| Prowl uses the firewall-friendly HTTP protocol to pull ledger data from a remote server. It simply appends a GET query string to the ledger's URL, and using a function such as file_get_contents in PHP, the filtered ledger data is selectively retrieved, which may then be used for the automated reconciliation of individual or aggregate transacted amounts between entities. A more efficient UDP-based server is a long-term goal, but HTTP is okay for now since most accounting/erp software already support it. The use of HTTP also allows any blogging platform to be developed and used as a web ledger/accounting system. |