• GOVERNMENT PRODUCTS
• XCS eiConsole for NIEM

• GOVERNMENT USE CASES
• NIEM Implementation
• HL7 Data Transformation
• EPA Reporting

• PRODUCTS

Government Integration Solutions

NIH and NIEM Software Tools for Government for the Rapid Implementation of Data Exchange

Government Agencies Can Easily Link Up and Communicate with Virtually Any Agency or Vendor by Taking Advantage of a Central Hub Architecture and Graphical IDE

Now that the Government has declared that NIEM will be the XML framework that will drive data exchange within government and the HL7 XML standard is being supported by the NIH (National Institute of Health) the need for software tools that can handle the unique semantics of these government adopted standards is great. Government is comprised of thousands of federal, state and local agencies. Each of these Government entities is home to a largely unique set of systems and technologies. As the regulatory landscape evolves, there is an increasing need to integrate these islands of disparate information so that the advantages of the NIEM and HL7 standards can be fully realized.

Additionally, in late 2009, the federal government introduced the "Open Government Directive". Under this order, all agencies are compelled to provide machine readable access to several high-value data sets in "open formats". So how does the IT professional accomplish this with today's tight monetary constraints?

PilotFish Technology's software tools, using an XML hub architecture, can help bridge the gap between old, new and disparate systems within all branches of government, now, enabling them to "speak" to one another regardless of what platform, the type of operating system, what kind of database or even what communication protocol is involved. Additionally, a graphical IDE workstation including a unique mapping component, file-to-xml editing and schema management features, make data exchange between all branches of government a seamless process.

An XML Hub Design Facilitates Data Exchange so That All Government Systems, Platforms, Databases and Services Can Communicate With One Another, Effortlessly

The backbone of the PilotFish enterprise integration solution is the XCS Enterprise Integration Platform (XCS eiPlatform). Java based, it supports the high volume, secure, run-time processing of interfaces developed using the graphical IDE component of the solution, the XCS eiConsole. By using the Enterprise Integration Platform, any system(s) in any branch of government can now provide all government agencies with machine readable access to high-value data sets in the "open formats", as required by law. This enables the implementation of all XML standards immediately, while still supporting the proprietary formats of internal and external applications and services. The system is so lightweight that it can run on a desktop yet, can also easily handle millions of transactions on just a mid-range server. Whether teams are working remotely, individually or throughout the country, this web enabled system can unify all their efforts.

Another advantage of the XML hub design is that a single interface deployed to the XCS eiPlatform can have as many source systems and target systems (left and right columns in the diagram above) as required. These can be one-to-one or many-to-many, all within in one transaction. And an unlimited number of interfaces can be deployed to a single instance of the XCS eiPlatform. By using a common language, all government systems can now speak to one another.

An Integrated Development Environment Offers the Developer a Powerful Workstation with Drag and Drop Functionality

The XCS eiConsole is the highest quality, fastest and most cost effective means to integrate these heterogeneous systems and to expose data in compliance with the law. The XCS eiConsole provides a "paint-by-numbers" approach to interface development, including configurable components to handle any data format, security method, validation scheme or connectivity protocol. It takes tedious hand coding out of the equation. The XML Data Mapper component allows mapping by simply dragging and dropping. Relationships and role-based relations are automatically handled. Drop down menus, tabs and a notes feature offer ease of configuration. Visually edit data and sample data formats in the File Specification Editor. Functionality is included to directly import Tab Delimited, CSV, COBOL copybooks, spreadsheets and other files. Hundreds or even thousands of hours that have previously been spent, building, managing and maintaining interfaces can be saved with this ground breaking product. (Click on the link for more about how XCS eiConsole works.)

Full Support for Implementing NIEM (National Information Exchange Model), HL7 Integration with the NIH and EPA Reporting

NIEM (National Information Exchange Model) XML Standards

The XCS eiConsole bundle for NIEM has been specially designed to take advantage of the NIEM standards. One of the benefits of NIEM can be found in the consistent packaging of standards documentation into IEPD (Information Exchange Package Documentation). These packages contain artifacts (NIEM XML schemas, NIEM XML samples, NIEM documentation) that can be directly consumed by the XCS eiConsole. Once consumed, a user of the XCS eiConsole NIEM bundle can "clone and configure" an interface from the generated template. Click on the link for a Use Case for Implementing NIEM.

HL7 Integration with the NIH

Also within the Government, the NIH (National Institute of Health) has embarked on an ambitious initiative to aggregate disparate sources of information. In this case, the goal is to create a clinical research warehouse at the NIH Clinical Center (NIH CC). The system underlying this initiative is the Biomedical Translational Information System (BTRIS). Participating medical research facilities must provide information in an HL7 data format. The XCS eiConsole HL7 Bundle explicitly supports data transformation to and from the HL7 standards. Click on the link for a Use Case for HL7 XML.

EPA Reporting

The Government's EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) requires that qualifying state, local and commercial entities report the results of Air and Water testing. However, there are a wide variety of EHS (Environmental Health and Safety) systems in use across these various entities. Each of these has their own data model that must be rationalized into a format acceptable to the EPA. The XCS eiConsole's Validation Processor can be used to define complex data scrubbing and validation rules to ensure that data quality standards are met. Click on the link for a Use Case on EPA Reporting with the Validation Server.

Capture the Performance of the XCS eiPlatform at a Glance with the XCS Dashboard

The XCS Dashboard is an optional component that allows monitoring of the performance of the XCS eiPlatform. Functions permit you to view, analyze, even trace and report on transactional interfaces passing through the XCS eiPlatform. Also included is the ability for transactional errors to be captured, problems to be diagnosed and transactions restarted without requiring any changes to the source or target systems that are involved in the interface. Click on the link to learn more on the IDE Integration.

Want Good Data? Now You Can Easily Validate and Certify it With the Validation Server

No matter which government agency you are working with or who else you are communicating with the key to successful integration is good data, not just the ability to send and receive data. It has to be the right data, and in the right format. That's where the Validation Server component of our integration solution fits in. It is also why our Validation Server is at the core of how multiple standards organization validate and certify their member messages. As licensees of our product, our Validation Server allows them to automate validating and certifying trading partners' messages. This enables them to standardize initial and ongoing information exchanges. Messages can be tested before going live, long before any problems can arise. Click on the link to learn more about the XML Validation Tool.