Encompass Data Connect Replication - Best Practices

With Encompass Data Connect Replication, you can quickly access large amounts of near-real time loan data that's stored in the cloud, thus enabling you to leverage your existing technology to build your own intelligence on top.

These are the recommended best practices for using Encompass Data Connect Replication.

Key Management

It is recommended to use a GNU PGP/GPG key-pair generation. It is very important you are responsible for your key management. Be sure to save your public and private keys.

Generating and Exporting Keys

To generate and export a PGP key using one of the verified methods for Mac/Linux or Windows, visit https://help.github.com/articles/generating-a-new-gpg-key/.

The private key is your proprietary information - keep it in a safe place where you won't lose it. This key is very important and useful for decrypting PII data. Do not lose either private or public key.

Avoid generating PGP keys multiple times. If you have reason to generate keys for other systems, make note of the key generated for Encompass Data Connect and its ID. This is so not to confuse the Encompass Data Connect key with other keys.

To avoid losing your key, it is recommended you keep it in a safety vault. If a key is lost, Encompass Data Connect will need to be re-provisioned. This means the Encompass Data Connect instance will need to be re-created and re-filled with all historical data.

Key Rotation

Under these scenarios, you may want to rotate your key:

  • You have a policy around periodically renewing the key.

  • You need to be aware in advance when the key is expiring.

To rotate your key, contact ICE Mortgage Technology Technical Support at least two weeks in advance of key rotation. Encompass Data Connect will be re-provisioned with the new key.

You may also choose to extend the key's expiration.

Key Expiration Extension

To avoid key expiration, you can extend the expiration period of the existing key using the GPG tool. For more information, visit How to Change the Expiration Date of a GPG Key.

Database Engines

Only two flavors of database engines are supported: Postgres and MS SQL Server. You chose one during signup.

Multiple Encompass Instances

Each instance of Encompass requires an individual instance of Encompass Data Connect.

Database Version and Patches

Encompass Data Connect uses these database engine versions:

  • For MS SQL Server:13.00.4422.0.v1

  • For Postgres: 9.5.4

As a managed resource, AWS fully controls push of patches.

Concurrent Connections

It is recommended that no more than five users connect to Encompass Data Connect concurrently.

System/Version Requirements

Postgres

SQL Workbench is recommended to connect to Postgres DB. For more information, visit Installing and Starting SQL Workbench.

Minimum system requirement: Java SE Runtime Environment 8.

MS SQL Server

During setup, when SQL Server Management Studio is selected, .NET 4.6.1 (a prerequisite) is automatically installed.

SQL Server Setup installs the following software components required by the product:

  • SQL Server Native Client

  • SQL Server Setup support files

For minimum version requirements to install SQL Server on Windows Server 2012 or Windows 8, visit Installing SQL Server on Windows Server 2012 or Windows 8.

Using Data Services

Ways the data services can be used:

  • Replication - ICE Mortgage Technology has suggestion guides but does not support configuring replication tools in the infrastructure.

  • Querying the ICE Mortgage Technology hosted RDS database instance.

  • Connecting it as one of the data sources in BI tools.

Moving Data

The ideal method for moving data from the Encompass Data Connect instance to your local database is to use a replication service. We recommended referring to this guide: Replicating Encompass Data Connect Data with SSIS.

Querying Encompass Data Connect

Encompass Data Connect RDS is a read-only database instance for viewing data while Encompass Data Connect concurrently inserts the latest data into it. Running heavy queries may impact the performance and speed in which the latest data will appear in the RDS instance.

Not recommended:

  • Running queries joining more than four tables.

  • Running more than five parallel queries.

  • Running any query trying to aggregate when a user requires aggregated information over a period of more than a month.

  • Running a query without specifying a loan id and date range.

Recommended:

  • Contact ICE Mortgage Technology Technical Support with specifics if your query does not return results within two minutes.

  • Contact ICE Mortgage Technology Technical Support with a query you need if it is running slowly.

For more on how to contact Technical Support, view Encompass Data Connect Replication - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Replicating Encompass Data Connect

Not recommended:

  • Performing lengthy joins and aggregates during replication.

  • Running a cron job - highly not recommended. This will constantly and repeatedly try to pull large amounts of data.

Recommended:

  • Manage a status to track the last updated time. If you need to contact ICE Mortgage Technology Technical Support, any data questions can be answered more easily by referencing that time.