Kapow RoboSuite FAQ
- Table of Contents:
-
- What
does RoboSuite do?
- How is
that helpful?
-
What
kind of scenarios is the RoboSuite best suited for?
-
What is the
CSEsolutions business model?
-
What
type of professional services does CSEsolutions offer?
-
What is
the CSEsolutions approach to web integration?
-
What
operating systems does the RoboSuite support?
-
What skills
are required to utilize the RoboSuite?
-
What output
formats can be supported by the RoboSuite?
-
How does RoboSuite support
debugging?
-
What differentiates RoboSuite from an EAI vendor (e.g. WebMethods)?
-
What
differentiates RoboSuite from portal companies?
-
What
differentiates RoboSuite from screenscrapers?
-
What does the owner of a website or application need to do in order to be
integrated into RoboSuite?
What happens if the configuration of the targeted web site or application
changes?
How is user registration accommodated when multiple application
permissions are required?
What
security authentications does RoboSuite support?
What
does RoboSuite do?
Robosuite is a powerful platform for the collection and aggregation of
web-based information and it facilitates the execution of real time
transactions based on that information.
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How is
that helpful?
Suppose you’re a buyer for a company and you need to assess your internal
requirements in one internal web application and you need to look at three
separate suppliers through their individual web sites. The use of RoboSuite
would allow you to log in once and access all three environments
simultaneously to execute your purchase. The result is a faster and easier
process with a greatly reduced likelihood for error in swapping between
applications.
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What kind
of scenarios is the RoboSuite best suited for?
Any time you need to collect or combine web-based information from disparate
sources, RoboSuite is the ideal web-based integration application to use;
this especially true for web sites you have no or limited control over. This
could be for integrating external or internal applications/information into
your internal business processes or for customers. It is totally unobtrusive
to sources of the information you seek gather or interact with. And, because
of RoboSuite’s powerful, but easy to use Tool Suite, you can quickly and
easily integrate new web applications (internal or external) into your
business process.
Since the RoboSuite approach is so unobtrusive, joint developments and
standardized interface definitions can be avoided with your partners and/or
sister-organizations; thus there is an opportunity for significant cost
avoidance and schedule savings. You set and control the requirements and
terms for the endeavor.
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What is the CSEsolutions
business model?
CSEsolutions provides packaged software from Kapow technology for resale.
CSEsolutions also provides support and for additional fees, training and
professional services.
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What
type of professional services does CSEsolutions offer?
CSEsolutions offers the following services to clients.
• Detailed needs assessment to maximize the value of the RoboSuite to your
business, this includes a project plan for execution
• Robots, the integration of web-based applications for data collection,
data aggregation and interaction occurs through the use of robots.
CSEsolutions can provide you with the initial robots required for your web
integration to get started.
• Operations, depending on your business size and model, you may want to
outsource the building and day to day operation of the RoboSuite to
CSEsolutions.
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What is the
CSEsolutions approach to web integration?
CSEsolutions utilizes the Kapow Technologies RoboSuite to create an
environment that allows you to integrate seamlessly and unobtrusively by way
of the front end of a web based application.
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What operating
systems does the RoboSuite support?
RoboSuite can be run on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Mac OS, Solaris and Linux.
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What skills are
required to utilize the RoboSuite?
The RoboSuite is a powerful, visual based development environment. In order
to effectively utilize it, a basic understanding in HTML and computer
programming in is desirable. The initial building of Robots can also be
outsourced to CSEsolutions.
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What output
formats can be supported by the RoboSuite?
Data collected and aggregated by the RoboSuite can be output or transferred
in a variety of formats including CSV, XML and SQL. The transfers can be
secure or not.
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How does RoboSuite support
debugging?
The RoboSuite environment has a powerful, visually based debugging
environment. It is very straightforward to debug a RoboSuite robot; you
simply run the robot against the desired website in the debugger and you can
quickly ascertain what robot step and what data iteration is the source of
the problem. No detailed JavaScript investigations are required.
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What differentiates RoboSuite from an EAI vendor (e.g. WebMethods)?
The RoboSuite allows integration to occur at the user interface as opposed
to EAI approach, which focuses on backend data integration.
In general, EAI solutions are complementary to RoboSuite because they
provide a mechanism to integrate legacy applications without web or XML
interfaces. EAI solutions are most applicable to integrating legacy services
in a data centric system to system configuration.
RoboSuite facilitates seamless integration at the user interface application
layer. The benefit of this approach is it can eliminate the amount of data
entry and number of steps required to perform a particular process. And
because of this approach, RoboSuite is totally non-intrusive to the
applications being combined. Since EAI solutions integrate applications on
the data level, they require full control over the combined application,
where RoboSuite requires no modifications to the combined applications. The
RoboSuite platform makes application collaboration possible even for
external applications such as ASPs and partner extranet applications.
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What
differentiates RoboSuite from portal companies?
The RoboSuite can be a highly complementary product for portals. Portal
companies combine web services on one page and provide a single point of
entry into multiple applications. Unlike a typical portal, RoboSuite allows
for data and operations to be aggregated and operated on across the
applications through a tailored interface. This in turn creates an
opportunity for enhanced performance and efficiency for a relatively modest
investment of time and resources and thus a quick pay back.
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What
differentiates RoboSuite from screenscrapers?
Unlike screen scrapers, RoboSuite’s capabilities allow you to precisely
tailor the information you want to collect or interact with. With RoboSuite
you can gain access to an application and the ability to tailor the
interface. Once accessed, these applications can be combined with portals,
EAI solutions and web-based applications.
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What does the owner of a website or application need to do in order to be
integrated into RoboSuite?
Nothing. No software modifications are required on the part of the targeted
owner.
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What happens if the configuration of the targeted web site or application
changes?
While the Robots are generally robust to many kinds of changes; the
RoboSuite automatically checks to see if changes have occurred which would
alter Robot performance. If this occurs, a status alert is provided to the
designated point of contact and typically minor maintenance will be
required.
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How is user registration accommodated when multiple application permissions
are required?
There are two means for accomplishing this:
• All account information can be established and implemented prior to
initial use
• The user can be prompted to enter all relevant information at time of
first use
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What security
authentications does RoboSuite support?
RoboSuite will support Secure Socket Layers (SSL) and Linux SSH in addition
to basic HTTP authentication.
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