PilotFish Product Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is there any software that lets you integrate systems, applications and databases with different data formats?

Yes, middleware software such as PilotFish’s integration engine allows you to integrate systems, applications, databases and equipment, using any data format to any other kind of system or data format. (HL7, EDI, CDA, FHIR, XML…) PilotFish has the added advantage that users can accomplish this all graphically without any coding or scripting.

2. What is the best data mapper?

The best data mapper allows users to visually map data using drag & drop and without any coding or scripting. PilotFish offers a data mapping component as part of its integration solution that does just that. PilotFish’s data mapper features a sophisticated 3-pane visual drag & drop mapper that allows users to do anything that you can do programmatically in the graphical view. The PilotFish data mapper makes users more productive and offers reusability for HL7, HIPAA EDI, XML, NCPDP, CCDA and other message types. It can handle any data mapping task from simple to complex without coding/scripting or users can work directly in the XSLT view. Watch the video to see it in action.

3. How can I configure the eiConsole to have access to more memory in order for it to appropriately be able to handle larger interfaces and transactions?

You can increase the memory available to the eiConsole by adding or updating the eiConsole.vmoptions parameter in the configuration file in the install folder. Once this setting is changed, the eiConsole will have to be restarted for it to use the newly changed value. An example value is shown below to give the eiConsole access to 256 Mbytes of memory.
# Set the maximum RAM available to the application
-Xmx2560m

4. Who is a MuleSoft competitor for the Anypoint Platform?

PilotFish consistently wins in side-by-side evaluations ranking higher in overall ease-of-use, depth of functionality and time to configure, test and deploy integrations. PilotFish’s integration suite costs a whole lot less than Anypoint too, as well as delivering a whole lot more. Read the details. MuleSoft vs PilotFish – Which One Comes Out on Top?

5. Does PilotFish support single sign-on (SSO)?

Typically single sign-on is outside the scope of what our software does and is the responsibility of the IT infrastructure/security team. However, PilotFish can communicate complex web API calls with our API XL features. So, if something uses SSO (usually something with tokens) we can likely communicate with it. If a user wanted to create some web app using PilotFish we could probably build out an SSO authentication scheme, specifically, that would be via a route configuration.

6. Is there a list of special characters that are not supported in PilotFish during data transformations?

By default, PilotFish processes data using the UTF-8 encoding standard. Any characters outside of that character set could potentially cause transformation problems. PilotFish can be configured to use other encodings, if necessary. Additionally, any characters that could invalidate XML or XSLT will need to be escaped to avoid transformation problems.

7. How does an interface engine work?

Interface engines are software architected to receive incoming messages and route them to the appropriate target information systems. They also translate the messages into formats that the receiving system can understand. Standardized protocols are employed for exchanging data. Efficient tools for parsing and data validation and up-to-date application software are expected.

8. What is an interface engine in healthcare?

Interface Engines in healthcare are software systems for exchanging healthcare information in use cases involving disparate systems communicating over different protocols. They must adeptly handle data transformation and exchange of not only large batch-oriented data and HL7 2.x and other version messaging, but also highly conversational XML and JSON APIs – including HL7 FHIR.

9. What is a healthcare integration engine?

A Healthcare Integration Engine is a software system designed to exchange disparate healthcare information between the systems in the healthcare ecosphere communicating over different protocols. They handle data transformation and exchange of not only large batch-oriented data and all versions of the HL7 messaging standard as well as highly conversational XML and JSON APIs, including HL7 FHIR.

10. What is integration engine software?

Integration engine software is a software program and its components architected to process data received from source systems, translate the messages into formats required by receiving target systems, and then route the data to the identified targets. Think nerve center, traffic cop or hub to manage all the data flows between the disparate and multiple technologies in an IT environment.

11. Which eiConsole bundle do I download for EDI 835 and EDI 837 files?

Which eiConsole bundle you choose depends on your industry, data standard focus, etc. If you are working with EDI files, select the eiConsole for X12 EDI bundle when you download the eiConsole.