RE: EDI translator

Thanks for the very infomative info John, I really appreciate it.

Regards,
Dennis Basiner
Information Systems Manager
Cains Foods L.P.


-----Original Message-----
From: bpcs-l-bounces+dbasiner=cainsfoods.com@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bpcs-l-bounces+dbasiner=cainsfoods.com@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of
jdyer@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, February 25, 2005 4:11 PM
To: SSA's BPCS ERP System
Subject: RE: [BPCS-L] EDI translator


Dennis:

It is impossible for me to be certain whether you might mitigate cost by
changing EDI vendors unless I did a study. That said, I would be surprised
if the answer turned out to be "yes" ... More likely the opposite ...

My expectation is that anything you save on annual maintenance fees or
upgrades will be overbalanced by conversion costs and loss of productivity
due to lower function in the follow-on solution.

If I may share a little story here ... We've been an Inovis business
partner since the Premenos days (1989) ... I have for years fielded
questions about the quality of another vendor's translator (let's call
them "Vendor B") by saying "I've never seen the product, but they have
lots of customers, they've been around a long time, I'm sure they're
fine."

Well, we finally landed an account that uses the "B" translator, and we
were astonished to discover how much difference there is between the
products: Trusted Link is so vastly superior that it challenges my
expectation that market forces would tend to bring these two competitors
close together in terms of value. And, Vendor "B" isn't that much cheaper!
We are certain that Vendor B's product is more expensive to own due to
reduced productivity.

You might think that what I just said leads to the thesis that you might
buy a more functional translator that will save you money on productivity
and perhaps staffing.

Well, in general, "EDI made easy" pitches make me grit my teeth. I agree
that do-it-all EDI solutions can work in small, simple implementations. A
company of any size, however, will require the services of people with
advanced skills and aptitude. Still, that doesn't necessarily mean you
need a big staff.

We have several clients outsourcing EDI to a single associate at IMC. Some
of them have pretty large implementations.  One of the reasons this
service model works is that the EDI development cycle tends to be
characterized by long stretches of boredom punctuated by  the requirement
to solve several difficult problems in a very short timeframe. It's hard
to keep an in-house staffer at expert level under these conditions, and it
can be hard to keep them busy all the time.

What I am suggesting is that you could easily shoot yourself in the foot .
I would be very cautious about changing platforms to reduce cost or staff
... I believe you will be disappointed.

I can help with these issues, as could other EDI integration solution
providers that haunt this discussion group. I am sure you will hear from
all of us before this thread tapers off.

I am willing to toss this around with you ... Perhaps you could brief me
on your thoughts and concerns ...

Call or message any time.

Regards,



John G. Dyer, CDP
Vice President
Information Management Consultants, Inc.
jdyer@xxxxxxxxxx
http://www.imcedi.com
812.421.0045 ext. 203
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