Business Process Automation and Data Integration Options at University of Michigan

Summary

Tools for business process automation, robotic process automation (RPA), data integration, and data pipelines (ETL / ELT) at University of Michigan and Michigan Medicine.

Body

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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Details

Details

Article ID: 11042
Created
Fri 10/20/23 10:30 AM
Modified
Mon 10/28/24 3:51 PM
Author(s)
Gabriel Mongefranco

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