Pricefx Integration Overview

Owned by Mike Deskis
Last updated: Jun 01, 2022
2 min read

The main role of data integration within Pricefx applications is to allow the uploading and transformation of data from external systems (ie. SAP, CRM systems, client applications) into Pricefx, and allow for the exporting of data from Pricefx, in a variety of formats, so it can be further used in the customer's external systems (ie. Financial, Accounting, etc)

This two-way exchange of data will utilize different formats (ie. CSV, XML, JMS, or Web service) which will best suit a given scenario. So, there will be both inbound and outbound data that will need to be managed by the integration team.

IntegrationManager

The IntegrationManager (IM) is the primary connection between Pricefx and external systems. It will serve as the deployment platform for Extract/Transform/Load (ETL) activities for the data migration process based on EIP (Enterprise Integration Patterns).

The following diagram illustrates how IntegrationManager can connect to a variety of external systems (SAP, MS, etc) and can accept data in a number of different formats (CSV, XML, etc).

This tool provides the following benefits:

  • Proven integration solution by Pricefx

    • This is the easiest way of getting data from customer systems into Pricefx.

    • It uses integration design patterns validated by multiple projects in the field. 

    • Configuration templates are provided, so you can get started really fast.

    • There is native integration with events generated by Pricefx, such as information on approving a price record or finishing price list calculation. This allows you to react to these events quickly – for example, you can export the price list to CSV immediately or trigger another event in the external system.

    • It is connected to Pricefx Support monitoring tools. A large knowledge base allows for a quick reaction in case of incidents. 

  • Scalability and flexibility

    • Handles various input data structures (CSV, XLS, XML, web service, …) from different data providers and/or sources.

    • Increased flexibility in data load (based on events).

    • Easy automation of the inbound/outbound processes helps to reduce costs.

    • If the PraaS solution is chosen, all the installation and setup tasks are handled by Pricefx. Updates and modifications can be implemented and deployed much quicker.

  • Technically advanced features for easier configuration

    • Pricefx API embedded for high-level integration function accessibility.

    • Externalized properties for simple configuration.

    • Spring framework profile support for environment-specific behavior (Dev, QA, Prod, etc)

    • Executable JAR format with a Unix service wrapper.

    • Re-delivery mechanism (in case an interface is temporarily unavailable).