Extensio Symphony: The Technology Solution for Your Information Delivery Needs  

Extensio Symphony is the technology that enables enterprises to put an end to information access and delivery woes and serve all its users.  With Extensio Symphony, enterprises get an information delivery mechanism for their heterogeneous data sources that serves all of their user constituencies, including business users, information workers, mobile users and partners, on information interfaces of their choice.

Extensio Symphony enables businesses to extend data from enterprise data stores and web sources to Desktop Gadgets, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Excel, Text based Desktop applications, Web Widgets, Web Services, Mobile Devices and SMS/E-mail alerts. Users access, interact and distribute information from multiple data stores on multiple channels, resulting in enhanced user productivity, improved business processes and better business decisions.

Unmet Information Needs of Users Bring Your Business Down

Despite large investments in enterprise applications, enterprises find that data accessibility is limited to transaction clerks and power users of enterprise applications.  The benefits of real-time information access and streamlined business processes fail to percolate down to the following user constituencies:

1. Business users: Business users are intimidated by the complex data access rules of enterprise applications, and rely on power users to get them the data they need.  They prefer to work on desktop based productivity applications such as Microsoft Office for collaboration, decision making and business modeling.  Inability to weave in information access and business processes carried out on desktop applications to enterprise application based processes results in broken business processes, inefficient swivel chair integration and unproductive users.

2. Knowledge workers: Knowledge workers work with multiple applications and need information from the multiple sources of data. They juggle between a variety of interfaces of enterprise applications and web stores to assemble the data needed to carry on their tasks. Inability to provide a single information service layer that insulates the user from underlying application semantics and data sources leads to inefficient manual data collection processes, risky cut-and-paste operations and frustrated users.

3. Partner facing executives: Executives working with customers, suppliers and vendors need to ensure that all the stake holders in the extended business process share the same information, and are on the same page.  Inability to distribute real-time information from enterprise and web sources to partners results in impaired information visibility, sub optimal business processes and disorganised users.

4. Mobile executives: Mobile executives are underserved when enterprises are unable to provide them with real-time data while on the field.  Inability to provide real-time information to mobile users results in ineffective and incomplete field transactions and frustrated users.

Extensio Symphony Multi-Channel Information Delivery: Scenarios

With Extensio Symphony, businesses extend the reach of information to all their users, resulting in improved business processes, increased efficiency, decreased operational risks, and improved process compliance.  Here are some scenarios that are enabled with Extensio Symphony:

1. "At-a-Glance" Information on Key Business Parameters on Desktop Gadgets: With desktop resident Extensio Desktop Gadgets that get refreshed automatically from multiple data sources, users keep abreast of the key business parameters and information, even as go about their daily tasks.   With its Alt-click Hot key, users need not travel from their desktop applications to look up relevant information.  They look up relevant data on chosen desktop gadget from within their context, resulting in improved user experience and better business decisions.  For example, users keep a tab on key inventory data on chosen products, right on their desktop.

2. Business processes on Outlook: With in-context query and update from back-end applications using Extensio Outlook Extender, users engage in enterprise application based business processes from within Outlook.  For example, users initiate, approve and process decisions on purchase, requisitions on ERP applications on e-mail.

3. User driven analytics and data collection with Excel: With refreshable live cells embedded in their spreadsheets using Extensio Excel Extender, users work on their Excel based business models, confident that the heavy lifting of real-time data from multiple back-ends is taken care of.  For example, users compare retail vs. wholesale sales of products within their spreadsheet, with Extensio Excel Extender bringing them real time data from ERP and Retail applications directly on their chosen Excel cells.

4. Distribute information to partners with Web Widgets and Web Services: Information Workers can now distribute information services with javascript based Extensio Web Widgets and SOAP based web services that enable partners to access enterprise data within their applications and portals, with remarkable ease.  For example, Shipment status against purchase order is made available as a widget that is included in the partner portal.

5. Information access to Field Sales: Mobile executives access they data they need, without manually calling up the office with Extensio Mobile Extender.  For example, Field Sales Representatives keep track of price changes, lead statuses and inventory status from on-premise ERP and web based CRM applications from their mobile phones.

6. E-mail/SMS notifications on key business events: Users keep themselves abreast of key events from applications with event triggers or pull based operations.  For example, mobile field sales force use it for Sales forecast, quota and pricing.

7. Transfer data between applications to ensure a single version of truth: For cross application processes, data is transferred between one or more applications, within or beyond the firewall, to maintain a single version of truth using Extensio Application Extender.  For example, Sales Orders updated in CRM application are transferred to the ERP system at pre-defined interval or specified event, ensuring that data consistency is maintained across applications.

Key Components of Extensio Symphony for Enterprises

The Extensio Symphony Multi-Channel Information Delivery solution consists of the following software components:

1. Extensio Information Delivery Server: The SOA based server that provides the information integration and delivery technology for back-end data.  The Extensio Information Delivery Server extracts information from back-end enterprise and web data sources, assembles it with other similarly extracted information from other back-end data sources to create Extensio Information Services, and delivers Information Services to end-users using Extensio Extenders.

2. Extensio Studio to build Information Services: A browser based service development tool that enables developers to create declarative XML Information Service rules for information extraction, assembly and delivery.

3. Extensio Enterprise Applications Adapter(s): The back-end Connector Components that connect to individual enterprise application such as SAP R/3 and web sources, and extracts and write data from and into them.

4. Extensio Technology Adapter(s): The back-end Connector Components built around technology standards, that connect to applications with standard interface technologies such as JDBC/ODBC, HTML/XML on HTTP, SOAP, IMAP, RSS and Rest Style Web applcations, for read/write operations.

5. Extensio Extender for Desktop Gadgets: A Microsoft desktop application that renders “at-a-glance” information with desktop gadgets that reside on end-user desktops containing live information services with data from multiple enterprise and web sources.

6. Extensio Extender for Microsoft Excel: An Excel Add-in that embeds Information Services on user-defined Excel cells, that can be refreshed on-demand or at scheduled intervals

7. Extensio Extender for Microsoft Outlook: An Outlook Add-in that delivers information services directly within Outlook screen, enabling users to initiate and engage in business processes from within Outlook.

8. Extensio Extender for Web Widgets: A mechanism to create embeddable javascript code that enables users to distribute Extensio Information Services on any HTML page, without any coding.

9. Extensio Extender for Web Services: A SOAP based standard interface that enables partner applications to query and update enterprise and web stores using Extensio Information Services.

10. Extensio Extender for Mobile Devices: Built on appropriate standard mobile protocols such as SMS WAP and HTTP, Extensio Extenders for SMS, J2ME devices and WAP devices are designed to work across GSM and CDMA networks.

11. E-mail/SMS notifications on key business events: Users keep themselves abreast of key events from applications with event triggers or pull based operations.  For example, mobile field sales force can use it for Sales forecast, quota and pricing

Enterprises choose Extensio Adapters specific to the enterprise and web applications deployed within their enterprise, and extend the benefits of multi-channel information delivery technology to all end-user touch points.

Deploying Extensio Symphony for Enterprises

Customer's IT department uses the SOA-based Extensio Information Delivery Platform and its browser-based Extensio Studio to build information service rules that define data elements to be extracted with their sources, the assembly rules to create a single information service using extracted information elements and the presentation of the information service for required delivery on end-user channel.  With the full-featured powerful Extensio Studio, customers can build and deploy information services for business users within days. Further, with its build-once-deploy-many features, once data extraction and assembly rules for an information service are built, they can be delivered on other user channels such as Desktop Gadgets, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Outlook, Web Widgets, Web Services, Partner Applications, and Mobile devices, with very little work.

The Extensio Extenders are either downloaded on user desktops and mobile devices, or embedded within partner web pages.  With the rich intuitive interfaces provided by Extensio extenders that bridge the enterprise-desktop divide, end-users can begin accessing the information services with data from enterprise applications within a day, with almost zero training!

Once deployed, customers can add or delete information services as and when required using the Extensio Studio, without requiring a server restart.  The added/modified information services are delivered to the end-users dynamically, without any effort on the user's side.