Securing Access to the Enterprise Data

There is an overwhelming demand for access to all of enterprises information by the users in the organization but at the same time there are serious issues with security. Data access must be controlled so that only the authorized persons can access that data but at the same time not limit what tools the users can use to get to this information. This requires that you provide an open interface to the data source and implement logic to control access.

OpenAccess allows the implementation of a custom ODBC/JDBC on top of the business logic implemented in C/C++, Java, or .NET. It then exposes the data sources through the familiar ODBC/JDBC API to allow existing desktop tools and middleware to consume the data through the business logic layer. The ability to control security through a business layer has advantages over the use of underlying RDBMS. The common rules can be used over multiple data sources instead of having to configure each underlying database.

One CRM vendor used OpenAccess to allow OLE DB compliant access to the underlying data stored in a SQL Server while maintaining security configured within the CRM application. This allowed third-party modules and tools to interact with the CRM using an open API.

Another enterprise used OpenAccess to allow Business Objects to connect to the underlying HR data in an Oracle database through custom Java objects implemented to enforce access control. This allowed the end users to continue using the tools they are familiar with and allowed the IT to implement common access control logic for use with desktop applications and web Java applications.