Automate Data Integration and Transformation Workflows with FlowForce Server

Organizations that handle high volumes of incoming data know how quickly manual processing becomes a bottleneck. Files arrive in different formats, business rules vary by region or customer, and the margin for error is slim. What's needed is a reliable data processing pipeline that can route, transform, and calculate data automatically, without human intervention.

That's exactly what Altova FlowForce Server and MapForce Server are designed to do. In our latest video tutorial, we walk through a complete, real-world workflow automation scenario from start to finish.

A Real-World ETL Scenario

In the video, we demonstrate a practical data integration scenario that many organizations will recognize. A company receives purchase orders from both US and EU customers as Excel files. Because tax calculations differ between the two regions, incoming orders need to be routed to the correct mapping, processed with the appropriate business logic, and transformed into JSON output — all automatically.

Here's how the workflow breaks down:

1. An Excel-based PO arrives in a monitored incoming folder.

2. FlowForce Server detects the new file via a file system trigger and starts the job.

3. A conditional mapping inspects the file's country code and determines whether the order is from the US or EU.

4. Based on that result, FlowForce Server executes the appropriate regional mapping, which applies the correct tax calculations and transforms the data into JSON.

5. On success, source and output files are moved to a processed folder. If an error occurs, the files are routed to a failed folder for review, and the job continues running.

This kind of conditional, multi-step data processing pipeline is a common requirement in ETL workflows, and FlowForce Server makes it straightforward to configure without writing custom code.

Watch the demo:

How FlowForce Server and MapForce Work Together

The video highlights how three Altova products combine for end-to-end workflow automation. MapForce is the desktop tool for designing the data mappings that define how the Excel input files are transformed into JSON output, including any calculations and data restructuring.

Once the mappings are ready, they are deployed directly to FlowForce Server.

At runtime, FlowForce Server orchestrates the workflow: it monitors triggers, evaluates conditions, and manages the overall job. When it's time to actually execute a deployed mapping, FlowForce Server calls MapForce Server, the server-side execution engine that processes the data transformations. This separation means you design once in MapForce, then let FlowForce Server and MapForce Server handle the automated execution, all without writing shell scripts or building custom middleware.

How to Configure a Data Processing Pipeline

The FlowForce tutorial shows how to manage FlowForce Server capabilities that are essential for building robust, production-ready data integration workflows:

• File system triggers automatically start a job when a new file appears in a monitored directory — ideal for processing incoming data as it arrives.

• Conditional execution lets you define branching logic within a job. In our scenario, the country code determines which regional mapping to run, but the same approach works for any business rule that requires different processing paths.

• Error and success handling ensures that your workflow degrades gracefully. Protected blocks catch errors, move problematic files to a designated folder, and use resume steps so the job keeps running rather than failing entirely.

• Variables and expressions within FlowForce Server's expression language allow you to compute file names, construct paths dynamically, and pass data between steps, giving you fine-grained control over the automated workflow.

The video also previews several additional capabilities for more advanced workflow automation requirements. FlowForce Server supports for-each steps for iterating over collections of files, postpone steps that ensure prerequisites are met before execution, and result caching for time-consuming jobs exposed as web services. Time-based triggers let you schedule jobs at specific intervals, while HTTP triggers enable external systems to invoke jobs on demand via GET or POST requests. Queues help manage server load across a single machine or a cluster.

Together, these features make FlowForce Server a versatile workflow engine for everything from simple file-based ETL jobs to complex, multi-step data integration pipelines that interact with external systems.

Try FlowForce for Free

Whether your team needs to automate recurring data transformations, build a reliable ETL pipeline, or eliminate manual data processing steps, FlowForce Server provides the tools to get there quickly. In addition to calling MapForce Server for data integration, FlowForce Server can manage XML and XBRL validation and processing as well as business report generation workflows.

Ready to try it yourself? Download a free trial of FlowForce Server and start building automated workflows today.

All Altova Server Software products are available as direct downloads for Windows and Linux, as well as via a free Azure VM template or Docker project.