The FileTrack System

System Overview

The FileTrack Data Conversion System was created as a result of Outlook Computing's work on AS/400 application software implementations, projects where data needed to be migrated from an old system in order to get a new system up and running.  FileTrack was designed to make data conversion during these projects faster, easier and more accurate.

With these goals in mind, the FileTrack system was built to help users on many levels of a data conversion project:

Project Organization

With its user-friendly interface, FileTrack gives structure to a conversion project.  The system acts as a conversion command center, giving you a central location to complete all of your conversion work.  Because all conversions are done in a consistent manner, it is easy to manage, share and review information and work more efficiently.

FileTrack can also help you document a conversion with its built-in notes feature.   Notes on conversion issues, questions and problems can be included directly within a conversion definition.  They can then be reviewed on-line or printed on system reports to help ensure important conversion details are not missed.

Conversion Programming

FileTrack's intuitive data mapping options let you easily define how data will be moved from one set of files to another.  Mapping definitions can be simple (field moves, constant fills) or complex (conditional evaluations, numeric calculations), and give you a great deal of flexibility in converting data.

Once mapping definitions have been created, the system automatically generates data conversion programs, relieving you of tedious coding details and allowing you to concentrate on more important conversion issues.

Data Conversion and Testing

With FileTrack, you can convert data for a file by simply selecting it from a list of files on your screen.  The system also lets you group multiple files (along with non-FileTrack commands) into a job called a conversion stream.  With conversion streams, you can build entire system conversions that can be run, and repeated, in a single step.

To help ensure your data is converted correctly, FileTrack gives you the ability to run conversions in a test environment before running them against your production files.  You can easily repeat conversions on a subset of your data to more quickly and accurately test your results.  In addition, system reports let you review and analyze your conversion definitions without having to read through pages of program code.

To get more detailed information about FileTrack or request a free trial version of the software, please visit our Request Info page.