Overview: Development Process for Business Adapter

Business adapters import non-inventory data (such as purchases or enterprise structure) that helps to determine your compliance position. There are two separate modes in which business adapters can operate:

• In connected mode, where they run on your central application server, and therefore have direct access to your central operations databases.
• In disconnected mode, where they cannot connect to the operations databases because they run on an inventory beacon that is remote from it. Here you have some restricted capabilities to increase security.

Important: In connected mode, data is injected directly into your operations database. You cannot see any evidence of the import in the Business Data tab of the System > Data Inputs page on your compliance console (this tab shows results only for imports from your inventory beacons).

Both these modes are outlined in the same list below. If an item does not specifically mention connected or disconnected modes, then it is applicable to both.

To develop a business adapter (overview):

1. Launch Business Adapter Studio and add a framework for a new adapter (see To Start the Business Adapter Studio).
2. In connected mode (only), configure the adapter’s connection to the FlexNet Manager Suite database. This is where imported data will be written by business adapters running in connected mode. See Connecting to the Compliance Database (Connected Mode Only).
3. Configure the connection to the data source. This is where data will be imported from. See Connecting to a Data Source.
4. Confirm that you are querying the correct data from the data source. See Reviewing Data from the Source.
5. Load the list of properties from the data source, so that they can be mapped to objects in FlexNet Manager Suite. See Retrieving the List of Fields.
6. Link the objects in your source data to the objects that you want to update in FlexNet Manager Suite. See Choosing Target Database Items in FlexNet Manager Suite.
7. Define rules that manage updates and creation of these objects, based on the incoming data. See Defining Import Rules for a Database Item.
8. Define a mapping between the properties in the data source to those of the objects in FlexNet Manager Suite. See Defining Import Rules for Attributes/Properties.
9. In connected mode, you can simulate the data import to confirm it is working as expected. If necessary, you may use logging and tracing to debug any issues with the business adapter. Access all of these topics through Testing and Diagnosis for Your Business Adapter.
10. Save the adapter (Saving Business Adapters).
11. In connected mode, perform a real import from the data source into FlexNet Manager Suite (this calls the Business Importer to do the import). See Running an Import from the Business Adapter Studio.
12. Outside Business Adapter Studio, for connected mode only, configure a scheduled task to regularly run your new adapter. See Setting Up Regular Imports (Connected Mode).