Re: EDI and Inovis from Library Data

lgoodbar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

I agree here. The value of an EDI package isn't necessarily sending EDI
data (especially if it's "just" FTP). The value is in mapping
capabilities, interfacing to your back-end systems, and receiving and
parsing incoming documents. How often you use these features makes a
difference.

Absolutely. EDI drives much of our work. Being able to bring up new
partners quickly or handle changes easily is important. When we needed
to accept an EDIFACT order, it was a fairly easy task to just map one.

Scott sounds like he wants to process EDI data himself. I was only
suggesting that it's doable. Personally, I'd only consider this if the
EDI is minimal and the budget is tight.

We use an old version of Gentran, and are migrating to Extol; both run
natively on the iSeries. Our ERP vendor seamlessly integrated EDI
support from both of these packages into their product. This keeps us
from worrying about the low-level stuff (sequence numbers, segment
terminators, document formatting, etc) on a day-to-day basis.

We currently use several EDI products as our needs have changed.

TrustedLink, used for some EDI translation and VAN communication. Old
but reliable. Simple to use.
Patrick Townsend's Alliance XML and AS2 products, used our first 3PL
interfaces. Reliable, but doesn't have great log and transaction
visibility.
Axway/Cyclone Integrator, our preferred AS2 and FTP communications
software. Handles routing of data to and from partners and VANs. Easy
to use.
GIS (Gentran Integration Suite), our preferred EDI "translator". GIS is
a very powerful and flexible data processing tool. Uses BPML to script
various transformations and services. Intermediate data is stored in
XML. Connects to our iSeries with JBDC and to SAP with a SAP Suite
adapter. Can also do FTP and AS2 directly.


Keith