The present application claims international priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to co-pending Indian Patent Application No. 201941014453, filed Apr. 10, 2019, entitled “SOFTWARE SERVICE PLATFORM”, the entire content and disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Increasingly, many users utilize software services provided by a number of different software service platforms. For example, enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) systems help businesses collect information relating to their operations, such as production, resource management, inventory management, sales, delivery, billing, and other operations. Similarly, accounting software applications help businesses with their accounting information, such as payroll, purchase orders, accounts payable, sales invoices, accounts receivable, and so on.
However, software service platforms often cannot provide all the customized services needed by users, particularly if the users are in different fields. For example, users from business entities in different industries may need for ERP, accounting software, security software, and other software services, but the specifics of providing such services for a particular user or entity may vary significantly. Embodiments of the present disclosure address these and other issues by providing software platforms that can be efficiently and intuitively accessed and customized to suit the needs of individual entities.
In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numerals may describe similar components in different views. Like numerals having different letter suffixes may represent different instances of similar components. Some embodiments are illustrated by way of example, and not limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which:
The description that follows includes systems, methods, techniques, instruction sequences, and computing machine program products that embody illustrative embodiments of the disclosure. In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide an understanding of various embodiments of the inventive subject matter. It will be evident, however, to those skilled in the art, that embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In general, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, and techniques are not necessarily shown in detail.
Each client device 102 may communicate and exchange data with other client devices 102, as well as with server system 108 via the network 106. Such data may include functions (e.g., commands to invoke functions) as well as payload data (e.g., text, audio, video or other multimedia data). In this context, the network 106 may be, or include, one or more portions of a network such as an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), the Internet, a portion of the Internet, a portion of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a plain old telephone service (POTS) network, a cellular telephone network, a wireless network, a Wi-Fi® network, another type of network, or a combination of two or more such networks. For example, a network or a portion of a network may include a wireless or cellular network and the coupling may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) connection, a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) connection, or other type of cellular or wireless coupling. In this example, the coupling may implement any of a variety of types of data transfer technology, such as Single Carrier Radio Transmission Technology (1×RTT), Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO) technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology, third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) including 3G, fourth generation wireless (4G) networks, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard, others defined by various standard setting organizations, other long range protocols, or other data transfer technology.
The server system 108 provides server-side functionality via the network 106 to one or more client devices (102). While certain functions of the system 100 are described herein as being performed by either a client device 102 or by the server system 108, it will be appreciated that some functionality may be interchangeably performed by either the client device 102 or by the server system 108. For example, it may be technically preferable to initially deploy certain technology and functionality within the server system 108, but later migrate this technology and functionality to a client device 102 having sufficient processing/memory capacity. Additionally, some functionality of embodiments of the present disclosure may be distributed across a plurality of different processors and/or computing devices, including one or more client devices 102 and server systems 108.
The server system 108 supports various services and operations that are provided to the client devices 102. Such operations include transmitting data to, receiving data from, and processing data generated by the client device 102. This data may include, for example, message content, client device information, geolocation information, database information, transaction data, social network information, and other information. Data exchanges within the system 100 are invoked and controlled through functions available via user interfaces (UIs) of the client devices 102.
In the example depicted in
In the example shown in
The application server 112 hosts a number of applications and subsystems. For example, the application server 112 may implement a variety of message processing technologies and functions, including various data-processing operations, with respect to data received within the payload of a message received from one or more client devices 102, or retrieved from one or more databases 120 by database server 118.
In the example depicted in
Software Service Platform
In method 200, the system (such as server system 108 in
The system retrieves a configuration file (210) containing configuration information for performing the service. In some embodiments, the configuration file may be in a markup language format (such as extensible markup language (XML)). In some embodiments, the configuration information may be stored in a plurality of nodes, with each respective node in the plurality of nodes comprising a respective set of parameters associated with the service.
The system identifies the nodes, parameters, and customizations (such as customized extensions and fields) associated with the service from the configuration file (215). In some embodiments, the configuration file may include nodes in a flat or hierarchal structure. In one embodiment, for example, the configuration file may include a feature node identifying an application program interface (API) to be used in conjunction with performing the service. Some specific examples of feature nodes and other components of a configuration file in XML format may be found below in the “OPERATION EXAMPLES” section.
In some embodiments, the configuration file may include an object node identifying an object component used in performing the service. The object node may include a variety of information, and the object component may include other nodes. For example, the object component may include a query node that includes information for performing a query for an attribute of the object component (e.g., for information stored in database 120 in
The object component may include any number of different nodes. In some embodiments, for example, the object component may further include a parameter node that includes parameters for performing the query for the attribute. The object component may further include a mapping node that includes parameters associated with the request to perform the service, as well as an update mapping node that includes parameters associated with the response to the request.
The system performs the service (220) based on the content of the configuration file. For example, the system may perform the service using a user-customized extension identified in the configuration file. In this manner, a user of the system may invoke customized hooks to perform functionality that would otherwise not be available from the APIs of conventional systems.
The system may perform a variety of functions based on the configuration file. In one embodiment, the configuration file comprises an identifier for an object and validation parameters for the object. In this example, in conjunction with performing the service (220), the system validates the object based on the validation parameters. A specific example of validating an object based on validation parameters may be found below in the “OPERATION EXAMPLES” section with reference to address verification.
Embodiments of the present disclosure may be utilized to validate a variety of objects based on a variety of different validation parameters. For example, the object may be or include an account, and the validation parameters may include an account identifier and other information (e.g., address information) associated with the account.
The validation parameters may include a variety of information, including nodes. Continuing the example of validating an account, the validation parameters may include a mapping node that includes parameters associated with a request to validate the account (e.g., received in a service request (205)).
Similarly, the validation parameters may include an update mapping node that includes parameters associated with a response to the request to validate the account. The update mapping node parameters may be used to format the response to the service request (225).
The system transmits a response to the request to perform the service (225). For example, the system may transmit the response to the client computing device from which the service request was received (205). The response may include data, status information, and other results from performing the service (220).
The system may present a user interface on the client device (230) (e.g., one or more windows displayed on the display screen of the client device) to display or retrieve information for performing the service. In some embodiments, for example, the system may present a user interface on the display screen of a computing device and receive (via the user interface) user input (235) that includes OQL for performing a query. The system may then update the configuration file (245) by storing the OQL for performing the query within a query node in the configuration file. Similarly, the system may receive user input (235) that includes parameters for performing the query, and update the configuration file (245) to store the parameters for performing the query within the parameter node in the configuration file.
In another example, the system may receive user input (235) via the user interface that includes an identifier for customized extension, and update the configuration file (245) by storing the customized extension identifier in the configuration file. Similarly, the system may present a user interface (230) on a display screen of the client computing device that includes an identifier for a hook associated with the service. The system may receive user input (235) via the user interface that includes a definition for the customized extension, and update the configuration file (245) by storing the definition for the customized extension in the configuration file. In this manner, a user may create custom processes and identify them via the configuration file to be executed during performance of the service. For example, the system may perform the service by executing a first process associated with the service, and executing a second process associated with the customized extension. Any number of such built-in and customized processes may be executed in conjunction with the performance of a service by embodiments of the present disclosure.
The system may present a variety of user interface screens (230) to receive content for updating the configuration file (245). Specific examples of user interface screens that may be used in conjunction with embodiments of the present disclosure are depicted in
The system may also generate content for the configuration based on input received from the user. For example, the system may receiving user input via the user interface that includes an identifier for the object, and generate parameters (240) for the object (e.g., validation parameters as described above) based on the object identifier. The system may update the configuration file (245) by storing the object identifier and the validation parameters for the object in the configuration file.
In this example, customers 310 (e.g., customers 311, 312, 313, . . . ) interface with ERP systems 321, 322 (e.g., via respective client computing devices associated with each respective customer). Database 323 stores customer data associated with customer 311. Tax information is received from one or more tax jurisdictions 330 (e.g. 331, 332, 333, . . . ).
Component 390 represents an embodiment of a mapper according to various aspects of the present disclosure (e.g., a tax mapper as described below). The mapper 390 may communicate with an online tax-assisting service 340 via connector 371 to API 379.
The tax-assisting service 340 includes a tax content management component 344 with a database 346 to store tax rules, rates, exemptions, etc. The tax-assisting service 340 may be invoked via API 379, for example when it receives a request with data 376 on behalf of customer 311 from EPR 321. Data 376 may be looked up from customer data in database 323.
In this example, tax-assisting engines 342 includes an address validation engine 352 and a tax computation engine 354. Upon being invoked, address validation engine 352 performs an address-validation process based on the customer data 376 and responds with address feedback response 377 (e.g., a validated address or an indication an address is invalid). The tax computation engine 365 responds to an invocation by calculating tax liability 379, the amount of tax due.
In some embodiments, the tax-assisting service 340 may perform a variety of services related, or in addition to, the address validation and tax-computation services described above. For example, the tax-assisting service 340 may accumulate and store sales data 376. In another example, another engine or functional component (not shown), upon being invoked, can register one or more of customers 310 with one or more appropriate tax jurisdictions 330. In yet another example, another engine or functional component (not shown), upon being invoked, can generate tax returns (e.g., filled forms) for customers 310 and/or file such returns with the appropriate tax jurisdiction(s) 330.
In this example, customer 311 has connectors 411, 412, 413 that can invoke applications 441, 442, 443, respectively. Each of 441, 442, 443 communicates with platform 450 which, in turn, communicates with database 323 storing customer data. If access to the tax-assisting service 340 has been enabled, applications 441, 442, 443 can actuate their respective connector 471, 472, 473 to operate as connector 371 in
Additionally, configuration files 581, 582, 583 are generated for respective connectors 471, 472, 473. These configuration files 581, 582, 583 are also enveloped by mapper 590 in this example. In some embodiments, the configuration files may comprise a markup language format that is both machine-readable and human-readable. For example, as described in other examples herein, the configuration files 581, 582, 583 may be extensible markup language (XML) files.
In this example, mapper 590 interfaces with applications 441, 442, 443. Mapper 590 also interfaces with platform 450 and API 379. In this example, a mapper UI suite 595 may be used to present user interface screens (e.g., such as the UI screens depicted in
Embodiments of software service platforms of the present disclosure may be used in a variety of applications. One example of such an implementation is described below for performing address validation and tax calculation. This embodiment may be referred to as “AvaTax Mapper,” “Tax Mapper,” or “AvaTax” herein.
Conventional software service platforms often cannot reliably provide accurate tax information in all instances for a variety of reasons. Inaccurate tax information may result in a business overpaying in tax, which is plainly not good business, or in underpaying, for example if whole classes of tax due are missed, such as taxes owed to municipalities.
Businesses are required by law to be tax compliant. To begin with, tax compliance means knowing how much money a business owes in taxes and to which tax authority, and paying it. Not knowing about a tax is not an excuse; if a business fails to accurately report and pay taxes it owes, it may be subject to audits and fines.
Accurate knowing of one's tax liability is rarely easy. Tax may be owed to various tax jurisdictions, such as cities, states, municipalities, and so on, all of each can have different tax rates. There are over 10,000 tax jurisdictions in the US, each with its own rules. In all, there are almost 10 million taxability rules related to various products and services in the US. And, for a single transaction, there may be more than one tax jurisdiction that money is owed to.
Makers of goods may be subject to excise taxes, and excise taxes may thus impact the supply chain. Plus, when businesses make, sell, and/or buy goods, more taxes and requirements may come due. Such taxes include sales tax, use tax, value-added tax, and so on, possibly to multiple jurisdictions from a single sale. For each sale, the seller must determine whether, and when, it must collect sales tax in each tax jurisdiction. For each state, a seller may need to register with that state's taxing agency, set up internal processes for collecting sales tax in accordance with the tax rules and the timetables of the state, keep records for the collected sales tax, file reports with the state, and finally pay the tax to the state.
Each jurisdiction has its own rules about sales tax for those who sell items. In addition, the rules for determining the sales tax due may arise from the location of the buyer and the seller, or that of a distributor, etc. For instance, some state and local authorities have origin-based rules, which means that a sales tax is charged from the seller's location, while other state and local authorities have destination-based rules, which means that a sales tax is charged from the buyer's location. In each instance the seller must collect, report, and pay the correct amount for each locality.
Some jurisdictions exempt the sale of some items from sales tax, but that requires detailed research. For instance, deodorant may be taxable in 2018 in one state, but antiperspirant may be tax exempt. At the same time, a particular type of product may be exempt from sales tax in one state, but not in another state.
Tax compliance even includes requirements for some situations where sales tax is not due. For instance, when a seller buys certain items for resale, the items may be exempt from sales tax, as long as the seller creates and maintains proper certificates.
AvaTax® Mapper helps address these and other issues by providing is a framework that helps users create Address Validation and Tax Calculation requests based upon an XML configuration file. It includes a large library for Analyzing the XML file and formulating the service request models. It supports a variety of Salesforce-based products like CPQ and Billing.
In one exemplary embodiment, The architecture of the Tax Mapper includes the following components as shown in
In this example, the XML analyzer provides a platform for reading XML configuration file, which extracts a meaningful data and converts it into a map/dictionary of an understandable data type. This map/dictionary plays an important role while creating service request objects required by AvaTax® services.
The Tax Calculator class handles all the complexities of creating tax calculation request from an XML file. It also provides out of the box Hooks, which can be extended by the customers to override the default flow of the AvaTax® Mapper. So that it can fit into their business process if required. The following extension methods are provided for tax calculation: Before Tax Calculation; Tax Validation; Override Request Line; Before Update; and After Update.
The Address Validator class handles all the complexities of creating address validation request and displaying the validated address on the separate page. It also provides an option to update the original address if the user wants to update the address.
The hook manager is the core of providing extension, so that the customer/SI partners can modify the web request that is going to the AvaTax® engine. The administrator or developer needs to create a class, which implements a particular interface for accomplishing certain modification in the system to handle custom business requirement. Then the user can provide the class name in XML config file. The hook manager takes into consideration about the extensions that have been provided in XML config.
To elaborate more about the provided hook manager and extensions, consider the sequence diagram in
The AVATAX® Mapper XML configuration file helps to specify “Request Response” parameter for consuming AvaTax® service. The Mapper XML is part of the Base AvaTax® package. The XML formulate the request and upgrade the response for Tax Calculation, Address Validation, and Document Commits. This topic describes the main configuration settings that you can make in the AVATAX® XML.config file.
Configuration File Section
The XML configuration file is divided in various node that are specified as:
Beginning Node
This node specifies the beginning of the AVATAX XML Mapper file. For example, <avatax></avatax>.
Feature Node
This node specifies the beginning of the function name that needs to be covered under the XML. Based on the value and purpose, the AVATAX® Salesforce® Core package decides, which AVATAX® API need to call. For example, <addressvalidation></addressvalidation>.
Object Node
This node specifies a Salesforce® Object for Feature Node. For example, <Account></Account>.
Object Component
This node specifies the Object Component that needs to be considered for the Feature node. For example, Billing Address From Account to be considered for Address Validation.
The account contains two Addresses “Billing and Shipping.” In this example, you are considering Billing Address. For example, Feature Node=Address Validation; Object Node=Account; and Object Component=Billing.
The object component contains the following nodes: a Query Node; a Parameter Node; a Mapping Node, and an Update Mapping Node.
The Query Node specifies the object query language (OQL) (e.g., Salesforce® OQL) that need to query for fetching the attribute of the Object Component specified in the Object Component Node. This node specifies the attribute that needs to be queried and can be further specified for the Mapping Node.
The Parameter Node specifies the attribute that needs to be used for the WHERE clause in SOQL specified in Query Node.
Note: The id—<AccountId<Id</AccountId> here is the record id of the object.
The Mapping node specifies the Request parameters required for Request creation for Feature Node. Each parameter in the node is a Feature Request Parameter.
The Update Mapping Node specifies the Response field, where Service Response needs to be shown. For example, Address Validation Feature.
Sample Tax Calculation XML
The XML hierarchy remains the same till the Object Node, and the change from Object Component Node are:
Let's now consider Tax Calculation XML
Header Node
This node is used for specifying the Header of the Tax Calculation request.
The header node contains the following nodes below:
Query Node
This node specifies the SOQL that need to query for fetching the attribute of the Object Component specified in the Object Component Node. Also, specifies the attribute to be queried and can be further specified for the Mapping Node.
Parameter Node
This node specifies the attribute to be used for the WHERE clause in SOQL specified in Query Node.
Note: The id—<OpportunityId>Id</OpportunityId>here is the record id of the object.
Mapping Node
This node specifies the Request parameters essential for Request creation for Feature Node. Also, each parameter in the node is a Feature Request Parameter.
Update Mapping Node
This node specifies the Response field, and where Service Response needs to be shown. For example, Address Validation Feature.
Line Node
This node is used for specifying the Line of the Tax Calculation request.
The line node contains the below nodes:
Query Node
This node specifies the SOQL that need to be queried for fetching the attribute of the Object Component specified in the Object Component Node.
This node specifies attribute to be queried and can be further specified for the Mapping Node.
Parameter Node
This node specifies the attribute to be use for the WHERE clause in SOQL specified in Query Node.
Note: The id—<OpportunityLineId>Id</OpportunityLineId> here is the record id of the object.
Mapping Node
This node specifies the Request parameters essential for Request creation for Feature Node.
Each parameter in the node is a Feature Request Parameter.
Update Mapping Node
This node specifies the Response field, and where Service Response needs to be shown. For example, Address Validation Feature.
How to Use AvaTax Mapper:
Address Validation
Address Validation follows easy and convenient approach using AvaTax Mapper.
Consider you need to have Address Validation on Account Object, and then you need to follow these steps:
Steps
As depicted in
In the example depicted in
AvaTax XML
Common Configuration
Tax Calculation
Tax Calculation is easy and convenient using AvaTax Mapper.
Steps
Create a Visualforce page and add the Apex class as Controller Extension as shown
One must create a Configuration file for Config fetching, and the usage is depicted in Class TaxCalculator.
Visualforce Page
Apex Class
Create a button on an Object and the Content Source for the button>Visualforce Page
Add the Visualforce Page create in step 2 and create the button.
For the scope of this example, a field “SalesTax_c” has been created on Opportunity and Opportunity product to show the response from the tax service.
Sample XML
AvaTax XML
Post-Tax Calculation
Post-Tax Calculation is easy and convenient using AvaTax Mapper.
Steps
Create a Visualforce page and add the Apex class as Controller Extension as shown
One must create a Configuration file for Config fetching, and the usage is depicted in Class TaxCalculator.
Visualforce Page
Apex Class
Create a button on an Object and the Content Source for the button>Visualforce Page
Add the Visualforce Page create in step 2 and create the button.
AvaTax XML
Cancel Tax Calculation
Cancel Tax Calculation is easy and convenient using AvaTax Mapper.
Steps
Create a Visualforce page and add the Apex class as Controller Extension as shown
One must create a Configuration file for Config fetching, and the usage is depicted in Class TaxCalculator.
Visualforce Page
Apex Class
Create a button on an Object and the Content Source for the button>Visualforce Page
Add the Visualforce Page create in step 2 and create the button.
Apex Class
Hooks Manager
This manager is the core of providing extension so that customer/SI partners can modify the web request that is going to AvaTax engine.
Hook manager takes into consideration about the extensions that have been provided in XML config.
Hooks available for tax calculation are below:
AvaTax XML
Example for Hooks Definition
BeforeTaxCalculationExtender:
Now to provide the extension in XML file you need to update XML as follows:
AvaTaxClient
Methods
WithSecurity
WithSecurity
resolveAddressPost
CreateTransaction
CommitTransaction
VoidTransaction
Models
AddressResolutionModel
Properties
The following are the address resolution model properties and their information:
ValidatedAddressInfo
Description The validated address.
Properties
The following are the validate address info model properties and their information:
AddressInfo
Properties
The following are the address info properties and their information:
CoordinateInfo
Properties
The following are the coordinate info properties and their information:
AvaTaxMessage
Properties
The following are the AvaTax message properties and their information:
TaxAuthorityInfo
Properties
The following are the tax authority info properties and their information:
TransactionModel
Properties
The following are the transaction model properties and their information:
TransactionLocationTypeModel
Properties
The following are the transaction location type model properties and their information:
TransactionSummary
Description Transaction Summary.
Properties
The following are the transaction summary properties and their information:
TransactionAddressModel
Properties
The following are the transaction address model properties and their information:
TransactionLineModel
Properties
The following are the transaction line model properties and their information:
TransactionLineDetailModel
Properties
The following are the transaction line detail model properties and their information:
AddressValidationInfo
Properties
The following are the address validation info properties and their information:
CreateTransactionModel
Properties
The following are the create transaction model properties and their information:
AddressesModel
Properties
The following are the addresses model properties and their information:
AddressLocationInfo
Properties
The following are the addresses location info properties and their information:
LineItemModel
Properties
The following are the line item model properties and their information:
TaxOverrideModel
Properties
The following are the tax override model properties and their information:
CommitTransactionModel
Properties
The following are the commit transaction model properties and their information:
VoidTransactionModel
Properties
The following are the void transaction model properties and their information:
Enums
BoundaryLevel
Properties
The following are the transaction address model properties and their information:
DocumentType
Properties
The following are the document type properties and their information:
TaxOverrideTypeId
Properties
The following are the document type properties and their information:
VoidReasonCode
Properties
The following are the void reason code properties and their information:
TaxOverrideType
Properties
The following are the tax override type properties and their information:
TaxDebugLevel
Properties
The following are the tax debug level properties and their information:
AdjustmentReason
Properties
The following are the adjustment reason properties and their information:
DocumentStatus
Properties
The following are the document status properties and their information:
JurisdictionType
Properties
The following are the jurisdiction type properties:
Properties
Country
Composite
State
County
City
Special
JurisTypeId
Properties
The following are the juris type id properties and their information:
RateType
Properties
The following are the rate type properties:
Properties
ReducedA
ReducedB
Food
General
IncreasedStandard
LinenRental
Medical
Parking
SuperReduced
ReducedR
Standard
Zero
ResolutionQuality
Properties
The following are the resolution quality properties:
Properties
NotCoded
External
CountryCentroid
RegionCentroid
PartialCentroid
PostalCentroidGood
PostalCentroidBetter
PostalCentroidBest
Intersection
Interpolated
Rooftop
Constant
TaxRuleTypeId
Description Tax Rule Type Id.
Properties
The following are the tax rule type id properties:
Properties
RateRule
RateOverrideRule
BaseRule
ExemptEntityRule
ProductTaxabilityRule
NexusRule
TaxType
Properties
The following are the tax type properties and their information:
Sourcing
Properties
The following are the sourcing properties and their information:
ServiceMode
Properties
The following are the service mode properties and their information:
PostTaxCalculator
Properties
The following are the post-tax calculator properties and their information:
Methods
executeQuery
setConfigProviderListener
Models
QueryInput
Properties
The following are the query input properties and their information:
PostTaxCalculationInput
Properties
The following are the post-tax calculator input properties and their information:
TaxCalulator
Properties
The following are the tax calculator properties and their information:
Methods
TaxCalulator
calculateTax
setBeforeTaxCalculationListener
setBeforeTaxValidationListener
setConfigProviderListener
setOverrideRequestLineListener
Models
TaxCalculationInput
Properties
The following are the tax calculation input properties and their information:
CancelTaxCalculator
Description Contains methods for canceling tax and updating back to Salesforce object.
Properties
The following are the cancel tax calculator properties and their information:
Methods
cancelTax
CancelTaxCalculator
Models
CancelTaxCalculationInput
Properties
The following are the cancel tax calculator input properties and their information:
ConfigurationBase
Properties
The following are the configuration base properties and their information:
Enums
AvaTaxEnvironment
Properties
The following are the configuration base properties and their information:
In some embodiments, the system may present a user interface to display information to a user and receive user input. The user input may be used to generate or modify a configuration file (e.g., in XML format) as described above. Examples of such a user interface are depicted below, which may be referred to as the “AvaTax Mapper Studio” or “Mapper Studio.”
Avalara AvaTax Mapper Studio is a user interface to generate a modified config XML. You can manage or edit your integration points for AvaTax Mapper to work. The Mapper Studio has the following capabilities:
Steps to Open AvaTax Mapper Studio
Go to Setup→Installed Packages→Configure (AvaTax For Salesforce CPQ+)→Advanced Settings→Under Additional Settings, Click Launch Mapper Studio. The screen depicted in
Mapper Studio
After you open the Mapper Studio, you can view the AvaTax functionalities on the user interface.
On the Mapper Studio Avalara AvaTax provides integrations on the following functionalities:
Address Validation
Tax Calculation
Cancel Tax Calculation
Note: Address Validation tab is the default tab.
Integration Points
To add the integration points:
Avalara has enlisted the supported integration points in the Mapper Studio.
Default integrations are:
Order
Account
Contract
SBQQ_Quote_c
Click the plus icon to add a new integration point (object).
SELECT NEW OBJECT NAME dialog box opens.
Select the object from the dropdown list, and click Add to add the object.
Under object, click the plus icon to add a new field.
ADD NEW FIELD DETAILS dialog box opens.
Type the address in the test box and click Add.
Click the delete icon , and click Delete on the Delete dialog box to delete an object.
Click the delete icon , and click Delete on the Delete dialog box to delete the field.
How to Create Additional Integration Point (objects) and Fields:
Steps to create additional integration point (objects) and fields:
ADDRESSVALIDATION
Click the plus icon to add an additional integration point (object) as depicted in
The ADD NEW FIELD DETAILS dialog box opens. Type the address in the test box and click Add as depicted in
TAXCALCULATION
Click the plus icon to add an additional integration point (object) as depicted in
Click the plus icon on Header and Line Queries of integration point (object) to add a new object at header and line level as depicted in
CANCELTAXCALCULATION
Click the plus icon to add an additional integration point (object) as depicted in
Hooks
Hooks are the facility to customize the logic before or after tax calculation. Hooks varies from functional tabs.
The following types of hooks for tabs:
Hooks for Address Validation
Click the setting icon to add new hook class in the integration point as depicted in
Hooks for Tax Calculation
Click the setting icon to add new hook class in the integration point as depicted in
How to Map Request and Response Mapping(s):
Whenever you add a new integration point, or you want to make changes in the request and response mappings, and then click on the object/field under integration point.
Go to ADDRESSVALIDATION→Order→Billing.
Addressvalidation is a functionality, order is integration point on addressvalidation, and billing is the type of address.
Click Billing, to view the different sections on the right side which is shown below:
Query for Billing
It is placeholder where a user can enter/modify a Salesforce Object Query Language (SOQL), which gets validated with the help of salesforce. If a query is not valid, then its display an alert, or else, it fetched the parameter's data from the query, and displays the request and response mapping as depicted in
Query Parameters
This section gets list of all the parameters which are entered in query ‘{ }’. You can define its data, either it can be an Id, OptParams (optional param), or object as depicted in
AvaTax Request Mapping(s)
The mapping diagram in
AvaTax Response Mapping(s)
Software and System Architectures
As used herein, a “component” may refer to a device, physical entity or logic having boundaries defined by function or subroutine calls, branch points, application program interfaces (APIs), or other technologies that provide for the partitioning or modularization of particular processing or control functions. Components may be combined via their interfaces with other components to carry out a machine process. A component may be a packaged functional hardware unit designed for use with other components and a part of a program that usually performs a particular function of related functions. Components may constitute either software components (e.g., code embodied on a machine-readable medium) or hardware components. A “hardware component” is a tangible unit capable of performing certain operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain physical manner. In various exemplary embodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone computer system, a client computer system, or a server computer system) or one or more hardware components of a computer system (e.g., a processor or a group of processors) may be configured by software (e.g., an application or application portion) as a hardware component that operates to perform certain operations as described herein.
A hardware component may also be implemented mechanically, electronically, or any suitable combination thereof. For example, a hardware component may include dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanently configured to perform certain operations. A hardware component may be a special-purpose processor, such as a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). A hardware component may also include programmable logic or circuitry that is temporarily configured by software to perform certain operations. For example, a hardware component may include software executed by a general-purpose processor or other programmable processor. Once configured by such software, hardware components become specific machines (or specific components of a machine) uniquely tailored to perform the configured functions and are no longer general-purpose processors. It will be appreciated that the decision to implement a hardware component mechanically, in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or in temporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may be driven by cost and time considerations. Accordingly, the phrase “hardware component” (or “hardware-implemented component”) should be understood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner or to perform certain operations described herein. Considering embodiments in which hardware components are temporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of the hardware components need not be configured or instantiated at any one instance in time. For example, where a hardware component comprises a general-purpose processor configured by software to become a special-purpose processor, the general-purpose processor may be configured as respectively different special-purpose processors (e.g., comprising different hardware components) at different times. Software accordingly configures a particular processor or processors, for example, to constitute a particular hardware component at one instance of time and to constitute a different hardware component at a different instance of time. Hardware components can provide information to, and receive information from, other hardware components. Accordingly, the described hardware components may be regarded as being communicatively coupled.
Where multiple hardware components exist contemporaneously, communications may be achieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuits and buses) between or among two or more of the hardware components. In embodiments in which multiple hardware components are configured or instantiated at different times, communications between such hardware components may be achieved, for example, through the storage and retrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiple hardware components have access. For example, one hardware component may perform an operation and store the output of that operation in a memory device to which it is communicatively coupled. A further hardware component may then, at a later time, access the memory device to retrieve and process the stored output. Hardware components may also initiate communications with input or output devices, and can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection of information). The various operations of exemplary methods described herein may be performed, at least partially, by one or more processors that are temporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured to perform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanently configured, such processors may constitute processor-implemented components that operate to perform one or more operations or functions described herein. As used herein, “processor-implemented component” refers to a hardware component implemented using one or more processors. Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partially processor-implemented, with a particular processor or processors being an example of hardware. For example, at least some of the operations of a method may be performed by one or more processors or processor-implemented components. Moreover, the one or more processors may also operate to support performance of the relevant operations in a “cloud computing” environment or as a “software as a service” (SaaS). For example, at least some of the operations may be performed by a group of computers (as examples of machines including processors), with these operations being accessible via a network (e.g., the Internet) and via one or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., an Application Program Interface (API)). The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed among the processors, not only residing within a single machine, but deployed across a number of machines. In some exemplary embodiments, the processors or processor-implemented components may be located in a single geographic location (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment, or a server farm). In other exemplary embodiments, the processors or processor-implemented components may be distributed across a number of geographic locations.
In the exemplary architecture of
The operating system 802 may manage hardware resources and provide common services. The operating system 802 may include, for example, a kernel 822, services 824 and drivers 826. The kernel 822 may act as an abstraction layer between the hardware and the other software layers. For example, the kernel 822 may be responsible for memory management, processor management (e.g., scheduling), component management, networking, security settings, and so on. The services 824 may provide other common services for the other software layers. The drivers 826 are responsible for controlling or interfacing with the underlying hardware. For instance, the drivers 826 include display drivers, camera drivers, Bluetooth® drivers, flash memory drivers, serial communication drivers (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) drivers), Wi-Fi® drivers, audio drivers, power management drivers, and so forth depending on the hardware configuration.
The libraries 820 provide a common infrastructure that is used by the applications 816 and/or other components and/or layers. The libraries 820 provide functionality that allows other software components to perform tasks in an easier fashion than to interface directly with the underlying operating system 802 functionality (e.g., kernel 822, services 824 and/or drivers 826). The libraries 820 may include system libraries 844 (e.g., C standard library) that may provide functions such as memory allocation functions, string manipulation functions, mathematical functions, and the like. In addition, the libraries 820 may include API libraries 846 such as media libraries (e.g., libraries to support presentation and manipulation of various media format such as MPREG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG), graphics libraries (e.g., an OpenGL framework that may be used to render 2D and 3D in a graphic content on a display), database libraries (e.g., SQLite that may provide various relational database functions), web libraries (e.g., WebKit that may provide web browsing functionality), and the like. The libraries 820 may also include a wide variety of other libraries 848 to provide many other APIs to the applications 816 and other software components/modules.
The frameworks/middleware 818 (also sometimes referred to as middleware) provide a higher-level common infrastructure that may be used by the applications 816 and/or other software components/modules. For example, the frameworks/middleware 818 may provide various graphic user interface (GUI) functions, high-level resource management, high-level location services, and so forth. The frameworks/middleware 818 may provide a broad spectrum of other APIs that may be utilized by the applications 816 and/or other software components/modules, some of which may be specific to a particular operating system 802 or platform.
The applications 816 include built-in applications 838 and/or third-party applications 840. Examples of representative built-in applications 838 may include, but are not limited to, a contacts application, a browser application, a book reader application, a location application, a media application, a messaging application, and/or a game application. Third-party applications 840 may include an application developed using the ANDROID™ or IOS™ software development kit (SDK) by an entity other than the vendor of the particular platform, and may be mobile software running on a mobile operating system such as IOS™, ANDROID™ WINDOWS® Phone, or other mobile operating systems. The third-party applications 840 may invoke the API calls 808 provided by the mobile operating system (such as operating system 802) to facilitate functionality described herein.
The applications 816 may use built in operating system functions (e.g., kernel 822, services 824 and/or drivers 826), libraries 820, and frameworks/middleware 818 to create user interfaces to interact with users of the system. Alternatively, or additionally, in some systems interactions with a user may occur through a presentation layer, such as presentation layer 814. In these systems, the application/component “logic” can be separated from the aspects of the application/component that interact with a user.
In some embodiments, the machine 900 operates as a standalone device or may be coupled (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 900 may operate in the capacity of a server machine or a client machine in a server-client network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine 900 may be or include, but is not limited to, a server computer, a client computer, a personal computer (PC), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), an entertainment media system, a cellular telephone, a smart phone, a mobile device, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch), a smart home device (e.g., a smart appliance), other smart devices, a web appliance, a network router, a network switch, a network bridge, or any machine capable of executing the instructions 910, sequentially or otherwise, that specify actions to be taken by machine 900. Further, while only a single machine 900 is illustrated, the term “machine” or “computer system” shall also be taken to include a collection of machines or computer systems that individually or jointly execute the instructions 910 to perform any of the methodologies discussed herein.
The machine 900 may include processors 904, memory memory/storage 906, and I/O components 918, which may be configured to communicate with each other, such as via bus 902. The memory/storage 906 may include a memory 914, such as a main memory, or other memory storage, and a storage unit 916, both accessible to the processors 904 such as via the bus 902. In this context, a “processor” may refer to any circuit or virtual circuit (a physical circuit emulated by logic executing on an actual processor) that manipulates data values according to control signals (e.g., “commands”, “op codes”, “machine code”, etc.) and which produces corresponding output signals that are applied to operate a machine. A processor may, for example, be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processor, a Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC) processor, a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC) or any combination thereof. A processor may further be a multi-core processor having two or more independent processors (sometimes referred to as “cores”) that may execute instructions contemporaneously.
The storage unit 916 and memory 914 store the instructions 910 embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 910 may also reside, completely or partially, within the memory 914, within the storage unit 916, within at least one of the processors 904 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), or any suitable combination thereof, during execution thereof by the machine 900. Accordingly, the memory 914, the storage unit 916, and the memory of processors 904 are examples of machine-readable media. In this context, “machine-readable medium” refers to a component, device or other tangible media able to store instructions and data temporarily or permanently and may include, but is not be limited to, random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), buffer memory, flash memory, optical media, magnetic media, cache memory, other types of storage (e.g., Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and/or any suitable combination thereof. The term “machine-readable medium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, or associated caches and servers) able to store instructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shall also be taken to include any medium, or combination of multiple media, that is capable of storing instructions (e.g., code) for execution by a machine, such that the instructions, when executed by one or more processors of the machine, cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies described herein. Accordingly, a “machine-readable medium” refers to a single storage apparatus or device, as well as “cloud-based” storage systems or storage networks that include multiple storage apparatus or devices. The term “machine-readable medium” excludes signals per se.
The I/O components 918 may include a wide variety of components to receive input, provide output, produce output, transmit information, exchange information, capture measurements, and so on. The specific I/O components 918 that are included in a particular machine 900 will depend on the type of machine. For example, portable machines such as mobile phones will likely include a touch input device or other such input mechanisms, while a headless server machine will likely not include such a touch input device. It will be appreciated that the I/O components 918 may include many other components that are not shown in
In further exemplary embodiments, the I/O components 918 may include biometric components 930, motion components 934, environmental environment components 936, or position components 938 among a wide array of other components. For example, the biometric components 930 may include components to detect expressions (e.g., hand expressions, facial expressions, vocal expressions, body gestures, or eye tracking), measure biosignals (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, perspiration, or brain waves), identify a person (e.g., voice identification, retinal identification, facial identification, fingerprint identification, or electroencephalogram based identification), and the like. The motion components 934 may include acceleration sensor components (e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensor components, rotation sensor components (e.g., gyroscope), and so forth. The environment components 936 may include, for example, illumination sensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components (e.g., one or more thermometer that detect ambient temperature), humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g., barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more microphones that detect background noise), proximity sensor components (e.g., infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensors (e.g., gas detection sensors to detection concentrations of hazardous gases for safety or to measure pollutants in the atmosphere), or other components that may provide indications, measurements, or signals corresponding to a surrounding physical environment. The position components 938 may include location sensor components (e.g., a Global Position system (GPS) receiver component), altitude sensor components (e.g., altimeters or barometers that detect air pressure from which altitude may be derived), orientation sensor components (e.g., magnetometers), and the like.
Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of technologies. The I/O components 918 may include communication components 940 operable to couple the machine 900 to a network 932 or devices 920 via coupling 922 and coupling 924 respectively. For example, the communication components 940 may include a network interface component or other suitable device to interface with the network 932. In further examples, communication components 940 may include wired communication components, wireless communication components, cellular communication components, Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components to provide communication via other modalities. The devices 920 may be another machine or any of a wide variety of peripheral devices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)).
Moreover, the communication components 940 may detect identifiers or include components operable to detect identifiers. For example, the communication components 940 may include Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detection components, optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detect one-dimensional bar codes such as Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code, multi-dimensional bar codes such as Quick Response (QR) code, Aztec code, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2D bar code, and other optical codes), or acoustic detection components (e.g., microphones to identify tagged audio signals). In addition, a variety of information may be derived via the communication components 940, such as, location via Internet Protocol (IP) geo-location, location via Wi-Fi® signal triangulation, location via detecting a NFC beacon signal that may indicate a particular location, and so forth.
Where a phrase similar to “at least one of A, B, or C,” “at least one of A, B, and C,” “one or more A, B, or C,” or “one or more of A, B, and C” is used, it is intended that the phrase be interpreted to mean that A alone may be present in an embodiment, B alone may be present in an embodiment, C alone may be present in an embodiment, or that any combination of the elements A, B and C may be present in a single embodiment; for example, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C.
As used herein, the term “or” may be construed in either an inclusive or exclusive sense. Moreover, plural instances may be provided for resources, operations, or structures described herein as a single instance. Additionally, boundaries between various resources, operations, modules, engines, and data stores are somewhat arbitrary, and particular operations are illustrated in a context of specific illustrative configurations. Other allocations of functionality are envisioned and may fall within a scope of various embodiments of the present disclosure. In general, structures and functionality presented as separate resources in the example configurations may be implemented as a combined structure or resource. Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a single resource may be implemented as separate resources. These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements fall within a scope of embodiments of the present disclosure as represented by the appended claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
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