Integrating your complex workflow into the Rocky Jupiter ERP
The integration solution that you put together in the previous section makes sure that the Rocky Jupiter database can directly feed the complex workflow solution that presents delivery tasks to drivers. The logical next step is to make the integration process truly two-way, and have the Driver Task List dashboard form update not only the Mobilengine Cloud, but Astro, the Rocky Jupiter ERP system also, via outbound integration messages.
As a proof of concept, you're going to send the delivery task status changes that the drivers trigger with the workflow over to the ERP for processing. Once you get this working, the Rocky Jupiter IT crowd can do whatever they like to the incoming data. Here's the steps for a functional proof of concept in recommended order:
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Set up a custom data package definition that specifies the structure of the XML message to carry the status update data
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Set up and configure an outbound integration endpoint to handle outgoing status update data traffic
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Make the workflow scripts that change the status of the delivery tasks also send a status update XML message to Astro each time they run
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Set up and customize a WDX protocol-compliant web service that expects, interprets, and passes the status update messages to Astro
Head on over to the next section, and get the ball rolling with the definition for the data packages that you'll be whizzing to Astro.
To demonstrate that the integration solution actually works, the sample solution in this tutorial makes the web service log the incoming status updates to the command line of a machine within the mobilengine.com domain. If you want to test the integration solution for yourself, you'll need to configure a public network address as destination for the integration messages. Ask your network administrator for one or set up a public network address for yourself.