File transfer abstraction on a computer network

A computing system comprising:

• a storage device;
• and
• processing circuitry having access to the storage device and configured to:
• output, to a client computing device, a user interface including a prompt to transfer information on a network,
• receive, responsive to the prompt, a request to transfer a file on the network,
• determine, based on the request, a set of provisioning commands for provisioning a data path to transfer the file on the network using a file transfer tool selected from among a plurality of file transfer tools available on the network, each of the plurality of file transfer tools having a different set of regulatory compliance tasks to be performed in connection with file transfers performed by that file transfer tool, and wherein to determine the set of provisioning commands, the processing circuitry is further configured to identify regulatory compliance tasks to be performed when the file transfer tool transfers the file,
• provision the data path by issuing the provisioning commands to the file transfer tool,
• transfer the file on the network by causing the file transfer tool to transfer the file over the data path,
• automatically perform, separately from transferring the file, the regulatory compliance tasks for the file;
• determine a set of sustainment commands for maintaining the data path, and
• maintain the data path by issuing the sustainment commands to the one or more file transfer tools, wherein maintaining the data path includes audit-trail creation, data path monitoring, regulation compliance checking, organizational policy compliance checking, data path testing, data path performance monitoring, and data preservation tasks.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, configure processing circuitry of a computing system to:

• output, to a client computing device, a user interface including a prompt to transfer information on a network;
• receive, responsive to the prompt, a request to transfer a file on the network;
• determine a set of provisioning commands for provisioning a data path to transfer the file on the network using a file transfer tool selected from among a plurality of file transfer tools available on the network, each of the plurality of file transfer tools having a different set of regulatory compliance tasks to be performed in connection with file transfers performed by that file transfer tool, and wherein determining the set of provisioning commands includes identifying regulatory compliance tasks to be performed when the file transfer tool transfers the file;
• provision the data path by issuing the provisioning commands to the file transfer tool;
• transfer the file on the network by causing the file transfer tool to transfer the file over the data path;
• and
• automatically perform, separately from transferring the file, the regulatory compliance tasks for the file;
• determine a set of sustainment commands for maintaining the data path;
• and
• maintain the data path by issuing the sustainment commands to the one or more file transfer tools, wherein maintaining the data path includes audit-trail creation, data path monitoring, regulation compliance checking, organizational policy compliance checking, data path testing, data path performance monitoring, and data preservation tasks.