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I'm nearly acquainted with programming, but I'm still learning how to properly design a program. Here's what I want to do:

MY SITUATION: I work at a hotel. Everyday the check-in software we have automatically generates analytical reports regarding the previous day, such as daily sales, housekeeping reports, rooms available, etc. We usually do it out by hand, and by this I mean we print the reports from the software and then input up the data/numbers by pen using some pre-existing forms. Upon doing that, we email them to management. This seems pretty time consuming and inefficient, as from time to time it generates human errors, causing us to have to go back to it, revise it, and email it once again.

WHAT I WANT TO DO: I want to find a way to scrape/extract the data directly from the check-in software, whether it be the software itself or the pdf reports it generates. Once I obtain that data, I want to automatically input the data we need into several spreadsheet templates. Finally, once the template forms are fully completed, I would like to save them to a specific directory under a name+date alias, and email it to management.

MY FIRST AND POSSIBLY MY BIGGEST HURDLE: How do I scrape the information from the software? I know that you scrape off websites using languages like Python, but I feel like extracting the info from a software may be a little different and perhaps more complicated.

QUESTION: Is there any easier way to do this? Am I addressing the problem in an illogical manner? If so, what's the best course of action?

Thank you for your advice and guidance!

Mikey
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  • Can you add more info on the software? On what hardware it is run? What language was used to write it? Do you see windows in Windows or a command line on a calculator? – keiv.fly Jul 29 '16 at 22:07
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    You can "communicate" with any software if it offers some kind of API. Otherwise you may be able to use the same data sources your hotel software uses. There is most likely some kind of database involved that you could interact with directly. – Christian Rapp Jul 29 '16 at 22:13
  • @keiv.fly, I'm not quite sure what language the software is running on. I can check that easily. I'm not too sure what you mean about windows in Windows or a command line on a calculator line. Can you elaborate, please? – Mikey Jul 29 '16 at 22:15
  • @ChristianRapp, Data sources? Such as? What's the best way to get access to the database? – Mikey Jul 29 '16 at 22:16
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    Like I said, a database. I think the way to go for you is to ask the developer of your hotel software if there is some way to exchange data with the software itself or where it stores its information. Even if they are using a database it might be difficult to obtain the data without their help. – Christian Rapp Jul 29 '16 at 22:19
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    If you can check the language of the program it can mean that you can change the code. You can save reports as text files on disk from the reporting software and then collect it by another program. – keiv.fly Jul 29 '16 at 22:20
  • Gotcha, that makes a lot of sense. I'll call them early tomorrow morning. Thank you! – Mikey Jul 29 '16 at 22:20
  • @keiv.fly, I'll check on the language as soon as I get to the office tomorrow, hopefully I have enough software permissions to do so. The thing is I work here as a marketing coordinator, but my cup of tea (and my major) is computer science, so I'm trying to get some hands-on experience for when I graduate. – Mikey Jul 29 '16 at 22:37
  • @Mikey you mentioned you can generate PDF reports? 1. Check if any other formats available to generate 2. if no other format available, I would like to know how the report is formatted inside PDF, if possible a sample PDF would really help suggesting how to scrape off – Krish Jul 29 '16 at 23:04

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