The concept of information flow includes inter- and intra-system raw source and transformed data movement, as well as destination data transformation. AptBridge^tm provides flexibility for information flow, providing guaranteed end-to-end delivery and data transformation services.

Inter-System

AptBridge uses the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) transport mechanism to transfer data between systems. Inter-system data movement can be broken down into the following components:

• e-commerce system to AptBridge: the AptBridge service scheduling layer is responsible for periodically initiating communications with the e-commerce system, requesting any records (order headers/items/adjustments, and customers) meeting the defined criteria (source criteria can be any combination of order and/or billing status indicators) and creating or updating associated records in AptBridge. Orders and customer data is transformed into QuickBooks' information, and placed in a communicate queue ready for import.
• AptBridge to QuickBooks financial/POS: using the Intuit WebConnector, order and customer information queued for download in AptBridge is appropriately imported into QuickBooks in the form of sales documents (sales receipts, invoices or sales orders) and customer records. The WebConnector can be set to automatically check for new information on a periodic basis, completely automating data flow from e-commerce to QuickBooks. AptBridge also periodically requests updated item and customer information from QuickBooks, ensuring continuous synchronization.
• AptBridge to e-commerce: the AptBridge service scheduling layer is responsible for periodically initiating communications with the e-commerce system, sending product and quantity on hand information as appropriate (information exchange is dependent upon e-commerce system capabilities).

Intra-System

AptBridge has the ability to transform data based on business rules.  As AptBridge moves data between systems, business rules are examined to determine the correct course of action.  As a simple example, AptBridge uses your business rules to determine which orders are downloaded: by examining both order and billing status to find orders that match your ruleset.  Another example is AptBridge's ability to examine order billing status and billing methodology to determine the type of sales document to create in QuickBooks.  For instance, you can map a billing status of "Billed" with a method of "Invoice" to create an invoice in QuickBooks; similarly, you can matched "Paid" and "CreditCard" to a QB sales receipt or sales order.