While data integration is something we're very familiar with at Software Verde, this project was unique because the target integration point was not a data source formatted for easy consumption, and possibly subject to unexpected changes. After analyzing the data and gathering an understanding of how it would be used, we put together a set of guidelines for how each piece of data should be extracted, largely using regular expressions. From there we were able to build a tool using that data.
By separating out the data capture and data usage, we were able to prepare for future changes to the data source and build the applicaiton in a way that could be easily migrated to a new data source if one became available. We always strive to build our applications to be as "future-proof" as possible. Unexpected changes are always possible and not all possibilities can be easily prepared for, but the more flexibly we build systems the more likely we are to be successful in the future.
