-2

I am assessing the feasibility of mapping data from a proprietary DB ( a "Case Management System") to a database that serves as the data source for an automated online form filling product I have created. One proprietary case managemenet system I am targeting is writing in Advantage Database Server, from what I read a very old product, the other is in MS Acceess. My product is written in C#.

There are a plethora of issues, and more than 1 person has advised me it is not feasible. My goal would be to offer my form filling product that would work with the client's existing DB. Replacing the customer's DB would be easier, of course, but these are systems clients have paid alot of money for, learned how to use, and I would expect getting them to DC them for my DB would be close to zero. Like I said, plethora of issues that include:

  1. is ability to query the data in the proprietary product "locked down" - how difficult is it to work around

  2. fact that customer might be potentionally violating the existing license by allowing data to flow to another "product"

  3. Possibility that existing proprietary DB does not include the fields/data I need to complete the online forms.

4, Getting prospective customer to let me poke around their DB.

Any help in thinking this through would be MOST appreciated.

Stanley Denman
  • 1
  • 1

1 Answers1

0

Here are some things that I would think about on a project like this.

1. Is ability to query the data in the proprietary product "locked down" - how difficult is it to work around

If the underlying database engines are Advantage Database Server and MS Access there really isn’t much difficulty to get at the data from a technical perspective. You would just need a user account for the database (probably only read-only) and the ability to see the database server from wherever you are accessing the data from.

I’d see the difficulty more on the network and data security side of the problem. Questions to consider are:

Where is your software being run and how will it get access to those databases?

If it is something that is installed on their local network it would be less of a problem. If it is intended to be external, there would need to be considerations made for the network security policies of your client.

Is any of the data that is being queried getting stored somewhere else?

If so, there are considerations for chain of custody of the data depending on if it gets stored somewhere else, and where that other storage location is.

2. Fact that customer might be potentially violating the existing license by allowing data to flow to another "product"

Not sure here. Really dependent on the specific software being run, and its’ license.

3. Possibility that existing proprietary DB does not include the fields/data I need to complete the online forms.

Is the database schema proprietary to the customer, or some other vendor that the customer has bought the product from? If it is made by another vendor you may be able to install a test version of the software, or may be able to find the documentation of the schema (though probably not likely). Not sure if this would be within the rules of the software license though.

4. Getting prospective customer to let me poke around their DB.

This is really dependent on what rules they have on the data that is hosted in the proprietary database. It might be fine if they already have a process for consultants that help with cases. I would wonder what implications there are if any of the data has special rules associated with it (like HIPAA).

Ehz
  • 2,027
  • 1
  • 12
  • 11