Components
Our Toolbox for the Internet
Standardized components for individual business processes save time and money. Ready-made building blocks from the software factory help to significantly streamline the development process and can be combined to taste.
One of StoneOne’s key advantages are the ready-made standard components available for many processes, such as for designing forms, logging or user administration. The standardized business components implement frequently recurring business logic or functionality and can be employed in a broad range of vertical portals based on the StoneOne technology.
This allows us to offer you a very cost-effective solution as the development requirements are much lower compared to an individual project solution.
The components draw on predefined and standardized data, meta data and interfaces. This includes billing events, a logging API, as well as a status and health check.
Component Overview
Application Connector – Interface to Standard Applications.
The StoneOne business services very frequently interact with a wide variety of standard applications. For this reason, specialized connectors establish a connection to select functions of standard software packages, such as SAP, and can even connect with specific specialist applications of partners or customers.
TopApplication Designer – Intelligent UI Design and Automatically Generated Applications.
The Application Designer combines central design and administration functions. The first step involves designing all interfaces and forms using a comfortable Eclipse-based editor. This editor is also used to manage the data models, while the multiclient-capable data patterns determine the table contents, including the relations among tables. On top of this, it is possible to specify additional role-based access rights to govern the use of the interface or individual elements.
The Application Designer offers much more than a standard editor: The interface connects with the relevant data and tables, and the actions to be performed for menu commands and buttons are stored. The last step comprises generating code and the application, which is then stored on the EIB/EAS server as an executable application, allowing the new application to be run from any browser within minutes.
The ‘form patterns’ provide templates for freely arranging data and meta data of a specific data object, such as an invoice or delivery slip, and for designing the entire user interface.
This means that Web applications for a broad variety of business cases can be provided with the required screens very quickly and efficiently. Prototypes and customer-specific scenarios are built with ease, allowing you to present them to users for testing early into the development process.
TopAudit/Logging – Secure Logging of System Events and User Actions.
The StoneOne platform ensures that all system events are stored at the file and database level at a configurable access level. Audit tables recording application-specific actions or processes of users can also be configured.
TopBilling & Tracking – Service-Oriented and Transaction-Based Billing.
One of the strong points of StoneOne is a multi-tiered billing system for different clients and billing policies, which even allows for detailed use-based billing at freely configurable time intervals. Important system events as well as specialist application transactions can be listed in billing objects and enriched with additional data, providing the technological foundation for usage-based billing of individual functions.
This includes setting volume discounts or maximum monthly fees. For example, storing an object could be associated with a fee, allowing for automatic billing of the total amount accrued once a month or after a predefined number of uses. The data collected in this fashion can be printed, sent by mail or e-mailed to serve as the input for creating the corresponding invoice. Alternatively, a payment service could automatically transfer the amount based on the billing object.
TopBusiness – Solid Specialist Know-How for Various Applications.
The ‘Business’ component is normally developed by specialized partner companies or specialist departments of the customer. In either case it is based on the respective expert knowledge – StoneOne delivers this component as an ‘empty vessel’. It delivers specific, complex functionality that cannot be implemented as part of a configuration process. The corresponding functions are mapped by the StoneOne technology as standard functions to make them available for use with, e.g., the ‘Workflow’ or ‘Forms’ component. One example of where this component might come in handy are comprehensive data checks that cannot be performed efficiently on the field level.
TopClassification – Analyzing and Allocating Input.
Incoming data can be analyzed and allocated to a specific subject area (e.g. invoice, delivery note, advertisement etc.) with the ‘Classification’ component in combination with the rule engine. Specialized software programs for intelligent text analysis and extraction can also be integrated.
TopCloud Extender - Flexible Resource Reservation
This component is a functional extension of the Web Service Factory for expansion into a cloud environment, it connects to different cloud providers like Amazon or IBM depending on configuration. Each server runs one or several EIB instances which are administered by their own EIB controller. Several instances are connected through their respective controllers – each instance may contain different components for specific use-cases. One of the instances hosts the master controller, which will upon request book resources in a selected cloud and connect to the new instance. The cloud extender uses pre-deployed virtual systems, to reserve resources, connect the resources with the required virtual system and establishes a connection. Afterwards the bus controller will measure performance in each distributed system and will delegate tasks accordingly.
An EIB Controller administers the queues and transaction times of it´s EIB instance, if pre-configured thresholds are met, it will send an alert to the master controller. The master controller is aware of all active instances and their capabilities and can redistribute the work to other instances. The Cloud Extender is the specific interface for the concrete cloud provider, depending on policies including budgets and thresholds the master controller may book additional resources, activate instances and distribute the workload.
Administration and control is done by policies, depending on parameters like “very good response time”, “guaranteed response time” and “budget limits”. In case of shrinking demand the master controller can also close and deactivate resources in the cloud.
Cloud in this context can be several different technical implementations – it ranges from public clouds like the Amazon cloud over hybrid cloud to private clouds based on systems like VMware or Virtual Box.
TopCommunication – Interface for External Data Exchange.
Interfaces for e-mail, printing, SMS etc. are provided to enable the external use of data.
TopData Acquisition – Simple Transfer of Customer Data to the Portal Server.
The useful data, especially electronic or scanned documents (invoices, orders, travel expenses), are transferred from the end user to a data queue on the EIB server via data transfer. Multiple queues can be created for each client. A rule-based analysis, which draws on the classification component, is then performed to turn these into a data object which is stored with the data pattern configured for each client and possibly triggers a workflow. All data is transferred in a transaction-safe manner.
TopDatabase – Multiclient-Capable Management of Meta Data Models.
Multiple data patterns can be stored for each client. They support the representation of extensive relational structures and can also be linked to audit functions. A state-of-the-art admin interface is provided for this purpose.
The resulting database models and functions are provided transparently for all other components and in a transaction-safe manner for all common databases.
TopExporter – Comfortable Transfer of Tables.
The ‘Exporter’ is used to transfer tables in CSF format to local systems for further processing (e.g. to perform special evaluations).
TopImporter – Mass Data Acquisition.
The ‘Importer’ is used for the transaction-safe import of bulk data (e.g. address data of a client) into tables of a usage scenario. The data is imported by block, and in the event of an interruption, the process is resumed intelligently.
TopMonitoring – Cross-Application Maintenance.
‘Monitoring’ provides the graphical interface to the maintenance interface of the components. The status of each component is indicated as ‘red’, ‘yellow’ or ‘green’. Detailed information is available on the maintenance history, including the results, administrator comments, and the status of the final result. The component also indicates the maintenance tasks to be carried out in the very near future. The system automatically reminds the administrator (by e-mail, escalation, repeated notification) to perform the required entries in a timely fashion. This ensures that the operation history is fully accounted for.
TopReporting – Configurable Evaluations and Graphics.
The ‘Report’ component creates reports based on a combination of different fields extracted from one or multiple tables. The relevant report rows are extracted according to various selection criteria. For each report, the existing design template is populated with the corresponding data, and the header, footer and results are added. Diagrams based on the data contained can also be inserted into the reports. As reports can be generated in various formats including PDF or HTML files, it is easy to insert them into a user interface and create a dashboard.
TopStorage – Professional Storage in Common Archiving Systems.
The ‘Storage’ component makes sure that data is archived in auditable form, be it on RAID, SAN, EMC Centerra, NetApps or using tape or jukebox systems.
Also, any commercially available archive system can be connected using the JSR-170 standard or, if necessary, based on a customized solution.
TopUser Administration – Multiclient-Capable User and Rights System Based on LDAP.
User administration is based on a so-called LDAP proxy that centrally manages all available user information across all clients and can also store additional information (rights, profiles etc.) as schema extensions. The LDAP proxy further supports automatic synchronization with client systems.
TopLogic/Rules Engine – Rule-Based, Standardized Decisions and Workflows.
The ‘Rules’ component covers a broad area of logical or programmable operators and even includes fuzzy logic based on statistics of varying certainty. Application scenarios range from simple decisions all the way to parsing complex and extensive options. The component implements rule-based processes based on an internal engine and can processes combined information according to Boolean or fuzzy logic.
The rules are grouped into rule sets created and processed as distinct specialist editions. These rule sets are handed over to the rules engine and can be updated during runtime. The rules can also incorporate programmed operators. If the conditions of several rules or decisions are met, the resulting findings are bundled and all consequences or actions are executed.
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