Core Platform - XML Engine, Web and Application Server
eXFORMA’s core engine is an XML-based, J2EE platform that combines the ability to manage XML data through a J2EE-based application server. The system acts as the central web server through which all forms, applications, workflows, reports, database applications and security are defined and served.
The system is robust, scalable, supports clustering and can run on any operating system that will run J2EE. This includes all flavors of Windows, Linux and Solaris.
Forms and Application Designer
The forms and application designer allows the quick and effortless creation of web-based forms and applications using the core engine as a delivery platform. Using only a browser, designers can easily create powerful, dynamic data capture and review screens that incorporate validations, enforce required fields, auto generate pull-down menus, use custom appearance and formatting as well as intelligent, content-sensitive collection of data. The forms also support Spell-Check, Save as Draft, Pagination, Multi-language support as well as a host of other display and control features.
Relational Database and Repository
eXFORMA comes pre-integrated with a relational database that houses all information used by the system. The structures used by the applications, forms, workflows, reports, security permissions are all stored in a repository ensuring easy management and allowing you to capture information directly into a format that can be used by other systems. There is no need to integrate eXFORMA with a database package. Support for repositories using Oracle and SQL Server are provided. eXFORMA also works very effectively and reliably with MySQL, an open source relational database engine.
Forms Publishing
All forms and applications that are built with eXFORMA can be published for both internal users and external users. That is, external users do not need to be registered users on the system (such as in the case of an Internet enabled form). Internal users must be registered users allowing internally published applications can be security-controlled. Form and application “versions” are also automatically managed by the system - published forms cannot not be modified by designers without going through the process of unpublishing them. Unpublishing a form automatically archives both the older version of the form as well as all data that has been captured by it, ensuring that the form data structure and data collected maintain their integrity.
Submissions that have been made to a published form can be reviewed in HTML, Excel, XML and CSV format for easy data management.
Custom Email Notifications
Applications can be designed to issue custom email messages and notifications as soon as data has been collected. This automation feature allows individuals or groups of individuals to be notified that a submission has been generated and can also provide a link within the email to the submissions. This precursor to full-fledged workflow can meet the needs of many organizations that simply need to be notified of a form submission and act upon it.
eXFORMA enables the designer to design an email notification message that combines data from the form. In fact, data from the form can even be used in to, cc, bcc, subject and message bodies to provide a great degree of freedom and control in the delivery of the message.
Basic Web Services API
A basic web services API is available to allow external systems to query eXFORMA. This service could be used to integrate with other systems if information needs to flow from eXFORMA to another company system.
LDAP/Active Directory Integration
If your organization has already made an investment in LDAP or Active Directory technology (technology that manages users and groups), eXFORMA can tie directly to these internal services to obtain user and group lists. Connectivity to LDAP and Activity Directory is performed in real-time (as opposed to batch mode) allowing eXFORMA to seamlessly fit into your corporate environment.
eXFORMA security administrators can now enforce security at the group and user level using pre-established groups and users available in the corporate directory.
Workflow and Business Process Automation
eXFORMA’s business process automation platform is based on the powerful, J2EE-based platform - jBpm. This platform is quickly emerging as a platform of choice for managing complex workflows that involves information, people and systems.
Using our graphical workflow designer, eXFORMA allows users to model their workflows using meaningful symbols and logic to define how information will flow between people and systems. The workflow engine manages the notifications and the completion of tasks necessary to complete the business process. All business processes are completed over the web, eliminating the need to “rollout” software to automate the process. The process is simply modeled with our modeling tool, and applied to a form or application. The system takes care of the notifying the users involved in the process and enforcing the completion of the workflow. The workflow also supports escalations and also can be used to ensure Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) are being met.
Document Management
eXFORMA manages forms and applications and the flow of information between people and systems including traditional unstructured documents. Documents can be brought into eXFORMA and permissions for review and edit can be assigned. Versions are automatically managed with check-in, check-out capability. Users can optionally register to receive notifications when documents are checked-out, checked-in, unlocked and deleted.
Reporting Engine
JasperReports is highly scalable, powerful J2EE enterprise reporting platform. eXFORMA has pre-integrated JasperReports to allow you to define and apply your customized reports against data from eXFORMA’s repository simply and easily.
JasperReports supports a number of formats such as PDF, Excel and HTML. Simply use your favorite Jasper report writer to create your report and transfer it into eXFORMA. eXFORMA will manage your reports, allowing you to run new reports and recall previously run reports all from within the eXFORMA environment.
Corporate Database Integration
Connecting and using corporate database information has been made easy with this add-on from Groveware. Database records can now be read into forms and true “applications” can be built simply and reliably. The data from your databases can also be updated automatically as soon as a user submits a form or clicks a button on the screen. In fact, eXFORMA allows you to manage data from multiple sources on a single screen – giving you a true “data virtualization” layer to your information. By coupling this with our workflow and reporting engine, you have a complete tool to create sophisticated, powerful information applications delivered instantaneously over the web. Concerned about security? The database-binding engine can be secured by group or user. Security can be enabled to allow only those users/groups with the correction permissions to perform database actions. In fact, eXFORMA will also manage permissions on those users that are allowed to create applications with those databases. These security and control ensure that data integrity is maintained at every level.
Secure Forms and Form Sections
Using the core engine’s permission structure, forms can also be secured from unauthorized use. This includes permissions assigned at both the group and user level.
In addition to managing authorization at the form level, eXFORMA permits you to manage authorization at the field and section level within the form or application. The additional granularity gives you the ability to create “For HR Use Only” sections, for example, quickly and effortlessly. This section-level permission when combined with notifications and workflow can be a powerful tool to automate a process that contains sensitive data. Designers can build forms that can either make the information invisible to the users or provide the information in read-only mode to prevent their modification.
Digital Signatures
Digital signatures are used for security and non-repudiation, i.e. ensuring that people that have approved some information cannot deny approving it. eXFORMA automates this by enabling Digital Signatures at both the form and section level. This unique and powerful capability brings the full power of the tool to bear in replacing existing processes that require manual signatures and approvals. In fact, information that requires multiple signatures can also be automated with individual users being able to sign their individual appropriate sections on the form – this models virtually all single and multi-form needs where signatures are required.
This heralds a new era of non-repudiation where information is signed, not just the document.
