RE: Ways to comunicate with other systems

Janell,

Your note strikes me as a description of the function EDI was designed
to perform.  I would suggest that it serve as a starting point for a
discussion of moving orders between companies.  While there are minor
incompatibilities between various EDI packages, it is the closest thing
to a lingua franca in the industry today.  If you are already using it
to communicate between your company and theirs, why would you look for
other alternatives?

I have no PRMS experience, but would assume that a current release would
have the necessary interfaces to some EDI packages.

Regards,
Andy Nolen-Parkhouse

> Subject: Ways to comunicate with other systems
>
> I have just be informed that I have a meeting tomorrow with one of our
> vendors to discuss how we can automate sending customer orders
directly to
> them rather than stocking the inventory ourselves.
>
> I doubt the company using an AS/400 or iSeries and I'm know that even
if
> they do, they don't use the same ERP package that we do.
>
> I don't have any real experience in dealing with eCommerce type
projects.
> I know that we can use EDI to communicate between our system and
theirs.
> (We already do this in a couple of different cases.)  I also know that
I
> could write a program to create a file with the necessary information
in
> the IFS and then used FTP or something similar to communicate.  (I'm
not
> sure how exactly to implement this, but I know it is a possibility.)
>
> What are some of our other options, what have you tried and found
> successful, etc? Where would you suggest I go for additional
information?
> I don't need a lot of details right now, the meeting is basically a
brain
> storming session.  However, any suggestions that you could provide
would
> be appreciated.  I'd be especially interested in any other PRMS users
that
> have implemented something like this.
>
> Thanks for your assistance.
>
> Janell Haskins
> Programmer/Analyst
> Knit-Rite, Inc.
> Kansas City, KS
> jhaskins@knitrite.com