Manage User Profile Custom Properties using BCS

Question

We want to write a Custom Webservice to pull the User Profile Properties from SharePoint 2007 and should be able to consume the same Webservice in BCS (SharePoint 2010).

AIM:
1. Read a User Profile Properties from a Custom Webservice
2. Consume the same Webservice in BCS
3. BCS properties have to be merged with AD properties for the User Profile Properties in SharePoint 2010.

Can anybody let me know how it can be done?

Update:
I would like to follow the steps given below

1. Create a user defined class "MissedUserProfileProperties" with various attributes
2. Override the GetList Method in BCS
3. Make an instance for UserProfileService.asmx
4. Iterate through the UserProfiles and store the required information in the List <MissedUserProfileProperties>
5. Return the List<MissedUserProfileProperties>
6. Configure the UserProfile in such a way that it will combine both AD & BCS

Please let me know if it can be done?

Update - 2
I have configured and populated the required information and would like to remove the BCS connection however it is throwing an exception saysing that "Operation is failed"

What would be the right way of doing this....?
Note :

Still the properties are mapped and it is not allowing us to unmap the BCS integration, also we stopped the Full import in the middle.

Answer 1

So you plan to have both a 2007 and a 2010 system active and you want to manage profile data in both systems? The easiest thing to do would be to get the profile sync stuff setup for both individually without putting a dependency for the 2010 system on the 2007 system.

One note, both 2007 and 2010 already have a web service available for grabbing User Profile data at /_vti_bin/userprofileservice.asmx

In most cases where there is a custom synchronization source it is in addition to the AD properties mapped so that part is not unusual.

Answer 2

I did it multiple times with PeopleSoft for SharePoint 2007 and SharePoint 2010. 2 options i found succesfull both with BDC (MOSS 2007) or BCS(SP 2010): A. with an Database B. WebService (exposed from PeopleSoft) Common steps: 1. setup Profile imports to work correctly and extended with properties planned to be retrieved from external system (not mapped though, that i finalised aftewards). 1. setup SSO (in MOSS) or Secure Store (in SP2010). Create your ECT (in SP2010) via SPD or VS2010, or in MOSS 2007 define your entity by using any tool (see here BDC-_The_Business_Data_Catalog.aspx">http://blah.winsmarts.com/2007-4-SharePoint_2007_BDC-_The_Business_Data_Catalog.aspx), such as BDCMETAMAN or Microsoft's. If that works, then you know you have correctly setup SSO or Secure Store.

1. finalize configuration of the user profiles custom properties by mapping them to the BDC or BCS.
2. Run FULL Crawl and Syncronization.