Comply with N-DEx standards without custom coding

The FBI is actively encouraging local, state, tribal and federal law enforcement agencies to submit data to the National Data Exchange (N-DEx) to facilitate better sharing of data across jurisdictional boundaries to provide new investigational tools that enhance the nation's ability to fight crime and terrorism.

Unfortunately, most agency record management systems (RMS) are not equipped to handle the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) standard and specific XML schemas that N-DEx requires, nor do agencies have the resources to manage the complexity of those requirements.

Sypherlink’s N-DEx Appliance is designed to enable a faster and less costly N-DEx implementation compared to custom developed solutions. The pre-configured, turnkey solution shields users from the technical complexity of N-DEx without reliance on expensive technical resources. Furthermore, the N-DEx Appliance’s interoperable and extendable architecture supports future state and local data sharing efforts, allowing users to reuse existing technology instead of starting from scratch on each new data sharing effort.

N-DEx Appliance Architecture

The N-DEx Appliance was architected as a turnkey solution enabling rapid N-DEx participation that can easily extend to support other state and local data sharing programs at a low cost. It relies on pre-built maps to convert data from existing RMS applications to the NIEM data model and a pre-built adapter that generates XML messages for submission to N-DEx. These components can be tweaked to support alternative data models or target destinations without making changes to the core technology, allowing users to use the same foundation to participate in multiple state or local data sharing initatives.

N-DEx Appliance Components

The N-DEx Appliance consists of three components: RMS Interface, Harmonizer Engine, and N-DEx Adapter. Combined, these components allow agencies to submit properly formatted data to the FBI while protecting investments in existing RMS applications.

RMS Interface

The RMS Interface is comprised of pre-built mappings specific to each RMS application. Each interface is pre-configured to map RMS data to a NIEM Staging Data Model, simplifying both the data extraction and mapping processes.

Harmonizer Engine

The Harmonizer Engine is the core component of the N-DEx Appliance. It performs the primary functions of the solution including translation, transformation, NIEM compliance and user management. It leverages mappings from the RMS Interface to complete the translation and transformation processes including such tasks as:

• Change data capture
• Normalization
• Cleansing
• NIEM standardization

Once prepared, the data is loaded into the NIEM Relational Model for consumption by the N-DEx Adapter.

The Harmonizer Engine also encompasses the user management console, including a rules engine, job scheduling, auditing/logging and alerts. This component ensures that critical tasks, most importantly message processing, are completed without errors.

N-DEx Adapter

The N-DEx Appliance includes a pre-built XML adapter to N-DEx that fully complies with N-DEx’s Information Exchange Package Documentation, or IEPD. This Adapter implements NIEM to IEPD mappings to simplify integration and is maintained by Sypherlink to support future version changes and standard updates.

Software Deployment Options

Users have the option of receiving the N-DEx Appliance preloaded on Sypherlink Hardware or it can be configured on agency hardware.