Re: EDI vs E-Commerce Question - Pardon my ignorance...

Chuck,

This may be obvious, but if one of my suppliers wants me to do
something I don't want to do, they had best hope they do not have any
competition!  Else I will be switching suppliers.

I know, simple view of the world, but I am a simple kind of guy! <g>

Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: Chuck Lewis <CLEWIS@IQUEST.NET>
To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
Date: Friday, August 06, 1999 3:41 PM
Subject: Re: EDI vs E-Commerce Question - Pardon my ignorance...


>Thanks Carl !
>
>Good information !
>
>What I am AFRAID of is that some of our suppliers are going to push us
to use
>their web sites to enter P.O.'s that are currently being automatically
faxed out
>of the P.O. application to them. I know that's a manual step on their
end, but WE
>have an accurate audit trail out of here and in our database :-)
>
>Thanks again for the info !
>
>Chuck
>
>Carl Galgano wrote:
>
>> Chuck:
>> I'm not sure I know exactly what I you are asking, but I will take a
stab at
>> this.  With EDI the whole idea is application to application
interface.
>> Your partner enters a PO on their system, it is edited on their
database,
>> then sent to your company.  Hopefully that data is directly edited
and
>> updated against your order entry system and then you have the same
PO.
>> Advantage here is it only gets entered once.  The mechanism as to
how the
>> file gets can you can vary (ie diskette, direct comm to your
computer or
>> network, 3rd party VAN or even the Internet can be distribution
medium).
>> The point is you don't have to touch it.
>> With ecommerce (by the way, I think this term is grossly overused
and over
>> exaggerated), the idea is you put a store front on the web to sell
what ever
>> it is you sell.  Maybe you have a catalog that allows your customers
to
>> select from.  Perhaps you have some sort of form based EDI where a
partner
>> can get on the web and key an order.  Is this of any advantage?
Perhaps it
>> may be for customers or vendors who are are too small to unwilling
to do
>> EDI.  You give them an opportunity to send you orders
electronically.
>> Again, the schemes vary.  The web form can be totally dumb with no
>> interaction to your application, basically just collects data and
sends it
>> to you.  The file could come to you as an email message, be
transferred to
>> an FTP server, or even be  turned into an EDI message and sent to
your EDI
>> application.
>> Other variations of web access might be a Java front end that could
run in
>> the browser and be a true client server application that "talks" to
your
>> AS400 as the server.  This way the data is edited against your
internal
>> database.  Of course this requires rewriting the application's front
end.
>> Is there a quick and dirty way to allow your customers access to the
>> application (order entry) via the web?  You could serve a Java
TN5250
>> emulator (see mochasoft) from your web page and connect a green
screen to
>> the AS400 and allow your customers access (of course you will need
all the
>> security etc.), or use a product that does TN5250 to HTML on the fly
like
>> IBMs WSG (Work Station Gateway) or other products (I know BosaNova
has one
>> also).
>> Anyway...... I hope I have somewhat answered your question... let me
know if
>> you have any other questions.
>> CJG
>> Carl Galgano
>> EDI Consulting Services, Inc.
>> 540 Powder Springs Street
>> Suite C19
>> Marietta, GA  30064
>> 770-422-2995
>> mailto: cgalgano@ediconsulting.com
>> http://www.ediconsulting.com
>> EDI, Communications and AS400 Technical Consulting
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Chuck Lewis <CLEWIS@IQUEST.NET>
>> To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
>> Date: Thursday, August 05, 1999 4:04 PM
>> Subject: EDI vs E-Commerce Question - Pardon my ignorance...
>>
>> >Hi Folks !
>> >
>> >I'm at a small company and while we aren't quite ready for
E-Commerce
>> >JUST yet (just came off a Unix box and onto the AS/400 this past
>> >January...) we are trying to learn all we can. We are a wholesale
>> >distributor.
>> >
>> >One BIG question I have is if a supplier decides to allow PO entry
over
>> >the internet how this works. Currently everything I've seen is you
fire
>> >up your browser and hit a site and get screens to input info.
>> >
>> >This is A MAJOR manual process with all KINDS of possibilities for
>> >errors, etc. No linkage back to companies native database, etc.
>> >
>> >With EDI ordering on the other hand, you would enter a PO through
your
>> >NORMAL process/package and if EDI capable, the order would go out
that
>> >way. Your data base is updated and they get the info they need...
>> >
>> >OK, so I MUST be missing something here with E-Commerce, PLEASE
>> >enlighten me !! :-)
>> >
>> >TIA,
>> >
>> >Chuck
>> >
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