In the existing systems that use FTP, the systems that transfer files are integrated individually. Therefore, it is very difficult for a System Administrator to manage the transfer status for the entire system (such as the transfer route and data types).

The following figure shows an example of how transfer status is managed by FTP in an existing system:

Figure 8-1 Example of an existing system

By using FTP integration, the transfer between systems that was being managed individually in the past, can now be managed in a batch on Service Platform.

The following figure shows an example of how the transfer status is managed by FTP in a system that uses Service Platform:

Figure 8-2 Example of a system using Service Platform

Managing the status of transfer between systems in a batch also has the advantage of reducing the modification costs because it is easy to understand the extent of the impact on the entire system when system is modified.

FTP integration includes the following features:

• You can manage the status of transfer between systems by using FTP.
  By using the user-defined Java classes of a business process, you can obtain the following information, required to understand the transfer status, as log:
  
  • Route of transfer between systems
  • Transfer start and end time, and the time required for transfer
  • Transfer frequency
  • Amount of data transferred
• You can integrate your system with various systems that are using FTP.
  You can relay the sending and receiving of files by connecting to an existing system. If the file formats and handled character codes differ between the systems, you can handle this by using the layout and character code conversion functionality. You do not require additional software for the FTP client and FTP server you want to connect to.