Import of linear assets from an external application
You can automate the import of linear assets from an external system and map this data to the data formats and structures used by the product.
You can use the integration framework to import of linear asset data from an external system. You provide flat files containing the data to import, such as text files containing commas-separated values. The integration framework processes this data and maps it to object structures (or interface objects) that organize the data for use by the product.
The integration framework includes some predefined object structures, including the MXAsset object structure. The integration framework does not include object structures for Features, AssetFeatures, Relationships, and AssetRelationships objects. You must configure additional object structures for these objects in the Object Structures application.
The objects in an object structure are arranged in a hierarchy. For example, in the MXAsset object structure, the parent object is Asset and it includes child objects such as AssetMeter and AssetSpec. If you import using the XML format, the hierarchy is retained. If you use a flat file structure, the hierarchy is also flattened, putting data such as asset header, specification and status all in one file. To simplify the data, create a separate flat file for each object, and import the files in a sequence that insures that data from parent objects is imported before data from dependent child objects.
After creating the flat files to import, you configure a cron task to run the imports. The same validation is used for data import as applies when a user manually enters data in an application. The import process also validates that the data in the flat files conforms to the xml defined for the integration object structures.
The integration framework also provides an option of importing or exporting directly from the product applications.