Interface

Two standards for software and systems engineering, ISO/IEC/IEEE 12207 and ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, define an interface as the point at which two or more system elements (logical, physical or both) meet and act on or communicate with each other. The Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon, a German business dictionary, takes a broader view: any point of contact between different things. For software engineering it distinguishes three kinds: the module interface, the user interface between the end user and the software product, and the hardware interface between the operating system and the hardware.

The word has several uses, so the context decides which one is meant. In this glossary the word mostly refers to connections between systems, for instance between a business application Business application In general terms, a business application is software used to perform or support business functions. Read in the glossary → and a warehouse management system WMS WMS stands for warehouse management system; according to the short description of VDI 3601, its task is to manage and optimise a company's internal storage and transport systems. Read in the glossary → (WMS). Such a connection might be an API API An API (application programming interface) is a defined set of functions and rules that lets one piece of software use the features or data of another system or service. Read in the glossary → , a file transfer over SFTP SFTP SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) transfers files securely over a Secure Shell (SSH) connection; despite the name, it is a separate protocol from the older FTP. Read in the glossary → or an EDI EDI EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is the paperless, partly automated electronic exchange of business data between companies or between parts of one company. Read in the glossary → message.

A connection need not be elaborate. For a stock alert we built for a pharma logistics Pharma logistics Pharma logistics is the term we use for storing, transporting and delivering medicinal products and other pharma-sector goods, such as promotional material and supplies for patients. Read in the glossary → client, the WMS needed no new connection at all: the application picks up a CSV stock list that the WMS already writes and makes available over SFTP. We build business applications, portals and interfaces, and when our software has to talk to existing systems, an API or SFTP is our standard choice.