Ecrion Platform
System Architecture Overview
Repository
The Repository stores all assets involved in document production, such as templates, images, and fonts, as well as generated output. It is designed to accomodate the large volumes of correspondence (letters, forms) and transactional documents (invoices, statements) that can be produced by large enterprises, such as telecommunications or insurance, where millions of end customers can receive millions of communications each month.
At the same time, the repository tracks dependencies between assets, such as the location of a certain image or reusable content fragment. The Repository can be distributed on multiple computers for fault tolerance and scalability. A REST-based API can be used to retrieve and store files in the repository.
Data Fusion
The Data Fusion component provides data retrieval and data integration (also known as data fusion) capabilities. It is optional when JSON or XML can be produced by your application, and it becomes required when your data retrieval needs are more complex.
Using the Modeler tool, part of the Design Studio, you can define how data should be retrieved, how it should be joined together, apply filtering, sorting, and more. Most data sources are supported, including SQL (Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, etc.), CSV files, CRM (Salesforce, MS Dynamics), to name a few. The Data Fusion component also allows users to implement organization-wide policies for managing data, security, compliance, and audit.
Rendering Engine
The Rendering Engine can produce millions of documents each day dynamically from any data, including XML, JSON, and data models designed in Modeler. It can produce more than 20+ output formats, such as PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel and interactive HTML5.
Using the Publisher tool, part of the Ecrion Studio, you can define how content should be paginated, how data fields should be mixed with regular text, and how content should be turned on or off according to data. The engine is XSL-FO 2.0 compliant, which means you can reuse the XSL templates created for other rendering engines, such as Apache FOP, without making changes.
Analytics Engine
The Analytics Engine is behind next-generation, interactive communications. When traditional documents are no longer adequate to satisfy the evolving needs of today’s customers, the Analytics Engine enables you to deliver intelligence right from your application.
Using the Analyst tool, part of the Ecrion Studio, you can define visualizations, such as charts, tables, pivot tables, and more, that present data, provide ad-hoc filters, sort and drill-down capabilities, and allow users to make sense of their data.
These visualizations can be embedded in interactive document templates designed with the Publisher or in stand-alone dashboards.
Distribution Engine
The distribution engine enables you to add omnichannel and multichannel delivery capabilities to your solution.
Delivery is supported via print, email, and SMS/text messaging using different providers (such as standard SMTP or Amazon SES) and different protocols.
Complete mailing and printing support is provided as well. The solution can support high-volume print environments, such as AFP and Postscript printers, and various folding and inserting machines. Supports embedded fonts, CMYK and ICC color, NOP, and more.
Document Assembly
In many cases generating a document dynamically for a given customer is not enough. Document Assembly enables you to take your document production one level further by providing the capability to create document packages from a mix of static and dynamic documents, apply overlays, renumber the pages to be consistent across the entire package, and more.
The Ecrion solution comes with a specialized XML language called DAL (Digital Assembly Line) that allows you to control document assembly down to the smallest detail.
