>> In short, while letting customers send Excel files "and then load+merge their results directly into the same SQL tables" might sound nice, this does not scale and will certainly result in a failure state at some point.
> Much of US banking operates almost entirely on this premise and has done so forever.
This is a disingenuous statement as it relates to at least credit/debit/gift card transactions. Bank-to-bank and select high-volume Merchants communicate in certain circumstances with secure file transfers, especially for daily settlements.
The vast majority of Merchants do not, and instead rely on secure web applications to authorize, capture, and settle their transactions.
Perhaps other banking domains rely on Excel and similar to do business. I cannot speak to those business areas.
> I'd take a look at the Nacha (ACH) operating rules if you have any doubt that sophisticated business workflows can be built on top of flat files and asynchronous transmission.
And I'd recommend you take a look at different integration - online payment processing using Oribtal as described by Oracle.
> Much of US banking operates almost entirely on this premise and has done so forever.
This is a disingenuous statement as it relates to at least credit/debit/gift card transactions. Bank-to-bank and select high-volume Merchants communicate in certain circumstances with secure file transfers, especially for daily settlements.
The vast majority of Merchants do not, and instead rely on secure web applications to authorize, capture, and settle their transactions.
Perhaps other banking domains rely on Excel and similar to do business. I cannot speak to those business areas.
> I'd take a look at the Nacha (ACH) operating rules if you have any doubt that sophisticated business workflows can be built on top of flat files and asynchronous transmission.
And I'd recommend you take a look at different integration - online payment processing using Oribtal as described by Oracle.
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E69185_01/cwdirect/pdf/180/cwdire...