PilotFish Integration Solutions Q&A

1. When should I consider using PilotFish products for my project?

All PilotFish products are available to any State entity free of additional license or maintenance fees. The software is middleware for integrating any system with any other system. Sample technical requirements addressed by the PilotFish product suite include:

• Transforming data between legacy (flat file) formats and XML
• Exposing existing business functionality through web services
• Automating public-facing form data collection on the State’s web portal
• Extracting, transforming, and loading data to and from a relational database
• Orchestrating complex data flows involving unstructured text, images, and structured data
• Validating and scrubbing data feeds to enhance data quality
• Parsing semi-structured data (e.g., email text) for automated processing

Have an integration need that you don’t see listed? Contact us. We have handled virtually every kind of integration scenario in our 23+ year history. We can provide a solution for you that will help you get the job done faster and with less effort than you thought possible.

2. Does DAS/BEST provide the PilotFish software or is it hosted at my agency?

The needs of the project will determine the location of the PilotFish installation. Public-facing interfaces, particularly those that accept incoming data over the internet (e.g., expose websites or web services), will be hosted by BEST/DAS. Internal interfaces used to integrate systems within an agency will most often be hosted by the agency itself. PilotFish and BEST/DAS will provide guidance as requested.

3. Our developers are comfortable coding interfaces by hand. Why introduce an additional piece of software to learn and maintain?

PilotFish offers a set of tools entirely focused on the integration problem that has been evolved over more than a decade of practical experience. The intuitive nature and graphical Integrated Development Environment (IDE) makes our tools extremely easy to learn. Your integration projects will progress a lot easier and faster and will reap results several orders of magnitude to more than make up for learning to use the tools and maintain them.

State agencies have already realized a dramatic increase in productivity using the PilotFish software instead of doing it the old way. The graphical assembly-line approach is immediately understandable. A library of pre-developed highly-configurable components removes almost any coding from interface configuration, facilitating building interfaces much quicker. While being easy-to-use, it is also extremely flexible. When highly-custom behavior is required, an open API allows for easy extensibility using your developer’s language of choice.

4. My agency hasn’t used PilotFish before. How do we get up to speed?

PilotFish has offices in Middletown, Connecticut and Tampa, Florida. Local solutions architects are available to provide a demonstration and initial consultation on how the eiConsole and eiPlatform may be leveraged in your environment. First-time implementers with clear requirements and a definitive schedule may also be eligible for additional consulting/development help at no charge.

5. What information should I gather before starting a PilotFish product?

PilotFish and DAS/BEST have collaborated on a template to help agencies gather requirements for their integration projects. Use this link to download the template.

6. Does PilotFish provide professional services to help build out interfaces?

PilotFish offers a top-flight professional services team to assist in integration projects. On an as-needed basis, the team is available, providing everything from occasional consultative support to full-scale staff augmentation. To facilitate the requisition of resources, PilotFish has forged a relationship with Tri-Com, a State-approved provider of professional services.

Want to learn more and see how PilotFish products can help your agency or department? Click this link to contact the state’s CJIS Program Coordinator at the Department of Information Technology.

Ready to get started now? Download a full license (for state employees) now.