Echidna is an information management system used to develop and maintain interactive, workflow capable applications for auditing, compliance, risk, incident or case management.

Typical Echidna applications consist of any number of data entry forms and workflows which can be accessed via web sites, the Windows Desktop, or mobile device, without the need for configuration or extra programming.

Echidna meets most clients’ requirements ‘out of the box’ yet it is highly customisable. Third party developers are able extend Echidna’s functionality by creating their own DotNet based plug-ins, form controls and events.

Echidna Manager

Typical Echidna applications consists of one or more data entry forms which present questions to a respondent and then evaluates responses against a set of rules which in turn executes specific workflows.

All the tools required to develop and maintain Echidna applications are available via the Windows-based administration program, Echidna Manager. Once trained, staff can create fully featured interactive applications and deploy them to the Windows desktop, the PDA, the corporate website or intranet- without programming or configuration.

Echidna Manager organises its folders and questions in a hierarchical structure similar to a computer’s file system. This familiar interface makes it easy for administrators to add new questions, change the order of questions, and even determine which respondent can access a particular question or folder, or what action the application will take on a specific response.

Echidna Manager is able to operate multiple databases allowing separate Echidna applications to be distributed independently yet managed centrally. It is possible to publish data between databases meaning that deploying updates from a staging or test environment to a live application is very simple, and can be accomplished without the involvement of IT staff.

Echidna meets most clients’ requirements ‘out of the box’ yet it is highly customisable. Third party developers are able extend Echidna’s functionality by creating their own DotNet based plug-ins, form controls and events. Rather than include a MACRO language, Echidna’s entire API (Application Programming Interface) is available to the developer enabling a far greater level of customisation and integration.

Forms

Echidna Manager allows operators to create detailed data entry forms consisting of any type of input field, from text fields, drop down lists, check box arrays, and radio buttons to specifically developed controls such as animations and data grids.

Groups

Echidna employs groups-based security to manage permissions for all Echidna applications including access to Echidna Manager, all activities can be monitored and audited.

Groups are the building blocks of Echidna applications and define the data a user will interact with. If a user inhabits the same Echidna Group as an Echidna Object (Program, Folder or Question) then that user will be able to access that object.

Users can inhabit multiple Groups and therefore be presented with overlapping functionality. It is even possible to assign and remove Users from Groups based on the user’s response to a question.

Rules

Echidna applications are driven by a Rules Engine that determines the data that is presented to the user, and how responses are captured and processed. The rules engine invokes Skip Rules, Filters and Events which all drive workflow processes.

Rules can be simple such as a single form response which evaluates a condition and presents the user with the next step in a workflow, or multi-layered collections of existing rules which can perform much more complex processing.

Echidna’s rules engine dynamically filters data based on a user’s response.

Events

Events are an enormously powerful feature of Echidna, and are executed on the evaluation of a rule. Some examples of Events usage would be to send an email or SMS message, read or write data from a third party business system, or interact with the Echidna directly by invoking a step in a workflow.

Because the Echidna is easily extended via its API, developers are able to create custom events to suite specific needs.

All Responses can be verified against pre-determined validation rules, which can be as straightforward as ensuring a valid email address or post code is entered, to complex rules which might consist of specific values in multiple responses- or validate against data from a third party application.