Case Study: Fairfax Imaging

JNBridgePro Accelerates Java Integration for .NET-based Mail Order Pharmacy Solution Provider

Situation

As a leader in forms and document processing, Fairfax Imaging is accustomed to integrating its premier .NET-based software product, Quick Modules, into different customer environments. However, for a prospective client — a large mail-order pharmacy — its professional services team faced a new challenge: quickly deploying a fully integrated solution into the customer’s Java-based enterprise within a matter of months.

Fairfax Imaging offers products and services that automate document imaging, data capture, and payment processing for customers across a wide range of industries. Quick Modules is based on a pure .NET framework-based infrastructure, so the company employs a staff of developers with deep experience in Microsoft development tools. The mail-order pharmacy client, on the other hand, uses a third-party Java-based Pharmacy Benefits Management (PBM) system to track prescriptions, patient data, and benefits information. To implement the Quick Modules software and provide the customer with a fully functional solution, Fairfax Imaging needed to integrate the PBM system’s Java API with their .NET infrastructure — they needed an easy way to expose data from the client’s Java-based system to the Quick Modules software stack.

Challenge

“We are definitely a ‘build-versus-buy’ shop,” noted Donna Schmitz, Fairfax Imaging’s director of Professional Services, “but if we can find a solution that is more cost-effective than building it ourselves then that’s what we’ll do.” In rare instances Fairfax Imaging will purchase technology solutions externally, but the company does so only in the exceptional case where it makes good business sense. With the customer’s implementation deadline fast approaching, Fairfax Imaging selected JNBridgePro to resolve the cross-platform interoperability problem because it could do so both quickly and cost-effectively.

“Quick Modules is .NET-based. The Java-based software with which we had to communicate did not have web services exposed,” recalled Alex Umansky, Fairfax Imaging’s Corporate Engineering manager, “and the third-party Java software vendor wasn’t interested in providing this functionality.” Initially Umansky considered having his team write code to access the Java-based PBM system directly. He soon dismissed that idea — his internal development team lacked sufficient Java programming experience and any learning curve would take too long and prove too costly. Instead, Umansky opted to use JNBridgePro because it could streamline the task of connecting Quick Modules to the Java-based back-end, delivering the needed functionality and accelerating time-to-deployment.

Solution

JNBridgePro is an interoperability bridge between Java and .NET that simplifies the issue of cross-platform integration. Using proxy generation tools supplied with JNBridgePro, Fairfax Imaging’s developers built proxy classes for the third-party Java API. The developers could then call the Java API via those proxies, incorporating them into the .NET code just as if they were native library calls. In this way, JNBridgePro streamlined an otherwise complex integration task and provided an easy way for Quick Modules to access the pharmacy customer’s prescription, patient, and benefits information.

JNBridgePro solved the problem of cross-platform interoperability for Fairfax Imaging, adding to the company’s “arsenal of integration capabilities,” as Schmitz stated. Indeed, soon after the completion of this project, Fairfax Imaging subsequently used JNBridgePro to integrate Quick Modules successfully into another mail-order pharmacy client with the same Java-based PBM back-end.

Benefits

Using JNBridgePro, Fairfax Imaging achieved these benefits:

• Fast integration. JNBridgePro quickly solved the problem of Java and .NET interoperability. Umansky estimated that JNBridgePro easily cut 4 to 5 months off the development schedule. This time-savings was critical to the project’s on-time completion.
• Cost-effective. “JNBridgePro’s licensing was extremely cost-effective for us,” said Schmitz, noting that this was a key factor in their decision to use it.
• Simplicity, ease-of-use, and full support. Fairfax Imaging found that proxy generation was a simple and straightforward process, and their developers didn’t require any significant knowledge of Java. JNBridge also provided responsive and comprehensive technical support, demonstrating that JNBridge is, according to Schmitz, “not just a interoperability solution vendor but a true business partner.”

Get Started

To solve the complex problem of Java and .NET interoperability in your business, download a free trial copy of JNBridgePro from www.jnbridge.com.