current versions of Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.

FlowForce Server Beta 1 Availability

Altova is pleased to offer FlowForce Server Beta 1, consisting of all the modules described above, as a free public beta test to all licensed users of Altova MapForce 2012 Enterprise Edition and MapForce 2012 Professional Edition. The FlowForce Server Beta 1 test period is scheduled to run until April 1, 2012 when all installed beta test licenses will expire.