Insights · Integration & data
Integration and data guides for the systems you already run
An integration is only as reliable as its answers to three questions: which system owns each record, what happens when a transfer fails, and who is told. These guides cover replacing spreadsheets, Access databases and shared-drive approvals with web apps, custom apps versus low-code, customer and dealer portals, integrating with a vendor whose API is poor, connecting AI to internal data, and plant data.
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Guides are drafted with AI assistance; facts checked against any sources a guide cites. General guidance, not advice for your situation; verify before relying on them.
Guides
8 guides on integration & data.
IT strategy · Web apps
Custom internal web app vs. low-code (Power Apps and similar): when each fits
How IT leaders can decide between a low-code platform such as Microsoft Power Apps and a custom internal web app: what each is good at, and what to check before committing, including per-user licensing, where the data lives, who maintains it, integration limits and the way out.
8 min read
Internal tools · Migration
Replacing a department spreadsheet or Access database with a web app
A practical plan for moving a department-run Excel workbook or Microsoft Access database to a web app: inventorying what the file really does, cleaning and mapping the data, rebuilding formulas and VBA as tested rules, reconciling a trial migration, and cutting over without losing a day's work.
9 min read
Custom software · Document approvals
Replacing shared-drive document approvals with a simple workflow app
How an IT leader at a mid-sized company can replace a shared-drive and email approval process for procedures, forms, specifications and policies: the problems worth solving, checking the tools you already own first, when a simple custom workflow app fits, documents as records with a status and a current revision, approval rules by document type, sign-in and audit trail, reminders, what to do with the files already on the drive, and a first release small enough to finish.
9 min read
Web applications · Portals
Customer or dealer portal: build vs. buy, and what to scope first
How IT leaders at mid-sized companies can choose between a packaged portal product, the portal feature of a system they already own and a custom build, then scope a first release around the few jobs external users need most, with sign-in, data boundaries, integration and support planned in.
10 min read
Custom software · System integration
Integrating two business systems when one vendor's API is poor: polling, webhooks, files and reconciliation
How an IT leader at a mid-sized company can connect two business systems when one vendor's API is weak: recognizing the gaps, what to ask the vendor first, choosing between webhooks, polling, scheduled file exports and a direct database read, polling that doesn't miss or repeat records, webhooks you can trust, retries and idempotent writes, reconciliation that proves the two systems agree, monitoring and ownership, and whether an integration platform, a vendor connector or a small custom service fits.
11 min read
AI integration · Data access
Connecting AI to your internal data safely
How to let an AI assistant answer from SharePoint, file shares and databases without exposing data people shouldn't see: carrying each user's permissions through retrieval, choosing what to index, keeping the index current, citing sources, and least privilege for the pipeline itself.
10 min read
Manufacturing · Integration
Getting plant-floor data into web dashboards without putting the control network at risk
Architecture options for getting PLC and historian data from OPC UA, Kepware, FactoryTalk and PI into browser dashboards, with network segmentation and read-only patterns your controls team can sign off on.
8 min read
Manufacturing · OT/IT
Getting plant data to IT systems safely across the OT/IT boundary
How to move plant data to business-side systems without opening a path into the control network: industrial DMZ patterns, one-way and read-only flows, where the collector sits, firewall rules worth approving, and who owns what between IT and controls.
10 min read
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