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Artifact ingestion

For adapter integrations, artifact ingestion is how external data enters Loop and is used to create Loop entities. It is composed of several discrete steps.

Artifact ingress​

Artifact ingress is the process of initially receiving raw data. Each piece of raw data stored in its original form as an artifact. An artifact has a type and a format. Example artifact types include bill of lading, invoice, delivery receipt. Example artifact formats include PDF, JSON, JPEG. There are several mechanisms for ingress:

  • Email with PDF attachments
  • EDI
  • User interface upload
  • API pull by Loop
  • API push to Loop

Artifact parsing and extraction​

Once the raw artifact is saved, Loop will categorize and extract data from the artifact using a combination of machine and human intelligence. The result is artifact metadata: a set of semi-structured key-value pairs describing the important data within the artifact. Full extraction latency ranges from real time to a few hours depending on the structure of the input artifacts and SLA.

Entity normalization​

From artifact metadata, Loop creates structured domain entities in the format of the Loop API. These entities include payable invoices, shipments, organizations, addresses. The high degree of structure allows Loop to conduct audits, initiate payments, and produce reports.