Supply Chain Integration

While some companies may not see the need for a tightly integrated supply chain, businesses such as Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, and Target could not function efficiently without the value added from these systems.

To do business with these companies, you first must be able to produce either through your own systems or through the help of a VAN (like Sterling Commerce) ISO X12 EDI transactions. Paper-based transactions are not allowed no matter the size of your company. In fact, if you start processing EDI with these companies and then fail to process EDI within a certain amount of time, you can be fined up to $150 per document occurrence!

The simplified Supply Chain EDI Transaction "chain" begins and ends as follows:

1.) The Customer (Retail Store) generates a Purchase Order electronically and sends to the vendor as an 850 Purchase Order.

2.) The Vendor (Supplier) responds with a 997 Functional Acknowledgement to show the customer that the vendor received the Purchase Order.

3.) The Vendor picks, packs, and schedules the shipping of the order by sending a 204 Load Tender to a carrier of their choice, requesting the carrier to arrive at the warehouse by a certain time/date to pick up the goods to be transported to the Customer.

4.) The carrier responds by sending a 990 Response to a Load Tender that tells the Vendor whether the carrier accepts or declines the request.

5.) If the carrier accepts the request, the Vendor submits an 856 Advance Shipment Notice to the Customer notifying them of the time and date when the goods are expected to ship.

6.) Once the goods ship, the carrier begins sending a 214 Shipment Status EDI to the Customer and/or the Vendor each time a different event occurs with the truck, i.e. cross-docking, exceptions in routing, departing/arriving at a location.

7.) Finally, following the truck leaving the vendor's premises, the Vendor sends an 810 Invoice to the Customer billing them electronically for the goods provided.

This concludes a brief introduction to the flow of electronic documents for Supply Chain Management.

David Bowles

Process Integration: Business Process Language, Deployment, and Execution

Here is the Presentation


On Tuesday, October 27, Team Analyst will be presenting on the topic of Business Process Execution Language. Our presentation will cover an introduction into what Business Process markup is used for, what BPEL is and what it is not. We will discuss different flavors of BPEL and when they are used. An editorial discussion of who's using BPEL and why and who isn't will provide realities of what the language offers. The presentation will conclude with a brief demonstration of the BPEL language.

References:

Business Process Management Institute
http://www.bpmn.org/Documents/FAQ.htm

W3C: WS-CDL Primer
http://www.w3.org/TR/ws-cdl-10-primer/#overview

Institute for Enterprise Architecture Developments
http://www.enterprise-architecture.info/Images/Services%20Oriented%20Enterprise/EA_Service-Oriented-Computing1.htm

SOA Approach to Integration (Packt Publishing)

IBM Developerworks
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/specification/ws-bpel/
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/specification/ws-bpelsubproc/?S_TACT=105AGX04&S_CMP=LP
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/specification/ws-bpel4people/
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/specification/ws-bpelj/?S_TACT=105AGX04&S_CMP=LP
http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/software/dw/specs/ws-bpel4people/BPEL4People_white_paper.pdf

BPM.com
http://www.bpm.com/bpel-who-needs-it.html

SOA World Magazine
http://soa.sys-con.com/node/775928?page=0,1


Softcare
http://www.softcare.com/whitepapers/wp_whatis_bpel.php

InfoQ Blog
http://www.infoq.com/articles/process-component-models
http://www.infoq.com/articles/bpelbpm

PCMagazine
http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=executable+code&i=42842,00.asp

Practicing Safe Techs
http://www.practicingsafetechs.com/TechsV1/BPEL/index.html

Microsoft
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa559758(BTS.10).aspx

CIS 8020 Assignment 2 VJ Google Chart

Okay, this is my attempt here at this assignment that I've been struggling with. Hopefully, I will be able to do more than this simple Google Chart task.

Scenario
Recently, my company applied for an award/recognition for most successful and innovative use of Practice Management and Electronic Medical Records software.  One of the criteria used in comparing different organizations was being able to show/demonstrate the percentage of providers using EMR.

The company could have used Google charts to show this information prominently on their web site.  As more providers went live, the chart could easily be updated.




Key
EMR = Percentage of providers who are using EMR
IP = Percentage of providers currently in process of implementation
EPM = Percentage of providers using only the front office (EPM) system

Additionally, this Google API could be used as an internal tracking tool. 

Each year, there is an opportunity for employees to benefit from a company bonus as part of the success sharing plan.  There are several criteria used in determining if bonuses will be distributed and how much.  One of those criteria is having a certain level of physician satisifaction. 

It is often difficult to keep the IS team up-to-date because we are out in the field so often.  Having this chart available on the corporate intranet would help.  For example:



Key
S = Satisfied with EMR
NS = Not Satisfied with EMR

---

In my humble attempt at creativity here, I'll try a different type of chart.

Sales Results

In this scenario, a company engaged in sales activity - say, of EMR software, of course - could post sales results by quarter so that the sales team could keep up with their productivity.

I suppose a line chart would have worked as well. I started working on the bar chart before I fully thought through the scenario but both get the point across.

This chart could be improved by actually displaying the value numerically above each bar chart which is a capability of the Google chart API.



BTW, for anyone else interested in adding color and who is just as NON-technical as I am, there are several web sites out there that display different colors and their HEX value. Here's 1 of them: Hex Color Chart.

CIS 8020 Assignment 2 David Bowles Google Maps API

If you are a transportation company, you need a way to track the goods you have in route to your customers or possibly goods traveling back to your premises in the case of reverse logistics.

The following case outlines a partial solution for tracking those items in an effective way using the Google Maps API, JavaScript, and PHP.

Most companies offering satellite tracking of tractors only provide the customer with latitude/longitude coordinates and the customer must decide what to do with the data to interpret it in a meaningful manner. In my company's case, we are using an antiquated software packaged called Street Atlas which the users must browse and find the appropriate "tracking" file. The solution I have toyed with to provide a cleaner, more-seamless integration would allow the satellite vendor to write data directly into a mySQL database (if they have the capability) or directly to a JSON text file and have a JavaScript program within the site read the data and display it onto a Google map. The other "administrative" benefit is the user no longer needs to have Street Atlas installed on their computer which also eliminates licensing fees since Google Maps is free.

This view allows for two ways to track tractors:

1. By clicking a point on the map to determine which tractor it is, or
2. By clicking a tractor number on the right side of the map and the related point highlights.

Below is a screenshot of this prototype application. By clicking on the picture, you will be taken to the site that actually hosts it. I have had to host the application on my personal website because the limitations of Blogspot does not allow me to host files that contains the data used to populate the map.

The other closest Google APIs that you could use to develop such an application would be either the Google Analytics or Google Charts APIs. Both APIs have the same difficulty in that they do not have integrated "geo-coding" mechanisms to pass the API a latitude/longitude pair and it visualize a point on the map. Both of these APIs can only illustrate political or physical boundaries. Google Maps API is the only choice for accurately representing location data onto a map-like visualization.

If anyone would like a copy of the code that I used to develop this application, please let me know and I will be happy to supply it.

Update: I noticed today that the graphics are "hokey" in Internet Explorer. This application is best viewed in a browser like Firefox or Safari.

David Bowles

CIS8020 Assignment 2 KA Google Static Maps

There are numberous applications for an API that can be used to create graphical depictions of the United States. National elections could use the API to create a map that will show which states voted for Republicans and which states voted for Democrats. CDC could use the API's to create maps identifying which states have been subjected to an infectous disease.

One of my personal goals is to visit every state in the United States. I used the API to create a graphical representation of states that I have visited so far. I could have used the color gradient to differentiate how much TIME I've spent in a given state i.e. I grew up in New Jersey, lived in California for 6 years, and lived in Georgia for 10 years so I could have made those states dark red and all of the other states a yellow color to indicate that I have not spent as much time there.

I could have expanded this to show countries I've visited throughout the world but I would not have been able to show the details of each individual state I've been to. I also could have "drilled down" to different addresses I've lived at but I did not want to show that level of detail.

I could also use the images created by the Google API in a document for work i.e. presentation. The URL for these API's were a little clunky to write as I had to include all of the state abbreviations and the color gradient required for the state.



This is a Google Map I've created to visually display the States that I have visited throughout the USA.

The cloud computing data loss saga continues with T-Mobile

I think it's safe to conclude that if you are a CIO supporting the "cloudification" of your applications or data, you better polish up your resume. I think Paris Hilton and Miley Cyrus will sue T-Mobile as a result of this loss. Think of all the BFF contacts and calendar entries for parties they are missing.

http://www.yahoo.com/s/1145130

DB

When Cloud Computing Goes Bad

Check out this story on CIOInsight.com that details the experience of one disgruntled CIO of Pulte Homes, Inc. after trying to move to a Cloud architecture:

http://blogs.cioinsight.com/knowitall/content001/the_cloud/pulte_cio_has_cloud_horror_story.html?kc=CIOMINUTE10052009CIO1

DB

Web Page Integration with Data Visualization using Google Chart API

I'm always looking for better ways to display data to business managers (and myself) so that business or I.T. decisions can be made more quickly. I've heard about Google Charts for a couple of years but never really investigated using them until this weekend. I previously haven't given much credit to Google but this is one service that I can give praise where rightfully deserved.

If you haven't heard about the Google Charts API, it is a "web service" that allows one to embed dynamically rendered charts on a web page. The chart selection can be Bar, Line, Pie, Venn, Scatter-Plot, "Google-o-Meter" (think speedometer), or even a World Map.

The user wanting to display a chart simply embeds a hyperlink to Google's Chart API in their webpage and upon loading, the visualization is loaded. Using this method of chart visualization means that you now have a platform, language, and browser independent chart control that you can embed into your website because it is simply based upon an http url.

Below is an example of a Pie Chart that this service offers:

This Pie Chart was rendered using this simple url:

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=p3&chd=t:60,40&chs=250x100&chl=Hello|World

where the parameters

• cht assigns chart type ('p3' = Pie Chart)
• chd assigns data points ('t:60,40' = 60% for the first value, 40% is the second)
• chs assigns the size in pixel dimensions of the chart (250 pixels wide by 100 pixels tall)
• chl assigns the data labels based upon the data point order (60% labeled "Hello", 40% labeled "World")

The "neatest" chart Google Chart offers is the World Map, where you can setup different gradients of colors to represent different countries and/or political boundaries within the countries by the intensity of the data point (1-100).

Below is an example of a map of the United States where I have only colored Georgia, red:

This chart was called using this url:

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=t&chs=440x220&chd=t:100&chtm=usa&chco=FFFFF,FF0000,FFFF00,00FF00&chld=GA

Of course, the rendering of these charts is very quick, as you can see by simply refreshing this blog page. Google allows unlimited calls to this API per day, but requests that you email them if you expect over 250,000 calls per day.

While some of you may already be familiar with this service offering, I hope that those of you who are not will find some value in this posting. From a dashboard perspective, this service can drastically lower the complexity of building a solution for your business.

David Bowles

Challenges to Web Service Implementations

There were a few topics that we did not get a chance to cover in class simply due to our time constraints.  I'd really like to highlight 1 of those issues since I've got a little time on my hands.

Considerations and Challenges In Implementing Web Services

1. Web service implementation adds to the complexity of your organization's architecture.
• You are adding an additional layer to your architecture that requires additional development time and maintenance.  Ongoing maintenance must be performed, of course.
• Due to the very nature of web services - namely, the integration of different systems/data in the background - you add complexity.
2. There are additional requirements for time and resources devoted to testing the web service functionality.
3. In this modern "web age", high availability is expected (24 hours a day of possible activity). 
• Thus, you must ensure that your web services are implemented in such a way as to minimize any downtime. 
• Any downtime of these services can negatively impact the image that your "consumers" will have of your organization's.
4. There must be continuous monitoring of the web services for reliability.
• People expect the services to operate efficiently and effectively, according to their published descriptions.  Thus, it will be important to conduct periodic monitoring to ensure that they are meeting expectations.
5. Due to the extra web exposure, your services could become corrupted.  You will need to implement additional security measures.

Web Services Presentation Slides

Thank you again for your attention during last night's presentation. I hope that each of you found something educational - if not entertaining - about the topic of dicussion.

You can access the slides at the link below:

http://davidbowles.info/SOA_Web_Services2.zip

David Bowles

Web Services: An Overview and Practical Applications

On Tuesday, September 29, Team Analyst will be presenting on the topic of Web Services from both an overview and practical applications perspective. The presentation will contain high-level discussions on the architecture of the technology, technical detail of how to create and use web services, and present a business case on web services in production. Following the presentation will be a discussion on how to find web services available to you as well as a short demo on how to construct web services. Throughout the presentation, Team Analyst will involve the audience in thought-provoking discussions about the topics covered. The team believes the outcome of this presentation will provide the audience with entry-level knowledge about web services, where to go to find web services available for subscription, and an understanding at a high level on how to integrate web services into a portal technology which involves "click-and-drag" implementation.

David Bowles


References:

SOA Terminology Overview

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-soa-term1/

Internet News.com
http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/3837186

ZDNet
http://blogs.zdnet.com/service-oriented/?p=2753

Computer World
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9032099/Honors_Program_Social_Security_Administration

AIS Health
http://www.aishealth.com/Bnow/hbd070209.html

W3C
http://www.w3.org/2002/ws/Activity

RogueWave Software – WeatherSummary WSDL
http://www2.roguewave.com/support/docs/leif/leif/html/soapworxug/6-2.html

WebserviceX.Net
http://www.webservicex.net/WCF/ServiceDetails.aspx?SID=35

Paragon Corporation
http://www.paragoncorporation.com/ArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=13

Business Wire
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2003_April_1/ai_99455958/

Healthcare IT News
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/icd-10-and-hitech-compliance-key-issues-medical-billers

Developer.com
http://www.developer.com/services/article.php/3665831/Web-Service-Testing-in-a-Service-Oriented-Architecture.htm

Web Services Use in the Real World

Web Services are the preferred way for businesses to implement Service-Oriented Architectures. Below, I will describe a few of the real-world offerings by which businesses in a different industries operate using SOA both as publishers and subscribers as implemented by Web Services.

Logistics and Transportation Industry

One of subsidiaries in the business for which I work is a trucking company which hauls the majority of goods for other subsidiaries that distributes them to retailers. When a customer requests the trucking company to pick up a delivery and transport it to another location, a Freight Bill must be created within the Freight Billing application. The trucking industry was heavily regulated up until about twenty years ago and the way Freight is billed is still very backwards as a result of the regulation mentality.

Three vendors that offer web services for the logistics industry are SMC3, ALK Technologies, and UPS.

ALK Technologies offers a product called PCMiler that determines the standard distance between two points by way of zip code to zip code or address to address. You may ask why does a trucking company need to use some proprietary company for this rather than using Google Maps or Yahoo Maps. PCMiler provides distances that are standard to all trucking companies and freight customers and has been used for thirty years. They also provide the least cost routes to the trucking companies such as avoidance of toll roads and routing through roads which allows for the highest speed for the trucks to get to their destinations more quickly. PCMiler still offers their software as an installable application, but also provide Web Services for which Freight Billing applications can integrate. The Freight Billing application presents two zip codes to the web service and it returns the mileage between those points.

http://www.alk.com/pcmiler/web-services.asp

Once the Freight Billing application knows the mileage, it can utilize a second web service offered by SMC3 that allows one to lookup customized freight rates from freight rate tables maintained by SMC3. There are numerous freight rate tables containing carrier rates from Crete Carriers to Yellow Trucking and they maintain rates from the 1970's to today. The trucking company may need a Less Than Load rate for three pallets of pillows and one pallet of Lead Weights for Old Dominion 1993 between Atlanta, GA 30339 and Sylvester, GA 31791, so they will submit the a request to the web service offered by SMC3 with this information and receive an amount to charge the customer. In addition to freight rating, there could be additional accessorial charges that need to be priced such as hazardous materials, special handling, etc. All of these conditions can be submitted to the web service for consideration in rating the load.

http://www.smc3.com/solutions/CarrierLTLPricing.asp?nav=products/TopLevel.asp

Now that all of the information needed to bill the customer has been gathered, a freight bill can be printed and handed to the customer upon delivery of the goods.

UPS also offers web services. The most prevalent is the shipment tracking web service which many online retailers subscribe in order to provide on-page updated tracking information without having to re-direct the user to UPS' website.

http://www.ups.com/bussol

Medical and Dental Health Industry

Both the Medical and Dental Health industries tie codes to individual procedures. On the Medical side, CPT codes are given to specific medical procedures and on the Dental side, CDT codes are given to specific dental procedures. Traditionally, these codes have been available in large books or written into tables within practice management software. Now, web services are provided by various web companies or insurance companies to allow for code and fee schedule retrieval. ICD codes are used by the medical community for coding specific diagnoses. One very simple service is found at webservicex.net and allows for the cross reference of ICD version 9 to ICD version 10 codes and vice-versa.

http://www.webservicex.net/icd9toicd10.asmx

HR-Solutions Industry

Finally one-unique web service that I came across dealt with background checks. Applicant Insight Limited offers a web service to subscribers that will allow someone to present to it the identification of a person and in turn will provide you with background information to aid in hiring decisions. Using this service, an employer could instantly receive background check information. This type of service would eliminate the two to three day wait process that some companies have when submitting for this information from local, state, or federal law enforcement.

http://www.applicantinsight.com/services_backgroundChecks.htm

Do Small Business and Smaller Mid-Sized Businesses Need ERP?

I started this as a response to Michael Morgan's comment to the last blog entry on September 1st, however the response became too verbose to post as a comment. It's a great question, but one that deserves a complete explanation.

Small businesses to smaller mid-sized businesses need software that will keep business functioning. Everyone must admit this is a true statement. Let's take a simple case to prove the previous statement and answer the question whether or not ERP systems are needed by these same types of businesses. The smallest business that needs a computer system is a Doctor's office.

This type of business typically has fewer than 10 employees. The only way the doctor can get out of having a computer system (in this day and age) is to not accept insurance and to track revenues and expenses on a paper ledger (not too pretty). I can say this because I saw the migrations started happening in the early-to-mid 2000's. Some doctors who were older in age would actually sell their practice to a young doctor just so that he/she would take on the responsibility.

A doctor is not likely to refuse to accept insurance, so instead, the doctor is likely to invest in a practice management system or an accounting package like Peachtree Accounting or QuickBooks.

Medical Office Practice Management systems now come complete with A/R, A/P, G/L, payroll, medical coding, insurance clearinghouse, and integrations to national medical lab testing organizations. Even a software product like Peachtree Accounting and/or QuickBooks has some of this functionality, i.e. A/R, A/P, G/L, payroll, logistics, and inventory management.

If you purchase OneWorld, SAP, Dynamics AX, BAAN, SAGE, or one of the 1000 other offerings for ERP software, and you only buy A/R, A/P, G/L, and Payroll, is it still an ERP system? The answer is yes.

ERP is a misnomer. ERP was derived from MRP systems (Materials Resource Planning) when financials, HR, and project management modules were injected into the system. MRP systems would process what is on order with vendors, what is in stock, what is being produced (if applicable), and what is being ordered by the customer. Based upon these bits of information, it would tell the operations department whether it would be cheaper to build or to buy to meet the demand of the customer (if demand was not already met) or what to build or buy in order to maintain appropriate stock quantities to eliminate the possibility of "stock-outs" or backorders.

So if an ERP system is still an ERP system although it only contains bare-minimum modules for accounting, then isn't a system like a Peachtree Accounting or Quickbooks an ERP system, too? Both software packages come with the option of buying some other integrations like EDI processing. The point is ERP in this day has grown to mean a system that has multiple interrelated, expandable, and customizable modules that allows your business to run from a single set of programs that not only share data but also share "look-and-feel" similarity. How you use the system, whether it is using 100% of the available functionality or only 10% is up to the user to decide.

Finally, now that we have equated ERP systems to accounting systems (or Accounting Information Systems as known in academia), let's discover why small to mid-sized businesses must move to this type of software. Looking at ERP systems from an I.T. perspective, what is an ERP system's greatest attribute? The ability to quickly customize software for the business' needs and it reduces the cost of I.T. systems programmers because it is a software that everyone knows. (I will admit here that this is a stretch today because ERP has not saturated the market, but when it does it will drastically reduce wages in I.T. development and until then I will continue to ride the gravy train - think programming a VCR in the 1980s versus programming a DVR today.) What is the greatest attribute of the ERP system from the perspective of the C-Level leadership? Can it help the business become more profitable, can it be agile enough to meet the demands of changing business models, can the familiarity of the system reduce my overall cost of labor because the labor pool contains workers with experience using it, and can I realize a significant return on investment by purchasing it?

Going back to the case of the doctor's office, if the doctor is running an ERP system and the health care system of the United States is nationalized, how difficult is it going to be for he/she to move towards using whatever payment system the government devises and tracking and reporting on the First Doctor Visit Resolution metric that will be a major part of the plan? This will not be difficult at all because there will be multiple businesses with the same problem existing using the same software. Either the maker of the ERP product will develop a solution or a third-party will. If that same doctor had a home-grown COBOL system that tracks limited data and will only allow the reporting of limited data, how easily will it be for the doctor to find someone who is not only a COBOL programmer but one who is familiar with the interfaces to the new national health system?

In closing, yes small to mid-sized business need ERP systems, but not just for the sake of running an ERP system. Businesses need ERP system to reduce their costs and have universally known systems for the end-user, management, and developers. An ERP system is an insurance policy in many regards. It not only ensures that your business can be agile, but it ensures that as long as you maintain updates, someone will always be around to support it.

Systems Integration

I have worked within the I.T. industry for over 11 years in positions ranging from support, development, systems administration, and management. My current position requires me to do all four to some extent, however, the majority of my days are focused on development. Without systems integration, my company would not function. While many companies are striving to migrate to ERP systems which boast a single solution for all the organization's needs, the reality is ERP systems cannot solve all problems. As a result, integration is needed to some extent. Even if your company operates off of a single solution and they work with vendors and/or customers who require tight integration of supply chain systems, chances are your systems take advantage of integration.

In my career, developing for integrations consisted of supply chain document passing such as Purchase Orders, Sales Orders, Advance Shipment Notices, and Invoices. While these documents are traveling usually inter-organization, some integrations that I have developed relied upon intra-organization software communicating between the them. For instance, I worked for a dental practice management company where we developed two products: one for the dental practice patient and accounting database and another product for the imaging system. In order to reduce the amount of keying and updating patient records, integration existed between the systems where the practice management system could pass the patient record to the imaging system. The dental staff would then see the images instantly appear when the program opened without having to lookup the patient's data a second time.

In terms of databases, I have also worked to link multiple Microsoft SQL databases together as well as link them to MySQL databases, too.

David Bowles

EMRs and Systems Integration

The healthcare industry is commonly known to be far behind other industries in terms of technology adoption. So I find it quite interesting that despite this lag, I think that healthcare will lead the way into the future with respect to systems integration.

I have been working with healthcare entities on implementing practice management software (PM) and electronic medical records (EMR) for the past 6 years. At present, I work as a Systems Application Analyst (whatever that means) at Piedmont Medical Care Corporation. Basically, the IS department supports the network of physicians - primary care, specialty, surgical and hospitals, etc. - that are employed by Piedmont Healthcare. In studying the literature on the success (or, more often, failure) of EMR implementations, what Piedmont has been able to accomplish is quite impressive with nearly all primary care physicians using EMR for their everyday charting.

Beyond simply entering chart notes into a computer, going digital comes with the hope of:

1. Providing a single point of access for reviewing past medical records
2. Communicating test results to patients, hospitals (when needed) and other healthcare professionals
3. Interfacing with lab and diagnostic systems so that orders are sent electronically and results received digitally as well
4. Integration of drug databases that allow for drug-drug, drug-allergy and drug-condition checking to improve patient safety
5. Incorporation of ICD-9 (and soon, ICD-10) codes
6. Offering web portals for patients to access anytime / anywhere to view their medical history including labs, diagnostic reports and have secure communications with their providers
7. Digital faxing to reduce the cost of traditional paper faxing
8. Access to drug formularies at the point of care delivery to help ensure that medications prescribed are on the insurance formulary
9. The ability to easily exchange information between 1 system and another.

Piedmont has most of the above fully implemented and is working on even more functionality greater than this.

My future blogs will cover this topic in more detail.

Early Integrations between ERP and Best of Breed Systems

I've spent the last 10 years supporting Software Systems used by large companies. I started working with ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems that run all aspects of the company - Sales, Procurement, to Finance. ERP systems do a good job - but they don't provide businesses with a competitive advantage. The company I worked for installed an ERP system but quickly realized specialized systems were needed in addition to the ERP system. Best of Breed systems were designed to specialize in a specific area i.e. Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) were designed to provide exceptional distribution processes.

My first experience integrating a "bolt on" WMS wasn't very impressive. We linked the two systems through flat files. While this improved the performance within the warehouse walls, it left a lot of room for improvement. The Sales department did not have visibility into the order once it was transmitted to the warehouse. Even worst, the order could not be changed once it was downloaded into the warehouse. Customer's weren't satisfied with sales reps suggesting that they accept the order as is and simply return items that they didn't want. The order hadn't even shipped yet but they couldn't change it!

Clearly flat file integration was not the ideal solution.

In future blogs, I will explain the learning curve experienced as we gradually improved our integration between the host ERP system and several bolt on best of breed systems.

KA