Connecting your own database or specialist applicationeven the legacy program without a suitable interface.

The database someone built back then, the specialist application only a few people can operate, the program whose manufacturer no longer exists: the plan is to turn even these into a collection you can ask questions of, via a scheduled export — without changing the program. We look beforehand at what your program can output for this.

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Your own database or specialist application

after clarification · database export

Example question

“Which cases are recorded in the legacy program for the property at Bahnhofstraße 12?”

1 Answer with source

Connection

How the connection is designed

First we look at what the program can output: an interface, a CSV or Excel export, a printed report as PDF, or a read-only query on the database. From this, the plan is a scheduled export into an output directory that is mirrored to your instance, encrypted and over outbound connections only; nothing is changed in the program, it is only read. Whether and which route is open to you, we check with you before we start — depending on version, licence and operation. The first run uses an extract, so you can check the answers before more is added; until the connection is set up, you can upload individual files, whole folders, emails, photos and voice memos.

Once set up, synchronisation runs automatically: new and changed documents from Your own database or specialist application are added by themselves, without anyone having to upload anything.

Set-upWe estimate the effort once it is clear what the program actually outputs, and discuss it with you before anything is set up. Billed by effort.

Documents

Which documents may be stored in Your own database or specialist application

Master records with fields that have been repurposed over the years — a remarks field holding half the history.
Case lists: who did what and when, as a table with no document behind it.
Reports that only exist as a print view — property sheet, customer sheet, annual overview.
Files that are not in the database but in a directory next to it, linked via a path.
Code tables and abbreviations only insiders can read: status ‘B4’ means terminated.
Phone notes and free text that never made it into another system.

Example questions

Examples of questions to your documents

“Which cases are recorded in the legacy program for the property at Bahnhofstraße 12?”
1 Answer with source
“What does the old database say about the customer Huber, customer number 4711?”
2 Answer with source
“Which contracts from 2016 are still running, and what was agreed at the time?”
3 Answer with source

Start

Before a connection is set up

A connection is set up for you, not activated in one click. Every source comes with its own logins, permissions and folder logic — whether and how it can be connected at your company, we check together beforehand. Set-up and maintenance are billed by effort; how much that is depends on the source and is discussed beforehand.

Until then, and independently of it, you can upload files, whole folders, emails, photos and voice memos. Before we start, we go through real questions with you to see how the answers look.

Preliminary check

What we check in advance

Beforehand we look at how data records become readable sheets: raw columns without context are of little use; it takes a recipe that puts together a case with date, people involved and text — and the key lists, so that a status ‘B4’ can be written out. If these lists exist only in a few people’s heads, they have to be written down once; that is your part of the preparation. The export reflects the state at the last sync, not a live screen — for today’s state, the program remains the authoritative source. If an application only offers screens and printed reports, we check which details the printout contains; that determines what is in the collection.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions about this connection

The program has been running since 2009; the first years are only half maintained.

That is common and no reason to rule it out. The collection is taken in as it is: where nothing was recorded back then, nothing is added, and if the system finds nothing on a question, it says so. More common than gaps are fields that changed their meaning along the way — what was in the remarks field until 2014 may mean something different from what has been there since. Such breaks can be separated by year in the recipe if they are known; that is why we ask about them beforehand.

Our documents are linked to the records via paths. What if a path points nowhere?

The plan is to take in the record and the linked file together, so that case and document stay together. Dead links are common in collections that have grown over time: a drive letter that no longer exists, a renamed folder, a file deleted long ago. On the first run we record which links point nowhere instead of silently skipping them; whether you close the gaps is up to you. Nothing in the file directory is moved or repaired in the process.

What if the program does get another update — or if we switch it off at some point?

An update can change field names, the output format or the layout of a report; if the export runs via the printed report, even a shifted column can mean the recipe has to be adjusted. A note before installing it therefore helps more than one afterwards. When switching off: whatever has been taken in by then sits in your instance and no longer depends on the legacy program or the computer it ran on. We should know the date in good time — once the server has been dismantled, there is no longer a source for an export.

The old program has only one login that everyone uses. How is that supposed to work with permissions?

That is why the permissions are not meant to depend on the legacy program. A read-only login is planned for the export; who then sees which cases is set in your instance — via document types and roles, with a cut-off date if needed. In many companies this is the first time it becomes possible to control who reads the old cases, without touching the shared account or changing anything in the legacy program. If the permission is missing, the system says so; we discuss which roles are needed before we start.

Industries

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Guides

Request a demo — and clarify how Your own database or specialist application fits in

In thirty minutes by video we show what answers with sources look like, and clarify whether and how Your own database or specialist application can be connected at your company.