Self-Serve with FME Server

Self-Serve is the term for a system set up to allow the end-user to carry out their own data translations and transformations. In this way, routine data management tasks are offloaded from staff to the user, who is empowered to carry out processes at their own convenience.

Usually the system is set up in such a way that the end-user needs no prior FME experience or training to carry out their goals; for example, they can access the functionality through a web interface customized to their particular needs. In fact the user does not even need to know of FME, or that FME is the engine driving their applications!

Self-Serve Types

In general there are two types of self-serve systems.

Data Upload systems are where the user is able to upload their data to be processed on FME Server. A typical application would be a user uploading data to be validated. The data is run against a number of tests in an FME workspace and the results sent back to the user.

Data Download systems are where the user is able to serve themselves with data. A typical application would be an organization that frequently provides data to either staff or customers. With a Data Download system the user can fetch their own data, rather than having to be provided with it in a more manual way. Data can be downloaded as a set of files, or streamed directly into an application.

Data Uploads

A Data Upload system is one where a user provides data to FME Server for it to process.

Data Upload can be used from any FME Server client, including:

• The FME Server web interface
• An FME workspace
• A custom web page or application

Data Upload is often used for submitting data to an organization; for example a property developer submits a planning application containing a DWG dataset to a municipal planning department.

It is also often used for publishing data to be processed on FME Server; for example FME Server can provide a data validation web service and an end-user would upload a set of data to be checked.

It’s worth noting that data upload also includes not just data, but other resources that may be required for a translation to run; for example custom transformers or text-file lookup tables may also be uploaded.

Data Downloads

A Data Download system is one where a user selects their own choice of data to download.

Data Download can also be used from any FME Server client, usually:

• The FME Server web interface
• A custom web page or application

Data Download operates in a different way to simply running a workspace.

When you run a workspace (with the Job Submitter) the data is written to the location specified by the workspace; for example a file, directory, or database.

Data Download instead writes the output to a zip file and presents the user with a link to that file. This makes it ideal for self-serve, because the data is delivered directly to the user.