Traditionally, FME has been a tool utilised by GIS or Spatial teams to manage and manipulate geospatial data. But as FME has grown into an All-Data Platform its capabilities have expanded beyond spatial data into integrating databases, business platforms and a wide range of other data sources. This shift means FME is no longer confined to specialists but is now being used across multiple teams in organisations. While this creates opportunities for collaboration and innovation, it also introduces new challenges.
As FME adoption grows, it empowers collaboration and innovation across teams. However it can also lead to silos and duplication of effort.
Let’s consider two key FME resource types:
Connections
Connections in FME refer to database connections (containing connection details to database resources or credentials) and web connections (providing connection details to APIs and web services). By default, FME Form (Desktop) stores these in a local connection store on each user’s machine. This can result in:
- Access issues: When a team member sets up a database connection, others can’t access it
- Duplication: Multiple connections to the same service can be created by different users, often these will have different naming conventions or credentials
- Complexity: Over time, managing these connections – especially when they’re published to FME Flow – can become difficult and complex as they are hard to trace and maintain
Custom Transformers
Custom Transformers are another powerful feature and tool in FME. They package reusable and repeatable logic into a single transformer that can be duplicated in a single workspace or shared across many. A great example of a popular Custom Transformer is the NoFeaturesTester.
Within your organisation, you likely have processes or business rules that could benefit from being captured in Custom Transformers. However, if these are subsequently duplicated by sharing copies with colleagues or other teams, you end up with multiple unlinked copies spread across the organisation. When this logic inevitably changes or requires updating, it becomes a daunting task to track down where it is being used.
The Case for Centralising FME Resources
Fortunately, you can overcome these challenges by centralising resources. FME Form can be configured to use a shared network location for connections and Custom Transformers. The location is found in the Default Paths section in FME Options.
Centralising the location allows you to:
- Enhance security: Stored credentials are encrypted and not viewable by users. Many connections can also leverage Single Sign-On for greater security and ease of use
- Eliminate duplication: Maintain a single source of truth for database and web connections, therefore ensuring that standardised configurations are used
- Simplify infrastructure updates: When connection details are updated (e.g. infrastructure migrations/updates, credential or API key renewals) the new details only need to be entered in one location
- Centralise business logic: Custom Transformers stored in a central location ensure that any updates to the contained logic is reflected across all workspaces that utilise them
Building a Smarter FME Environment
Centralising your FME resources not only prevents duplication and streamlines updates, it also fosters and encourages collaboration across teams. It’s a small administrative change (and one that can be automatically rolled out) that can have a big impact on how efficiently your organisation works with data and business systems.
If you’d like to learn more about centralising FME resources and aligning FME Flow to enhance collaboration, contact us today. Let’s explore how we can help your organisation streamline processes and unlock FME’s full potential.
Learn more about FME at locusglobal.com
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