Prophix Cloud

Author: Eric Vasbinder

INTEGRATION LOGISTICS

Support Status:  Supported

Integration Method: ODBC Direct Database

HOSTING LOCATION AND CONNECTION METHODS

OPTION A (DEFAULT / RECOMMENDED) - Remote Hosting with VPN

• • Connection Method:  TLS Database Endpoint (TLS VPN) (RECOMMENDED) OR IPSEC VPN

• Data Connector or App Hosting Location:  Customer / Partner Cloud or Customer On-premise

• Additional Charge:

  • If using TLS Database Endpoint (TLS VPN):  NO

  • If using IPSEC VPN:  YES - Most likely included in your VP1 contract

    • Please reach out to your account manager for more details if needed

OPTION B (NO LONGER POSSIBLE - EXISTING INSTALLS ONLY) - Viewpoint Cloud Hosted

• • Connection Method:  Same network

  • Data Connector or App Hosting Location:  Viewpoint Cloud

• Additional Charge:  YES - 1 third party integration management fee and 1 standard Windows Server

Product Use Case

Cloud-based solution for analytics and deep knowledge reporting of ERP data

Similar Products

This product is similar in operation and feature set to Viewpoint Analytics, PowerBI, and Cassell Consulting's reporting solution

ERP Connection Overview 

As per many other server-side integrations to third-party products, this product is designed to use a hosted data connector (a.k.a. a shim) that speaks to the Vista database directly using ODBC and then itself connects to the third party.

In this case, the customer is either connecting cloud-hosted Vista to the third-party's cloud or customer on-premise network over either the TLS Database Endpoint (TLS VPN) or an IPSEC VPN tunnel, or we are hosting the data connector (no longer supported for new connections to Prophix).

If Viewpoint hosts this data connector, we install the vendor-supplied shim connector in the customer's single tenant environment in our cloud.  This shim connector needs to be installed on a separate server as it accepts inbound control requests from the Internet.

• • NOTE:  Since this shim is a third party product that we need to host, it requires being hosted on a separate server for security reasons.  As such, we need to pass on the costs for an additional server to the customer

Detailed Instructions for VPN Method

• 1. Stand up a TLS Database Endpoint (TLS VPN):  TLS Database Endpoint 

     1. 1. 1. For IPSEC VPN between hosting location of third party product and customer's Vista environment in our cloud: How do I set up an IPSEC VPN to access my Vista database directly?

  2. Create SQL account to allow third-party to authenticate to Vista:  I need a dedicated SQL account for my integration to Vista in your cloud. How do I set that up?

  3. Configure the third-party solution to talk to the IP address of the new Vista server in our cloud.

tl;dr:  Customers who need to integrate Prophix's Cloud with Vista in our cloud need to host the data connector externally to Viewpoint's cloud and connect over a TLS Endpoint or an IPSEC VPN to Vista in the cloud.  Legacy installs of Prophix may continue to host Prophix with us as long as the customer keeps an additional add-on “Standard Server”, as well as the management fee to maintain the third party server, on their cloud contract.  NOTE: that as of Q1 2022, remote hosting and connectivity was highly preferred and as of Q1 2023, hosting for new installs in our cloud was no longer permitted.