System Overview

MultiFlexi is a comprehensive PHP-based task scheduling and automation framework designed for business system integrations, with primary focus on accounting and ERP systems.

Target Audience: All Users Difficulty: Beginner Prerequisites: None

What is MultiFlexi?

MultiFlexi enables organizations to automate repetitive business tasks across multiple companies and platforms. It provides:

  • Centralized Scheduling: Define when tasks run (hourly, daily, weekly, custom)

  • Multi-Tenant Architecture: Isolate data and configurations per company/client

  • Flexible Execution: Run tasks natively, in Docker containers, or in the cloud

  • Comprehensive Monitoring: Track execution history, logs, and artifacts

  • Secure Credential Management: Store and reuse authentication credentials safely

Core Use Cases

Accounting Firms

Automate client data processing:

  • Import bank statements from multiple banks

  • Generate invoices and reports

  • Sync data between accounting systems

  • Export tax reports on schedule

Example: An accounting firm manages 50 clients, each requiring daily bank imports. MultiFlexi runs 50 jobs automatically, one per client, with isolated credentials.

Managed Service Providers (MSPs)

Automate infrastructure monitoring and maintenance:

  • System health checks across customer environments

  • Backup verification and reporting

  • Log aggregation and analysis

  • Compliance reporting

Example: An MSP monitors 100 customer servers hourly for disk space, memory usage, and service health using the MultiFlexi Probe application.

Internal IT Automation

Streamline internal business processes:

  • Data synchronization between systems

  • Scheduled report generation

  • Email notification dispatch

  • Database maintenance tasks

Example: A company synchronizes employee data from HR system to email server nightly, automatically creating/updating accounts.

System Architecture

Component Overview

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      Web Interface                          │
│              (Bootstrap 4 UI, Dashboard, Forms)             │
└────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────┘
                     │
┌────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       REST API                              │
│           (JSON/XML endpoints, OAuth2 auth)                 │
└────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────┘
                     │
┌────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                   Core Application                          │
│          (PHP business logic, ORM, validation)              │
└───┬────────────────┬────────────────────┬────────────────┬──┘
    │                │                    │                │
    ▼                ▼                    ▼                ▼
┌────────┐    ┌──────────┐      ┌─────────────┐    ┌──────────┐
│Database│    │Scheduler │      │  Executor   │    │   CLI    │
│(MySQL) │    │ Daemon   │      │   Daemon    │    │  Tools   │
└────────┘    └──────────┘      └─────────────┘    └──────────┘

System Services (v2.x+)

MultiFlexi 2.x uses dedicated systemd services:

multiflexi-scheduler.service

  • Continuously evaluates RunTemplates

  • Creates Job records when schedules are due

  • Calculates next execution times

  • Runs as daemon under multiflexi user

multiflexi-executor.service

  • Polls for scheduled jobs

  • Launches applications with proper environment

  • Captures output and exit codes

  • Preserves artifacts automatically

  • Runs as daemon under multiflexi user

Data Flow

  1. User configures RunTemplate (via Web UI or CLI)

  2. Scheduler daemon evaluates schedule (every cycle)

  3. Job record created when due time arrives

  4. Executor daemon detects job (polling schedule table)

  5. Application executes with injected environment

  6. Output captured (stdout, stderr, exit code)

  7. Artifacts preserved (result files, logs)

  8. Monitoring updated (Zabbix, OpenTelemetry)

Interfaces

Web Interface

The primary management interface:

  • Dashboard: Real-time metrics, recent jobs, charts

  • Companies: Manage tenants/organizations

  • Applications: Browse and install available apps

  • RunTemplates: Configure scheduling and execution

  • Jobs: View execution history and artifacts

  • Credentials: Manage authentication

Access: http://<server>/multiflexi

Command-Line Interface (CLI)

Server-side management tool (multiflexi-cli):

  • User and company management

  • Application import/export

  • Job execution and monitoring

  • Credential operations

  • System maintenance

Example:

multiflexi-cli job:list --status=failed
multiflexi-cli company:create --name "Acme Corp"
multiflexi-cli runtemplate:show 42

REST API

Programmatic integration:

  • Authentication: OAuth2, API tokens

  • Formats: JSON, XML, YAML, HTML

  • Endpoints: Companies, Applications, RunTemplates, Jobs, Users

  • Methods: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE

Example:

curl -u user:pass http://server/api/VitexSoftware/MultiFlexi/1.0.0/jobs.json

Key Features

Multi-Platform Integration

Native support for:

  • AbraFlexi (Czech ERP/accounting system)

  • Pohoda (Stormware accounting software)

  • Banking APIs (FioBank, RaiffeisenBank, CSAS)

  • Office365 (email, calendar)

  • VaultWarden (password management)

Three-Tier Credential Management

Sophisticated credential architecture:

  1. CredentialPrototype (JSON templates)

  2. CredentialType (company-specific instances)

  3. Credential (actual values for RunTemplates)

See Credential Management for details.

Multiple Execution Environments

Applications can run in:

  • Native: Direct execution on host

  • Docker: Containerized execution

  • Podman: Rootless containers

  • Kubernetes: Cluster orchestration

  • Azure: Cloud-based execution

Job Artifact Preservation

Every job automatically preserves:

  • stdout.txt: Standard output stream

  • stderr.txt: Standard error stream

  • Result files: Application-generated outputs

Artifacts stored in database, accessible via Web UI or API.

Comprehensive Monitoring

Integration with:

  • Zabbix: Metrics and alerting

  • OpenTelemetry: Distributed tracing

  • Built-in Logging: SQL-based audit trail

Security & Compliance

Authentication & Authorization

  • User accounts with password hashing

  • API token generation

  • Session management

  • Role-based access control

Multi-Tenant Data Isolation

  • Company-scoped credentials

  • Separate job histories

  • Isolated configurations

  • Foreign key constraints

GDPR Compliance

  • Right to erasure tools

  • Data retention policies

  • Audit trail logging

  • Consent management

See GDPR Compliance for details.

Deployment Options

Standalone Server

Single-server deployment with local database:

  • Ideal for: Small teams, single organization

  • Requirements: Debian/Ubuntu, MySQL, Apache

  • Package: multiflexi-mysql

Docker Deployment

Containerized deployment:

  • Ideal for: Development, testing, portable setups

  • Images available on Docker Hub

  • Docker Compose configurations provided

See Docker Deployment for details.

Ansible Automation

Infrastructure-as-Code deployment:

  • Ideal for: Multi-server, production environments

  • Collection: vitexsoftware.multiflexi

  • Idempotent playbooks

See Manage MultiFlexi using Ansible for details.

Scaling Considerations

Small Deployments (< 100 jobs/day)

  • Single server

  • SQLite or MySQL

  • Native executor

Medium Deployments (100-1000 jobs/day)

  • Dedicated database server

  • MySQL/PostgreSQL

  • Multiple executor daemons

Large Deployments (> 1000 jobs/day)

  • Load-balanced web servers

  • High-availability database

  • Distributed executor fleet

  • Redis caching

  • CDN for static assets

See Also

Note

This overview provides a high-level understanding of MultiFlexi. Explore the linked pages for deeper technical details.