General 06 scribe online or insight

1. Scribe Online or Insight
Making the right choice and understanding the
differences

2. 4
Session Abstract
In this session we will help you understand the differences between
Scribe Online and Insight to help you choose the right product for a
project. We will also explore some of the common design patterns and
how each product handles them differently. We will conclude with how
these products can work together on a project when you need the joint
capability of the products to achieve integration goals.

3. 5
Agenda
• Overview of Insight and Online
• Review capabilities matrix
• Common design patterns
• Popular Insight features in Scribe Online terms
• How you can work with both together

4. Insight and Scribe Online Overview
Guidelines for which product to choose

5. 7
Overview of Insight
• Server based
• Integration management tooling
• Thought of as for larger more complex integrations
• Focus on CRM and ERP connectivity

6. 8
Overview of Scribe Online
• iPaaS – integration Platform as a Service
• Simpler, more approachable user interface
• Embeddable integration
• Expanding connectivity, including CRM, ERP, Marketing, BI, Data
Services
• Extensible
◦ CDK
◦ API

7. 9
Insight
• Connectivity
• Advanced email notifications
◦ Send email on successful run of
solution
◦ Custom monitors, alerts, and
recipient groups
• Publishers
• Pass parameters at execution time
(filenames, last run date time)
• Choose where failed rows are stored
• Command line
Scribe Online
• Connectivity
• Event-based processing
• Embedded integration
• Extensibility
◦ CDK
◦ API
• Replication Service
Capabilities – “Black and White” Decisions

8. 10
Capabilities – Gray Areas
• Customer preference
◦ Integration tool in cloud (Scribe Online) or on-premise
(Insight)
◦ License type: perpetual or subscription
• Scribe Online has multi-user capabilities that Insight does not
◦ Easier remote access to development and admin environment
◦ Locking of maps
• Custom database queries are more flexible with Insight and only
available with SQL Server with Scribe Online

9. Design Patterns
Exploring design patterns through common use cases

10. 12
Use Case: Account/Contact Sync
• Parent and child data is in the source result set
• Referential integrity: relate a contact to its account
• Update/Insert logic

11. 13
Account/Contact Sync
AccountContact
Update AccountCreate Account
Update Contact
Create Contact
Does Account
Exist
Does Contact
Exist
Yes
Yes
No
No
Contacts must have the
AccountID from either the
Create Account step or the
Update Account step

12. 14
Account/Contact Sync
• Step results determine which
steps to “goto”
• Automatic foreign key
assignment fills in the
AccountID on the contact
• It is not obvious that is what
happens
• It is possible to create
formulas that “goto” other
steps that do not show in the
Step Order pane

13. 15
Account/Contact Sync

14. 16
Account/Contact Sync
• Lookup blocks for account and
contact determine if record
exists
• Result of lookup blocks is
tested by If/Else blocks to
determine whether to create
or update data
• The data integration logic is
easier to read

15. 17
Use Case: Activity Data Sync
• Only the child data (activity) is in the source result set
• Referential Integrity: relate an activity to its contact
• Dependent on other integrations to get the contacts in the target
database
• You need to find the contact to get its ID to relate the activity to its
contact

16. 18
Activity Data Sync Flow
ActivityRecord
Create Activity
“Header”
Create Activity
Party
Locate ContactID

17. 19
Activity Data Sync Design – Insight
• The step logic is easy to
understand, two inserts
• But that is not all of the
configuration that is needed

18. 20
Activity Data Sync Design – Insight
• Formulas and variables
handle the referential
integrity
• Configuration is
removed from the steps
and is not obvious

19. 21
Activity Data Sync Design – Scribe Online
• Lookup block on the contact
puts the contactid “in scope”
• “scope” = any field value from
previous block is available by
reference in a formula
• The data integration logic is
easier to read

20. 22
Use Case: Sales Order Processing
• Hierarchical relationships important
• Many objects involved
• Complex integration

21. 23
Sales Order Processing Flow
Sales Order
Account
Address
Sales Order
Sales Order
Lines
Does the
Customer Exist?
Does the
Address
Exist?
Yes
Yes
No
No
Retry
Retry
This also requires
Products, Price
Levels, etc to be
integrated
properly

22. 24
Sales Order Processing Design – Insight

23. 26
Sales Order Processing Design – Scribe Online
• All logic is contained
within this map
• Start with collapsed
view of blocks for
simplified viewing

24. 27
Sales Order Processing Design – Scribe Online
• Expanded view of
blocks
• Follow what is
happening by the
names of the blocks
• If block is looking for
the customer to see if
it has an external ID,
meaning that it has
been synced
• Like Insight, you can
configure custom
error messages for
these blocks

25. 28
Sales Order Processing Design – Scribe Online
• Not all blocks will be
executed because of
If/Else blocks
• The retry mechanism
is in this map too, not
using message
queues, but by
conditionally
executing blocks to
explicitly go get the
data that has not
been synced yet

26. 29
Insight
• DBLOOKUP
• Target Variables
• Conditional Step Flow Logic
• Formulas Editor
• Query
• ISERROR()
Online
• Lookups
• Return Values
• If/Else Steps
• Formulas Editor
• Filters
• ISNULL/etc
Popular Feature Comparison

27. 30
Insight
• DBLOOKUP
Online
• Lookups
Popular Features
• Lookup the account
by accountnumber
and return the
accountid
Lookup block
Lookup criteria
Return values

28. 31
Insight
• Target Variables
Online
• Return Values
Popular Features
• Insight: define a
target variable, give
it a name, and
determine what field
in what step sets the
value
• Scribe Online: access values
in scope using
blockname.fieldname in a
formula
• Works for any block that
comes before the block you
are on

29. 32
Insight
• Conditional Step Flow Logic
Online
• If/Else Steps
Popular Features
• Insight: Pre-operation
step formulas and
gotos based on step
outcome
• Scribe Online: If/Else
blocks

30. 33
Insight
• Formulas Editor
Online
• Formulas Editor
Popular Features
• Scribe Online: has auto-
complete for field names and
formula names, Ctrl-Space to
activate
• Better formula validation that
pinpoints the problem

31. 34
Insight
• Query
Online
• Filters
Popular Features
• Insight: custom query
builder
• Return one 1 child
and up to 3 parents
• Scribe Online: no
restrictions on
parent/child, access
whatever is defined in
the API
• And/Or in filters are
the same

32. 35
Insight
• ISERROR
Online
• ISNULL/etc
Popular Features • Scribe Online: has more null
checking functions
• Is easier to substitute a
value for null by using
IFNULLUSE()

33. 36
Insight and Scribe Online Can Work Together
• Insight Connector – Message Queue
• CSV
• Databases

34. 37
Wrap Up
• Connectivity drives major decision on what product to use
◦ You can create connectors for Scribe Online
• Insight and Scribe Online use a different approach to common
integration requirements
• Insight has more hidden features
◦ The assumption that Scribe Online has the same hidden features
can lead to misunderstandings
◦ Scribe Online is more “what you see is what you get”
• When needed, you can use both products together

35. Thank You!