Collaborating with a leading UK law firm, we transformed their Intapp integration ecosystem to achieve unmatched operational efficiency and scalability. This case study explores how our expertise as certified Boomi and Intapp Integration Services Partners delivered a future-ready solution, empowering the firm to maintain its commitment to excellence in legal services.
About Our Client
Our client is a UK-based law firm established in the 20th century. Today, they have a strong presence both nationally and internationally. The firm is known for its legal expertise and people-focused approach. With over 600 professionals and 70 partners, they offer a comprehensive range of legal services to clients across various sectors.
The Power of Integration Architecture
Integration ensures connected systems, automated processes, and data flow across the law firm, but it can become inconsistent and challenging to manage when integration needs to be scaled. What worked earlier might not align with the growing needs and demands. This can create operational roadblocks and require architecture assessment to optimise further.
Architecture assessment is about optimising the existing one, instead of building something new every time. This analysis identifies inefficiencies and some solutions that can fix the integration system.
Businesses require this integration architecture assessment to:
- Identify and eliminate the operational bottlenecks
- Enhance visibility, maintenance and process standardisation
- Reduce technical debt and integration redundancies
- Prepare an integrated ecosystem that is scalable with growing business needs
Challenges
Our client faced significant hurdles in their Boomi integration ecosystem:
- Inconsistent Naming: Unnamed or poorly named components made execution summaries hard to read.
- Redundant Processes: Tightly coupled processes across environments led to error-prone updates.
- Inadequate Error Handling: Subprocesses lacked robust error handling, limiting failure visibility.
- Inefficient Scripting: Inline scripts without comments complicated maintenance and debugging.
- Inconsistent Extensions: Inconsistent extension use required separate environment management.
- Redundant HTTP Operations: Multiple HTTP operations increased maintenance burdens.
Analysis and Strategic Recommendations
As certified Boomi and Intapp Integration Services Partners, we analysed over 10 primary processes and 200 subprocesses within the firm’s Boomi ecosystem, identifying inefficiencies and proposing solutions to enhance performance, management, and innovation.
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Naming Conventions
Observation: In the Sitecore to D365, PMS to Peppermint and PMS to the Time, most of the components processed were not named, and the execution summaries became difficult to read, making it hard to identify the process step.
Recommendation: The name should be self-explanatory and consistent across the integration system. We recommend adopting a robust naming convention standard for all Boomi components.
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Process Development
Observation: Multiple processes were created for similar functionality across testing and production environments. The processes were tightly coupled and difficult to manage and deploy, resulting in tedious and error-prone updates.
Recommendation: Our Intapp and Boomi experts recommended using connection extension options to deploy the same process in both testing and production environments. To simplify the design, consolidate Set Property shapes to define multiple properties at once and merge the Data Process shapes to execute various steps within a single shape.
To reduce redundancy, merge subprocesses that perform the same function. Use the Process Route shape for dynamic routing scenarios to streamline decision-making. Avoid using dangling shapes.
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Scripting
Observation: Inline scripts were used instead of component scripts in the mapping. The script also lacked comments, making it difficult to read, resume, debug, and maintain.
Recommendation: Never use in-line scripting for Data Process shapes and Map components. Always create a component, such as a Process Script or Map Script. Also, mention the purpose of the scripting and provide proper comments for clarity.
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Extensions Usage
Observation: Extensions were not used consistently across connectors, Cross References and Process Properties. This demanded separate management of test and production environments.
Recommendation: Our Boomi expert recommended extensively leveraging the potential of Boomi extensions to manage configuration values in different environments. This approach allows you to deploy the same integration process in various environments without creating separate versions.
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Error Handling
Observation: Numerous subprocesses lack robust error handling in their Practice and Content Management System. For instance, only a Return Document Shape is used in the catch path, returning the source document instead of the actual error. Catch blocks are missing around critical areas, such as map shapes, and some subprocesses terminate directly without notifying the client. This limits the visibility into failures and increases the risk of uncaught errors.
Recommendation: We suggest implementing comprehensive error handling for both process and document levels. It’s best to avoid using “Stop” in catch paths; instead, go for meaningful error responses. Configure the try-catch shape to capture all errors, not just document errors, ensuring that connection or connector-related errors are handled appropriately.
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Reusability
Observation: Multiple HTTP operations are created with the same operation and functionality. This increases the redundancy and maintenance burden.
Recommendation: Introducing dynamic value setting to identify different data types from the PMS database and replacing all HTTP operations with a single operation to eliminate the need for multiple subprocesses.
Technology Stack
The solution leveraged the following technologies:
- Boomi
- Sitecore
- Dynamics 365
- Elite
- Peppermint
- Intapp Library Packs
Conclusion
Our partnership with the UK law firm resulted in a complete overhaul of their Intapp integration ecosystem, addressing critical inefficiencies and unlocking new levels of operational excellence. We significantly improved process visibility, system resilience, and maintainability by standardising naming conventions, consolidating redundant processes, enhancing scripting practices, and implementing robust error handling.
As a trusted Intapp Boomi Partner, we helped the law firm better use Intapp Library Packs, removing redundant connections and streamlining operations for more efficient management. Our insights into the PMS to CDS process, reviewed against Boomi standards, allowed us to enhance the reliability and agility of their data flows, ensuring proactive error detection and recovery. Our team empowered the client with knowledge, skills, and expert recommendations to manage their integration landscape with cost-effective and future-ready solutions.
