martiLQ/docs/source/who.md

Who is likely to use martiLQ

You are likely to find the martiLQ framework relevant if you:

1. Have many document exchanges, such as End of Day batches
2. Need to verify or reconcile the documents

Data exchanges

If you are creating or receiving many documents or files on a regular basis then you probably have some framework defined. The framework may be as simple as:

1. The files are placed in given folders that have significance, such as the source or topic
2. File names have a naming standard, such as subject domain and date of extract

Simple framework such as the above have limitations, such as:

• File names becoming long and need special parsing, with associated testing
• Risk of overwriting
• New folders need to be created for new sources
• Require constant polling, if passive
• Lower automation prospects and alignment to DataSecOps
• Poor fit to web applications (they tend to be designed for FTP and LAN)

Framework Sidecar files

The martiLQ framework addresses the issues and limitations by using sidecar or shadow files. The concept of sidecar files is not new and are commonly found associated to media file processing.

Sidecar files can also be implemented as forks and built into the operating system, such as in Mac OS X HFS. The Microsoft NTFS supports Alternate Data Streams to achieve a similar outcome. Unfortunately this information is not transferrable to other systems.

The proposition is to define a format for the sidecare file and provide common library tools that can be be used on multiple platforms when exchanging documents / files. Multiple documents can be defined in a singel martiLQ definition which adds to efficiency and productivity if used for End of Day or similar batches - or even single file transfers.