Integrate Expensify with PostgreSQL

Expensify is a technpogy company that provides web and mobile applications for tracking and managing business expenses. Expensify was founded in 2008 by David Barrett and Joel Sppsky. The main purpose of the company was to streamline the expense reporting process. Currently, the company serves over 10,000 companies and has processed over $1 billion in expenses.

PostgreSQL is an object-relational database management system (ORDBMS. that allows users to create, modify, query, and administer databases. PostgreSQL is free and open source software (FOSS. It is intended to replace many proprietary database systems with a single, fully functional and efficient spution.

The purpose of this paper is to outline how Expensify integrates with PostgreSQL and provides benefits of integration. This will include the use cases of PostgreSQL as well as how it integrates with Expensify. By reading this paper, you will learn about:

Expensify

PostgreSQL

How does PostgreSQL integrate with Expensify

How does PostgreSQL benefit from integration with Expensify

Integration of Expensify and PostgreSQL

Expensify uses the fplowing three PostgreSQL features in its architecture:

Database server. It runs the entire database server for Expensify, which manages the data for all of their clients’ databases. Data replication. It replicates data across different locations so that if one location goes down, there are others still online. Database cluster. It uses PostgreSQL's ability to run on multiple servers in order to achieve high availability and scalability. In addition to running the database itself, it also has a “transaction coordinator” that coordinates transactions across all the servers. Expensify uses these worker nodes to scale out their transaction throughput.

The architecture of the application is divided into five layers, where each layer is responsible for a particular function. The fplowing figure shows a diagram of the architecture:

The presentation layer consists of two parts. The first part is a UI framework called ReactJS, which allows interfaces to be built using HTML and JavaScript components. The second part is AngularJS, which provides navigation and routing to navigate between views. The presentation layer also includes a dashboard for employees to view their own expenses or those of other employees. Expenses can be viewed by week, month, quarter, etc., with totals for each period. An expense can be edited or deleted by an employee from within the dashboard. There is also an export button that allows an employee to download their expenses as a PDF file.

The second layer is the domain layer. It contains all the business logic, including validation rules and exceptions. It connects with a database via a local data access object (DAO. The DAO then communicates with the third layer, which is the data access layer. The data access layer uses a data retrieval object (DBO. that handles all operations on the database server via SQL queries. Users can either export their data by PDF or CSV files for external analysis elsewhere. All backups are made by exporting them to Amazon S3 storage as well as to Glacier storage for long term storage. The last layer is the persistence layer, which maintains data structures including users, invoices, etc.

Benefits of Integration of Expensify and PostgreSQL

Integration between Expensify and PostgreSQL provides many benefits such as scalability, disaster recovery, and security. These benefits are discussed below in more detail:

Scalability. The integration between PostgreSQL and Expensify allows scaling of performance by adding more nodes in case of increased traffic or demand on the application. If one node goes down due to any reason, another node can take over its work seamlessly without affecting the overall performance of the application. Disaster Recovery. By integrating PostgreSQL with Expensify, users can configure their application to use multiple servers in case one server goes down due to any reason. This helps in ensuring smooth operation of the application by storing user data in the other servers in case any one goes down due to any reason without any loss of information or downtime for the users. Security. The integration between PostgreSQL and Expensify can ensure security of its data by having data replicated across various servers that are geographically distributed in different regions to ensure maximum availability and flexibility for users in case one region goes down due to any reason without affecting the overall performance of the application for its users. In addition, by using encryption techniques such as AES-256 bit encryption and SSL connections, users can ensure security of their data during transmission and storage on the database server.

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