The customer
Company in the healthcare sector
The situation
In the wake of digitalisation and the steady growth of the system landscape, the challenge arose of making integrations for different clients and modules more efficient. The existing solution was based on a legacy interface that had evolved over time, with its logic largely hard-coded and offering little flexibility. Every new client connection or the integration of an additional module required individual customisations and extensive development work. This resulted in high maintenance costs, limited flexibility and longer implementation times. To resolve these challenges in a sustainable manner, Digital Scout developed a new, generic interface framework based on a ServiceNow Scoped Application. The aim was to create a centralised and reusable interface platform capable of serving different clients and modules via a unified approach, without the need to develop a separate interface for every use case.
Our plan
The implementation required in-depth knowledge of, amongst other things,
- ServiceNow
- Scoped Applications
- Field Mapping
- Script Includes
- REST- und OAuth-Integrationen sowie den ServiceNow-Technologien
- GlideRecord/GlideElement/GlideEvaluator
- GlideAjax
On this basis, a highly flexible architecture was developed which no longer controls interface behaviour through hard-coding, but via configuration. The new approach enables individual configuration for each customer and for each module or table. Field mappings can be defined flexibly and processed using intelligent mapping mechanisms. Through the use of GlideElement and GlideEvaluator, even complex requirements can be mapped dynamically without the need for additional programme code. At the same time, centralised configuration control ensures maximum transparency across all customer and module integrations.
The solution
A key factor in the project’s success was the introduction of template-based processing via Digital Scout. Dynamic JSON templates enable the flexible generation of messages for various actions, such as ‘Insert’ or ‘Update’. Furthermore, full control over incoming messages was ensured. Additional functions such as transaction logging, attachment processing, automatic validation of mandatory fields, distributed ticket management and integrated repeat mechanisms enhance the stability and reliability of the entire integration landscape. The impact of the new solution was immediately noticeable. New customers or modules can now be integrated within a very short time. Instead of extensive development projects, in most cases it is sufficient to configure customer information, table assignments, field mappings and templates. Custom programming is limited to a few exceptions and can be reduced to a minimum.
The added value
The result is a powerful and future-proof interface framework that significantly increases reusability, reduces maintenance effort and considerably speeds up the roll-out of new integrations. At the same time, business units and customers benefit from greater transparency, improved traceability and significantly faster deployment of new interfaces.
By replacing the rigid legacy architecture, a flexible integration platform has been created which meets the requirements of a modern and growing system landscape and provides a scalable foundation for future expansions in the long term.
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