Integration with external applications
Applications that run on IBM® Maximo® Real Estate and Facilities can be made to work with applications that run outside IBM Maximo Real Estate and Facilities in different ways.
There are a variety of mechanisms available for this purpose. These mechanisms are intended for different sorts of applications and data. They differ from each other in a number of ways.
One of the ways integration mechanisms differ from each other is the extent to which they require the services of a professional programmer. The following is a list of integration mechanisms in order of how much programmer involvement is required.
| Integration Mechanism | Description | Programmer Needed |
|---|---|---|
| An email message is sent to an external application that can interpret the message. | Only if the external application is not already able to process email messages. | |
| Form Report | Form reports provide a mechanism of presenting data in an Excel spreadsheet, Word document, or external report through IBM Maximo Real Estate and Facilities. The application developer is responsible for creating the spreadsheet, document, or external report. | Not usually. |
| DataConnect | The DataConnect solution employs staging tables and workflow tasks, allowing an external source to write data directly into the Maximo Real Estate and Facilities staging tables and have Maximo Real Estate and Facilities workflow process this data for insertion into native Maximo Real Estate and Facilities business objects. | DataConnect may require a programmer to move the data into the staging tables. The workflows require a person that knows the business processes of the integration. |
| DataConnect for Fact Tables | The DataConnect for Fact Tables solution employs staging tables, allowing an external source to write data directly into the Maximo Real Estate and Facilities staging tables where ETL can be used to process this data for insertion into Maximo Real Estate and Facilities fact tables. | DataConnect for Fact Tables may require a programmer to move the data into the staging tables and a programmer to move the data from the staging tables to the fact tables. |
| Data Integrator | Reads data from simple spreadsheets or comma-separated files into IBM Maximo Real Estate and Facilities records. | Extracting data from another source into a comma-separated file or simple spreadsheet may require the assistance of a programmer. |
| Financial Transactions | IBM Maximo Real Estate and Facilities processes financial transactions in a way that makes individual journal entries available to an external accounting program. | No programmer needed to make data available. Some applications will require programmer involvement to get the application to access the data. |
| IBM Maximo Real Estate and Facilities Connector for Business Applications | IBM Maximo Real Estate and Facilities Connector for Business Applications allows programmers to write programs that work directly with the IBM Maximo Real Estate and Facilities, solving most integration problems that cannot be solved with other integration mechanisms. | This requires a programmer who is knowledgeable about SOAP technology and this part of the IBM Maximo Real Estate and Facilities or the services of IBM Maximo Real Estate and Facilities consultants. |
| Java Objects | This is a custom piece of software that can be invoked to communicate with the platform and other software. This is the most general possible integration mechanism. | This requires a programmer who is skilled at Java and is able to use IBM Maximo Real Estate and Facilities Connector for Business Applications. |