This section describes the various features, services and integrations of the CafeX platform at a high level. Subsequent sections in the documentation provide detailed instructions on configuration and usage for each feature.

CafeX has a lot of different capabilities built into the one platform which can be overwhelming. A good approach is to create an application with just one or two to start with, then build on that foundation by adding capabilities as needed.

Features

Workspace

Workspaces are a collection of data for a session in the application you build within CafeX. Think of it as a localised database of different types of information available to a user in your process. It might represent a service ticket, or a customer relationship, or a product in your catalogue. A workspace can be unique to a single context (e.g. a workspace for every customer), unique to a user (e.g. HR application for benefits) or shared between multiple users.

User Interface Builder

Core to the application building platform in CafeX is the interface builder. It supports creating richly styled structure applications using drag and drop. The builder is where you pull together the other components of the platform into a user facing experience that surfaces all of your different resources, processes and interactions in one central location.

Tables

CafeX provides a built-in capability for storing table based structured data related to your application. These tables can be viewed as a spreadsheet that’s fully integrated to the read of the CafeX platform. They can be used as the sole data source for your application but more often they provide a location to augment your existing data sources and repositories with additional meta-data that helps optimise the business process.

Business Rules Engine

The Business Rules Engine (BRE) provides a Rete-based evaluator with an easy to use rule builder directly within the CafeX Platform. The rules can be used in the traditional sense, to drive decision making and workflows, but can also be used to define next best action and visibilities in user interfaces. The BRE supports non-technical users design if/then/else style rules that can be used to abstract complex business decision making into maintainable units.

Workflow Engine

The platform workflow engine supports application building in two ways. First, the workflow engine can be used to model business processes as a series of steps, forks and actions - where actions can interact with any part of the CafeX platform’s rich feature set. Second, the same actions can be used to integrate to 100+ different systems (e.g. Salesforce, ServiceNow, SQL Databases) - extracting and synchronising data in the external systems that build up your business process with the content that is being displayed in your CafeX application.

REST API Data Sources

While CafeX integrates to REST endpoints through its workflow it’s also possible to more directly invoke these APIs. While the workflow is powerful there are times where raw performance is what you’re looking for. CafeX data sources allow configuration of API endpoints (e.g. CRUD operations, Authentication) which can then be used to invoke and surface the results within your CafeX application. These data sources also support pre-emptive reading for truly optimal performance when building applications where seconds matter.

Context Cards

CafeX context cards allow non-technical users to design panels that show integrated data in a structured manner. These context cards abstract complicated business data, using the knowledge of your business analysts, so that it can be displayed to users in a meaningful way. The design and integrated cards can be pushed into chat, or applications via workflow actions.

Knowledge Management

Applications built on CafeX can make use of the shared knowledge of the organisation. The CafeX knowledge base is a fully featured knowledge management system that allows users to maintain pages of documentation. These pages can include static content or using a simple macro language can provide overarching insight to the status of an application (e.g. dashboarding the current state of sales engagements, or tracking statistics around call centres). The pages can be embedded directly into workspaces or applications allowing the knowledge to be utilised in context.

Collaboration

The CafeX platform includes a full collaboration suite including chat, voice/video meetings and asset management. These components are available to all users and can be used either in isolation as an alternative to other messaging/collaboration tools or embedded into applications to support contextual and just-in-time communication (e.g. supervisor support or customer engagement).