Business Process Automation and Data Integration Options at University of Michigan

Summary

This article summarizes the tools for business process automation, robotic process automation (RPA), data integration, and data pipelines (ETL / ELT) at University of Michigan and Michigan Medicine.

 

Details

 

Business Process Automation Tools

Tools for automating business processes, approval workflows, and passing data from one application to another.

Product / Framework Description Connectors Contacts / Resources
Power Automate Visual and low-code tool for creating workflows, automating processes, and moving data across cloud providers and Microsoft services. Comes in cloud and desktop versions.
  • Cloud (SharePoint, Teams, Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, many more)
  • FTP / SFTP
  • Email
  • No access to internal servers (behind firewall) such as Oracle, MS SQL Server, or MCommunity
  • Access to custom APIs and several cloud providres is disabled by security policy
  • Front-end automation / RPA (Power Automate Desktop)
TeamDynamix iPaaS Connects enterprise systems with a library of pre-built connectors for data integration, using a visual workflow flow builder. Can be used for process automation, API calls, and integration including lightweight data pipelines, and for customizable and interactive forms.
  • Cloud (SharePoint, Google Drive, Dropbox)
  • FTP
  • Email
  • Custom APIs
  • On-site / internal servers (MCommunity, TDX, ServiceNow). No access to Michigan Medicine internal servers by default (but possibly configured with firewall exceptions)
  • Requires on-boarding by ITS TDX team
Slack Workflows Basic workflows that run inside Slack, with limited connections to external services.
  • Slack
Automation Anywhere Low-code RPA and workflow automation tool with many third party connectors. Can be used to automate tasks in Epic via front-end macros or backend API calls.
  • Cloud (SharePoint, Teams, Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, many more)
  • On-site / internal servers (MCommunity, TDX, ServiceNow) including Michigan Medicine internal servers such as Oracle and MS SQL.
  • Front-end automation / RPA

 

Data Integration, Cloud Data Flow, and Data Pipeline Tools

Tools for ETL / ELT, data loading, data transformations, data cleaning, data pipelines, data wrangling, etc.

Product / Framework Description Connectors Contacts / Resources
Power Query Data connectivity and data preparation tool from Microsoft that integrates into Excel and the Power Platform.
  • Many cloud services
  • Custom APIs
  • Microsoft 365 services (Outlook, Email, Calendar, Planner, To-Dos, Forms, SharePoint)
  • ODBC
  • Excel, CSV, many other file formats
Tableau Prep Data preparation, cleaning, and transformation tool for Tableau dashboards.
  • Many cloud services
  • Custom APIs
  • File shares
  • JDBC
  • Excel, CSV, many other file formats
Pentaho Data Integration & Analytics Java-based data orchestration tool for building and maintaining analytic data pipelines, with a focus on Extract-Transform-Load (ETL).
  • MiShare / FTP / SFTP
  • Email
  • On-site / internal services in Michigan Medicine environment (Oracle, MS SQL), with limited access to U-M environment
  • Access to custom APIs, including RedCap and MyDataHelps
  • Not generally available to developers outside of HITS or a Trusted Service Provider (TSP)
Informatica Platform for cloud integration and data management, focused on Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) processing. Available in cloud and on-premise versions.
  • Cloud
  • FTP / SFTP
  • Email
  • SSH
  • Custom APIs
  • On-site / internal servers (Oracle, MS SQL, TDX, ServiceNow).
  • Not generally available to developers outside of ITS, HITS or a Trusted Service Provider (TSP)
  • Not able to write to MCommunity API
Apache Airflow Java-based platform to programmatically author, schedule and monitor workflows and data flows.
  • Cloud and custom APIs
Denodo Data virtualization and data integration platform that allows combining multiple data sources into a single "virtual" database, while keeping the data in the original systems.
  • Cloud services and custom APIs
  • FTP / SFTP
  • Internal databases on U-M environment only (Oracle, MS SQL). No access to Michigan Medicine environment.
SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) Part of Microsoft SQL Server, SSIS is a data pipeline and transformation tool that can be used for both ETL and ELT.
  • Internal MS SQL databases in U-M and MM environment.
  • Flat files
  • Some APIs depending on security configuration

 

Notes

  • This list is not exhaustive. Please help improve this article by letting us know of other automation/ETL tools you are using at Umich.

 

Resources

 

 

About the Author

Gabriel Mongefranco is a Mobile Data Architect at the University of Michigan Eisenberg Family Depression Center. Gabriel has over a decade of experience in data analytics, dashboard design, automation, back end software development, database design, middleware and API architecture, and technical writing.

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