Expand Your Data Processing Capabilities with FME Server

A number of our customers with experience of FME Desktop, have recently approached us to help them in extending their use of the software. These organisations have enjoyed a lot of success with FME, but they’d also begun to reach limitations with their current Desktop licences. Their sights were firmly set on using FME Server to improve a number of their business processes – and we were tasked with helping to make this a reality for them.

We’re not for one minute downplaying the role that FME Desktop has to play in resolving data management challenges – it’s an incredibly powerful, user-friendly, and cost-effective tool. It’s also saved countless clients of ours huge amounts of time and money down the years. But, it does limit users to running a single workflow at one time. Licensing for FME Desktop is either fixed or floating in nature. If you’re using floating licences, the number of licences your organisation holds is the maximum number of users that can run FME at any one time. If you’re using a fixed licence, your use of FME is contained further; to a single machine.

Two of our clients making the move to FME Server knew that the time was now right to scale-up their data management capability, boosting their FME skills along the way.

1. A district council in the South of England

The council had identified several data processes that they wanted to automate, with the central aim of saving staff time. The council were previously using their fixed FME Desktop software to translate and distribute OS data and to publish open data to Data.gov, but there was still a significant manual element involved in completing the tasks. By using FME Server’s scheduling and automation functions, the processes can now be run at a time that suits the council – including overnight or during weekends. The staff time needed to complete the tasks has been dramatically reduced – improving efficiency and productivity.

As the council already had FME workspaces and internal FME skills, we were able to work with them to review what they already had and help them to create new workspaces to achieve their goals. As an extension, we also delivered training and 1-1 mentoring sessions to the council and enabled them to really get the most value from their investment and move toward complete self-sufficiency.

2. A district council in the South East of England

The council had a diverse range of complex data management jobs in-mind which their current single fixed FME Desktop licence was unable to satisfy on its own. The solution we offered them was an FME Server starter bundle which included licensing, mentoring sessions and technical support. With this package, the council have built on their existing skills to scale-up their use of FME, making great use of FME Servers’ automation and notification functions to get immediate return on their investment.

The council have been able to automate the updating of GIS layers, create a self-service data download/upload platform, and improve the generation of their property information. FME Server has also been used to provide residents with automated email notification services for waste collection and planning application updates, accessed via a new web portal. The software has saved the council time and money by removing the need for manual data processing, and has also enhanced the level of service it’s able to provide its residents.

Making the step-up to Server

FME Server has always enjoyed popularity among large enterprises and corporations. Now, with increasing value being placed upon good data management processes, we’re seeing a growing number of our FME Desktop customers wanting to make use of Server’s additional capabilities within their organisations.

If FME Server interests you, or if you’re an existing FME user wanting to get more out of your current software, get in-touch – we’d love to hear from you!
0121 232 8000
info@misoportal.com

This article was originally published on LinkedIn by Chris Wilton on 19/11/2019.