Scaleable Future-Proof Healthcare Interface Engine

Graphically Configure, Map & Test Using Any Data Format or Connectivity

PilotFish is a leader in integration engine solutions with customers in virtually every area of Healthcare. Integrate faster and easier using PilotFish’s exclusive Graphical Automated Interface Assembly Line.

PilotFish provides its customers with the freedom to connect and exchange data with disparate systems, applications, databases, devices, and equipment – everywhere.

PilotFish also provides the freedom and cost advantages of being an operating system, platform, and database agnostic. We also offer the flexibility to be deployed on-premise, in the cloud, or hybrid.

PilotFish software has been designed to support handling the nuances of any industry’s information exchange and with it the semantics of its data and standards. PilotFish offers comprehensive support specifically for HL7 Messages, all versions including HL7 2.x, HL7 3.x, FHIR, and X12 EDI HIPAA Transactions and X12 EDI Healthcare Supply Chain Transactions. Specifically, for these standards PilotFish offers features and capabilities that make users far more productive and interfaces much easier to implement and maintain.

PilotFish provides out-of-the-box support for virtually every other data format you might encounter, too. You can accept data as Excel spreadsheets, PDFs, Word documents, email attachments, JSON, flat files, CSVs and much more. Users can Parse any format from any source, too, including APIs, XML, web services, cloud applications, portals, and others.

When it comes to connecting to systems, PilotFish provides dozens of built-in connectors. If you need support for a connectivity protocol that is not included, users can add it using our Open API or .Net Bridge.

The PilotFish eiConsole is the Integrated Development Environment (IDE). In the eiConsole, interfaces are configured following a Graphical Automated Interface Assembly Line. No coding or scripting is required. With this unique approach, PilotFish has revolutionized how data integration is done. They have made it so easy that non-developers and business analysts can now do up to 80-90% of interface development and management.

Interface Configuration in 7 Stages

The PilotFish Assembly Line consists of 7 stages. The process starts by configuring your Source and Target Systems. In the Source System stage, users can select from a library of built-in icons or load in their own. You label your Source for easy reference later. Add as many Sources as you like in the same manner. In the Target Stage, users can select an icon and label it as well. You can also add as many Target systems as you like.

Connect to Your Source with a Pre-Built Listener

Now let’s look at how the assembly line works. The Listener Stage is where you establish connectivity by selecting from a drop-down of dozens of built-in connectors. To make it easy, each has its own pre-configured panel with commonly used default settings.

The Listener Stage is where users have the ability to add Processors. Processors can perform operations that affect the incoming data stream. PilotFish Software Includes over 140 Processors ranging from A to Z – anything from Asymmetric Decryption to Zip Decompression. Processors can be layered in any order, and again, you can easily add your own.

Conversion of Data to Common XML Format

The next stage is the Source Transform. Here the data needs to be converted into a common representation of that data so that when it reaches the next stage, the Routing Stage, all of the data is in the same format. This process happens in two steps.

Parsing and Transforming Source Data – HL7, EDI, JSON, CCDA

First, the data needs to be parsed so that it can be converted into XML – that is, if it’s not in an XML format already. PilotFish’s Transformation module allows you to easily convert a variety of non-XML formats. These Transformation modules are set up through a simple graphical configuration process. The Transformation modules include CSV, delimited and fixed-width files, Microsoft Excel, EDI including ANSI X12 and other HIPAA formats like HL7 and JSON, too.

Note, PilotFish’s EDI and HL7 transformation modules have been specifically designed to be lenient. This custom feature ensures that virtually anything that even looks like HL7 or EDI can be parsed for future processing. The second step of the transformation process is where you perform the logical mapping. This is always an XML to XML transformation, represented as XSLT and is done in the eiConsole’s Data Mapping Component.

Complex Data Mapping Made Easy

PilotFish has revolutionized data mapping with its exclusive 3-pane design and graphical drag & drop data mapper. The source is represented on the left, the target is on the right. The middle pane is where you configure the relationship between the two via drag & drop mappings and additional logic. Unlike line drawing tools that quickly become illegible with complex mappings, the PilotFish data mapper allows users to easily view and navigate through the mapping by just scrolling up or down in the center pane. By simply dragging and dropping, even business analysts can create complex mappings in minutes. They are fully reusable for huge productivity gains, too.

To use the data mapper, the Source and Target data formats are built using the format builder dialogue. Various types of metadata such as the HL7 data dictionary can be directly imported, as can X12 table data and schemas.  Additionally, the FHIR Reader can take extension schemas through the FHIR standard which is already built-in. Sample files can be used too to provide an accurate picture of what a system may actually produce or consume.

Understandable HL7 & X12 EDI Field Names

Note, when using HL7 and X12 EDI data, the “Friendly Name” option can be applied to the elements. This makes it easier to determine what Fields are what. In this example, HL7 was loaded in as the Source, and a simple XML sample file was used as the Target. Dragging and dropping these fields together in the center panel creates the one-to-one map.

Above the 3 panels, a palette of XSLT functions and structures allows for conditional logic, looping logic, data manipulation and much more. All of this can be completed without any custom or proprietary scripting.

The mapping is created in XSLT, a W3C compliant language with a worldwide user base. In the PilotFish Data Mapper, users can work in code or graphical view in real-time and swap back and forth between the two.

The Data Mapper includes a built-in testing mode, too. Users merely load in their sample data and run their tests. After you have mapped your data and tested it, you return to the eiConsole’s main route grid and continue to configure the interface.

Routing Your Transactions

After you have configured the Source Transformation Stage, you then move on to the Route stage. Here users can add Routing Rules. You can send to All Targets or layer XPath expressions to route transactions. You can also add Transaction Monitoring to set up Email Alerts, Error Route Triggers or SNMP Traps.

Target Transformation

In the Target Transform stage, you can perform transformations on your data to match what the receiving system requires. As with the Source Transform stage, you can select from built-in transformation modules to instantly read in your data, or use the eiConsole’s Data Mapper to map your data to the Target format.

Transport Listeners or Adapters

Next, is the Transport Stage. In the Transport Stage, like the Listener Stage, a configuration panel opens with a drop-down menu of over 3 dozen built-in transport adapters. Among them Database SQL Transport, Directory, Email, FTP, SFTP, HL7 LLP, and RabbitMQ. The user need only select and configure the appropriate Transport for all their target systems.

Interface Testing, Debugging & Deployment

Once you have configured the interface, you can graphically test it end-to-end in the eiConsole’s Testing Mode. In Testing Mode, you can start and stop your test at any stage and view the output of any stage. In the Testing Mode, you are alerted to errors so that you can work iteratively until your interface is thoroughly tested and ready for deployment.

Once you have thoroughly tested your interface, the eiConsole for Healthcare makes deployment easy, too. Within the PilotFish eiConsole, configurations are just files on the file system. To copy files, you simply navigate to the root directory chosen for these configurations. Then copy the files over to the other server, using the eiConsole’s built-in drag & drop feature or you can deploy your interfaces through the eiDashboard.  The eiDashboard is PilotFish’s web-based application for operational reporting and management of your interfaces.

Test Drive PilotFish’s eiConsole Integration Engine

Take a free test drive, download our FREE 90-Day Trial of the eiConsole for Healthcare, or call us to learn more.  Additional product documentation and eiConsole training tutorials are available in PilotFish’s Online Product Resource Center.

HL7 is the registered trademark of Health Level Seven International. X12, chartered by the American National Standards Institute for more than 35 years, develops and maintains EDI standards and XML schemas.