One minor challenge presented by using Journyx SaaS is the ability to automate imports from external customer-based sources and exports from Journyx for automatic consumption into customer-based applications. When Journyx is installed locally at a customer site, saving the files from the customer-source system to a directory which the Journyx system can access is relatively-painless. 


However in a SaaS environment, Journyx rarely has direct access to a customer's file system. Furthermore neither the Journyx imports nor exports, at this time, support direct FTP, SCP or other remote protocols as valid sources for importing or exporting data; the files must be located local to the Journyx system.  


In order to alleviate this problem, Journyx provides a "drop point" where the customer can automatically drop the files to be imported into Journyx, and Journyx automates the retrieval of those same files.  This same drop point can have data automatically copied from the Journyx installation for automatic retrieval.  

This is a 3-step process, and it is described more fully below.  For security's sake, Journyx discourages the usage of passwords between the customer and the secure "drop point," and instead relies on RSA or DSA public/private key pairs using SCP (secure copy protocol) for transfer.  Further, passwords are stored on the FTP server in an encrypted manner that cannot be decrypted.  If Journyx, in the future, were to change the server that handles your drop point we will be unable to move your password.  We can move your RSA or DSA public key.


Setup: 

  1. Contact Journyx IT to setup the "drop point account" for the SaaS installation. 
  2. Journyx IT will create the account and ensure that the SaaS installation can initiate 2-way communication with the new drop point. 
  3. Using the SCP program of your choice, the customer will create a public/private key pair and provide Journyx IT with the public key. 
  4. Journyx IT will install the public key to the "drop point account," and will notify the customer for testing.


Note: Step 3 varies wildly based on operating system and SCP program of choice. Many people on Windows choose to use WinSCP or Putty SCP (pscp.exe), and the processes are well-documented:  


Once step 4 is verified as working, the following steps apply.  

  1. Determine what time (days and times) the customer will automatically/manually upload the files to the "drop point account"
  2. Setup the SaaS account to retrieve those files X minutes later (usually 15, but it depends on the size of the files).
  3. Customer will then set up Journyx to run the particular imports 15 minutes after step 2 in the product as usual.

Below is an example timeline showing the distinct steps.  These steps run regardless on the status of the prior steps, so it is imperative that there is enough time between each step to ensure completion.