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Tag Archive for: EDI2XML

Electronic Data Interchange: Key Information You Need to Know

 

This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.


EDI (or Electronic Data Interchange), has been part of business for long time; However, questions about its functioning, pros and cons are still not clear for new EDI users and those who have been using EDI for years in their business.

To help better understand EDI, we created this e-book “Electronic Data Interchange: Key Information You Need to Know”, where you find answers to most of the frequent questions like What is EDI? Benefits of EDI, EDI communication (EDI-VAN) and (EDI -INT) and much more.

It was built for beginners and those who have strong EDI technical knowledge. We are certain you will get important information out of this eBook, that is certainly useful to your EDI projects.

We invite you to download this e-book from EDI2XML Resource Page

Free EDI eBookFree EDI consultation

 

Magic xpi and EDI2XML HTTP web service: the best EDI software option

This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.

More and more questions related to EDI software, systems integration, EDI, best EDI software are being raised every day by our contacts and clients. I decided to tackle those questions in this post, hoping it will help consultants, as well as companies looking for the most suitable EDI software solution.

Automation via EDI software

It does not matter which industry a company is part of be it sales, manufacturing, or service delivery at some point, every company seeks to automate its internal processes, increase efficiency and eliminate human errors.

A very common situation is the automation in e-commerce, namely – online eCommerce stores. Typically, there are several people who will work on order processing, after an order is keyed-in and entered by the consumer:

  • Operators who manually transferred orders received from the e-commerce site to the internal system.
  • A warehouse worker who will ship orders.

In an environment where EDI is implemented in such a company, and systems eCommerce and on-Premises systems are directly integrated, the need for operators to enter orders, disappears as the order is automatically transferred to the internal system of a company.

As a result, the persons in charge of shipping orders can prepare the goods for dispatch without the help of operators. So, operators are not needed at all.

The company saves money by reducing staff, eliminating errors due to human factors, moreover, the company will be able to quickly ship and deliver orders in a short window of time, which improves greatly its customer service experience.

With the growth of the business, a new need arises – the necessity for interaction between various business partners who use different systems. Nowadays many companies have realized that EDI (Electronic data interchange) along with integration of its business applications, helps enterprises and qualitatively changes the work of employees.

Grow your potential with EDI web service solution

Today, there are many EDI software solutions in the market that allows you to trade electronically with your business partners. Before making a decision and choosing an EDI software, you should pay attention to:

  • the possibility of modernization and scaling
  • the simplicity of EDI implementation
  • ability to send and receive a variety of EDI documents
  • ease of use and feature-rich
  • ability to integrate with other solutions

one important trend in the tech industry today that is very popular, is the use of web services. It is a trend as a technology and as a business methodology.

If you what to know more about web services technology read our article: Seamless EDI implementation through Web Services

Our unique EDI software includes a combination of EDI2XML EDI Web services, and Magic xpi, the code free integration platform, with drag and drop visual aping, simple to use. This combination will reduce the complexity of EDI development, allowing organizations to quickly reap the benefits of this powerful technology, quickly on-board its partners, and most importantly, fully automate and integrate its own ERP or CRM system in a matter of days.

EDI2XML Web Service, is an HTTP service running over the internet, on EDI2XML own private platform that is capable of receiving HTTP requests to translate EDI messages to XML, and XML messages (based on EDI2XML’s proprietary format) to EDI.

EDI2XML HTTP services provide technological and business benefits which include:

  • Application and data integration
  • Versatility
  • Cost savings (no contract: pay as you go)
  • Very simple and dynamic pricing scheme
  • Quick start of using (you can start with less than an hour)
  • Availability and reliability
  • Based on proven technology in the field for over 18 years now
  • Outstanding technical support

Who is EDI2XML web service for?

EDI2XML Web Service, is for developers and businesses, interested in building their own EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) integration flows and programs. Normally, these individuals, are capable of interacting with external API and Web Services to translate EDI to XML and XML to EDI, and have the resources and expertise to work with Web Services and HTTP requests in order to achieve their goals. EDI2XML web service, is the premier choice for IT people as a reliable service to accomplish such Integration projects.

Getting started with EDI2XML Web Service, is very simple and quick. Within less than an hour, you can issue the first Call to the Web Service and see the response.

EDI2XML Web Service currently, supports the EDI transactions as listed on our website. In case a transaction you are looking for is not on the list, we can simply just add it within 24 hours.

Increase competitive power through integration EDI software

Often, companies are already using different business applications such as CRM or ERP systems, which they are quite satisfied. But the question is: can they work in harmony with each other, and integrate together? What is the best way to integrate EDI software to them?

Have you ever thought that EDI software can improve your business by integration all of your business applications and organizing a new way of transferring data and processes through your CRM, ERP, WMS, SCM, finance, third-party applications, and other outdated or cloud-based system?

As mentioned above our EDI software include EDI web service and Magic xpi integration platform;  this technology combination can cover all your business needs. Before we review what is Magic xpi integration platform, let’s see what integration is.

Integration (from the Latin. Integratio – “insert”) – the process of inserting parts into something. Depending on the context, it may mean:

  • Web integration – the integration of heterogeneous web applications and systems into a single web-based environment.
  • Data Integration – Data integration involves combining data residing in different sources and providing users with a unified view of them. (definition from Wikipedia)

I would add this Wikipedia definition as follow: The integration of software systems and products is the exchange of data between systems with possible subsequent processing. The point of integration is that the data entered by the user (or directly injected by another application or API) into one system is automatically migrated to another.

Magic xpi – efficient integration for any business and any system

Magic xpi makes integration fast and uninterrupted due to pre-built components, proven and certified connectors as well as code-free, visual approach.

Using Magic xpi Integration Platform you can connect a varied business application and systems and improve the capabilities of your ERP, CRM, finance, and other enterprise systems.

Unlike other integration platforms that use complex point-to-point coding, Magic xpi have easy to use, code-free, drag and drop visual data mapper. You can manage the performance of your system at all times thanks to comprehensive monitoring and management tools. Magic xpi has incomparable connectivity including 100+ prebuilt components, certified and optimized adapters for leading IT systems, and a Connector Builder for all your needs.

Magic xpi Integration Platform

Start with the best EDI Software solution

We do offer EDI projects consultancy. We help companies plan, deploy, test and integrate EDI projects. You can simply call us (450) 68-3009 Ext 223 or write us sales@namtek.ca if you need any EDI consulting work. We have a proven 20+ years of experience in EDI and integration projects.

Seamless EDI implementation through Web Services

EDI is used almost everywhere regardless of industry or company size. The most extensive use of EDI is in the retail industry. EDI compliance is mandatory in order to trade with big retailers such as Target, Costco, Walmart,… even giants of electronic commerce like Amazon are heavy users of EDI.

There are a lot of different types and approach of implementing EDI in your company. It can fully managed EDI service, or gaining popularity lately EDI Web Service, because, service architects and developers want EDI to be easy to implement, maintainable, extensible, and scalable.

What is web service?

Web service is a network technology that provides inter-program interaction based on web standards. More specifically, it’s client and server application that communicate over the World Wide Web’s (WWW).

The W3C consortium defines a web service as: “A Web service is a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network”.

Thus, the web service is identified by a URI string. The Web service has a User Programmatic Interface (UPI) that is represented in WSDL format. Other systems interact with this web service by exchanging SOAP or REST protocol messages. HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol is used to transport the messages. The description of Web services and their APIs can be found by UDDI.

♦ WSDL (Web Services Description Language) – is an XML-based interface definition language that is used for describing the functionality offered by a web service.

♦ UDDI (Universal Discovery, Description and Integration) – is an XML-based registry for business internet services

Web services are rich in functionality and extensibility, as well as their machine-readable descriptions through the use of XML. Web services can be combined to achieve complex operations.

web service diagram

The diagram above shows a very simplified view of how a web service works. The client invokes a web service call by sending a request to a server which hosts the actual web service, then get the response from the web service.

What are different types of web services?

Web services can be deployed in several ways. The following web-services are the most commonly used http web services:

♦ SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) — in fact, it is a triple of standards SOAP/WSDL/UDDI

♦ REST (Representational State Transfer) – quite often called as RESTful API (Application Program Interface that uses HTTP requests to GET, PUT, POST and DELETE data) or RESTful web service – is based on (REST) technology.

Actually, SOAP originated from XML-RPC (XML Remote Procedure Call) and is the next generation of its development and evolution. While REST is a concept, based on an architectural style.

Of course, there are other types of web services, but since they are not widely used, we will focus on these two in this brief review: SOAP and REST.

A Quick Overview of SOAP Web Services

SOAP stands for Simple Object Access Protocol. It is an XML-based protocol for accessing web services.

It is platform and language independent. It means that by using SOAP, you can interact with other programming language applications.

Initially, SOAP was primarily intended to implement a remote procedure call (RPC). Now SOAP is used to exchange arbitrary messages in XML format, not just to call procedures.

Like any text protocol, SOAP can be used with any application layer protocol: SMTP, FTP, HTTPS, etc., but more often SOAP is used over HTTP.

All SOAP messages are structured as an envelope (is the root element in every SOAP message), including the following elements:

  • Message ID (local name)
  • Optional Header element
  • Mandatory Body element (message body)

Structure of SOAP message:

SOAP message structure

The expanded list of SOAP message elements is shown in the data schema (for SOAP version 1.2).

A Quick Overview of REST Web Services

REST stands for Representational State Transfer. As it was mentioned above, REST is not a protocol but an architectural style built on existing standards that are well known and controlled by the W3C consortium, such as HTTP, URI (Uniform Resource Identifier), XML and RDF (Resource Description Format).

In a REST services, the emphasis is placed on access to resources, and not on the execution of remote services; this is the fundamental difference from SOAP-services. However, the remote procedure call is also applicable to REST. It uses the PUT, GET, POST, and DELETE methods of the HTTP protocol to perform tasks. The cardinal difference between REST and SOAP is that REST remains an HTTP request.

According to many developers, SOAP is cumbersome and difficult to use. REST is an easy alternative.

REST is using the URL approach. Often, to make a request, REST relies on a simple URL Instead of using XML.

Advantages of REST Web Services

REST is more flexible and easier to use for the most part. There are following advantages when:

  • Agile: Unlike SOAP, there is no strict specification for REST Web services and it consumes less bandwidth and resources, thus, REST Web services are very fast.
  • Language and Platform independent: REST web services can be written in any programming language and run on any platform.
  • Can be used with different data format: REST web service permits different data format such as Plain Text, XML, HTML, and JSON.

SOAP vs REST what to choose?

SOAP is more applicable in complex architectures where interaction with objects is beyond the scope of the CRUD model. In applications having the CRUD model, it can be quite applicable to REST due to its simplicity and transparency.

In fact, if any objects in your service do not need a complex relationship than: “Create”, “Read”, “Update”, “Delete” (usually in 99% of cases is enough), it is possible that REST will be the best choice.

In addition, REST compared to SOAP can be more productive because it does not require parsing complex XML commands on the server (regular HTTP requests are performed — PUT, GET, POST, DELETE).

EDI2XML HTTP service

EDI2XML Web Service, is an HTTP (based on REST) service running over the internet, on EDI2XML private cloud platform that is capable of receiving HTTP requests to translate EDI messages to XML, and XML messages to EDI (based on EDI2XML’s proprietary XML format). Advantages of using EDI2XML HTTP service:

⇒ You can start with less than an hour

⇒ No contract: pay as you go

⇒ Very simple and dynamic pricing scheme

⇒ Availability and reliability

⇒ Based on proven technology in the field for over 18 years now

⇒ Outstanding technical support

Our EDI Web Service solution solves developer’s problem because we have over 18 years of expertise in EDI, that is difficult for every developer and integrator to acquire quickly.

You can start with the free 15 – days trial of EDI2XML Web Service to see how real-time translation services works.

EDI Web Service for edi integration

Related Posts:

What is EDIFACT? | UN / EDIFACT standard overview

EDI ANSI ASC X12 Standards – Technical Overview – 2020

EDI Integration of B2B e-commerce for small companies

EDI as a Service, a winning model in the digital transformation of your business

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This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.

 


One major advantage of the digital transformation and the massive adoption of the cloud, is the initiation of a serious discussion between business owners and executives from one side and their IT service providers from another side, for an outsourced IT services based on the best technology available today, at a reasonable price.

IT-outsourcing in the Digital Transformation era

Companies are more and more outsourcing their IT services to service providers. This process was motivated by customers’ desire to optimize their IT costs. There are different outsourcing models: hardware, software, data warehousing and storage, …

EDI2XML as a serviceFor many years we have seen the growing interest of the market towards a model called Software as a Service (SaaS). Although the term SaaS means only “software”, in fact, it is the most developed (to date) model of IT outsourcing, combining all the components listed above

What is Software as a Service?

Software as a service (SaaS) is one of the forms of cloud computing, a service model in which subscribers are provided with ready-made application software fully serviced by the provider. The vendor in this model manages the application, giving customers access to functions from client devices, usually through a mobile application or web browser.

The advantage of the SaaS model

The main advantage of the SaaS model for the consumer is the absence of costs associated with the installation, updating, and maintenance of the equipment and software that is being used by the company.

In the SaaS model:

  • The application is adapted for remote use
  • One application is used by several clients (the application is communal)
  • Payment is charged either in the form of a monthly subscription fee or on the basis of the volume of transactions
  • Technical support of the application is included in the payment
  • Updating and upgrading the application is quick and transparent for customers.

As with all forms of cloud computing, customers do not pay for ownership of the software, but for renting it (i.e. using it through a mobile application or Web interface).

Thus, as opposed to the classic software licensing scheme, the customer has relatively small recurring costs and does not need to invest heavily in the acquisition of the application program and the necessary Software and hardware for its deployment, and then maintain its performance, for the years to come.

EDI translation software in the Digital Transformation

Many entrepreneurs realize that using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a necessary condition to do successful business. Even in some cases, there is no choice, it is mandatory to be EDI compliant in order to trade with big channels like Walmart, Costco, Canadian Tire or Target. Businesses are looking for the most profitable and cost effective EDI solution to implement.

Read: EDI X12, EDIFACT, CSV, XML – Why is a conversion necessary?

 

EDI benefits are obvious in business. One of the major advantages of EDI, is that it can quickly improve and develop an enterprise bottom line.

If the company is EDI compliant, it will be able to expand its turnover without a significant influx of new employees. Certainly, another advantage of EDI is that it reduces human errors, increases efficiency and the quality of information.

Read: EDI converter: Benefits of converting between EDI and XML

 

What are the advantages of using EDI as a Service?

EDI2XML as a Service is an ideal solution for companies of all sizes and from various industries who seek to implement an edi solution to comply with their trading partners and want to simplify the entire integration of their EDI in their Systems and processes.

With EDI2XML as a service, edi is converted to xml and from there, it can be transformed to any format that our client is capable of working with and integrate into his own CRM/ERP.

There is no need for our clients to install any software or hardware. We manage the entire workflow of integration, from setting up new partner, configuring and testing EDI documents and certification with the trading partner. We can even go farther by integrating directly into our clients’ ERP or CRNM systems using certified connectors from the Manufacturer (i.e. SAP, JDE, Microsoft AX…). As a result, our clients have a quick and painless fully integrated solution, and continuous streamlined EDI and data flow between all partners.

Choose to outsource your digital transformation projects

Whatever EDI converter you are looking for: edifact to xml, convert edi to xml online, convert x12 to xml online, etc. We have the best EDI Solution for your business. So, do you want to exchange electronic documents with customers, suppliers, and business partners, with a cost effective and optimal way? Then you have to check EDI2XML as a Services live.

Contact us today for more information and free EDI Consultation.

Free EDI consultation

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EDI converter: Benefits of converting between EDI and XML

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This post was updated  to reflect current trends and information.

 

Overview of EDI

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) – standardized message formats for the transfer of commercial information between business partners. The two most common documents exchanged using EDI are purchase orders (EDI 850) and invoices (EDI 810). To transfer the EDI data, companies are often using the Internet or VANs (Value Added Networks). EDIFACT is the most popular EDI standard in Europe and ANSI X12 is in active use in North America. In the global  supply chain,  the GS1 EDI  set of standards are predominant. In brief, EDI allows companies to communicate business and commercial information quickly and efficiently.

Read: What is EDI? (A technical introduction to EDI)

Understanding XML

 XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a markup language that allows to standardize the data, in the form of text easily understood by users and computers. In other words, XML is a simple and flexible text format designed to meet the needs of electronic publishing.

XML has two main tasks:

  1. Provide a description of the data structure.
  2. Provide a common syntax for all other specifications.

Thus, XML does not specify how to display a document, it only describes its structure and content.

XML created in 1996 by W3C (World Wide Web Consortium); it is a subclass of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). XML was conceived to be a flexible format, at the same time as a formal metalanguage for use on the Internet. One of XML’s primary applications was in handling B2B and B2C data interchange.

From the beginning of XML implementation, its advantages over EDI were obvious. Simple and self-descriptive, structured, support of multi-lingual and Unicode (very important for international EDI transaction).

What is EDI2XML?

EDI2XML is a technology to transform incoming EDI documents (X12 EDI files) into XML. At the same time, converting an XML document to EDI X12 format. This process of converting edi to xml is due to the fact that our company took the time to create predefined xml schemas (xsd files) that respond to the business needs of almost 100 % of EDI consumers.

Read: How does EDI2XML work?

EDI2XML converter

The fact that we have over 20 years of experience in converting X12 EDI to XML gives us a competitive advantage over other EDI developers. We have already successfully implemented this converter in many companies of different sizes from various industries. We also helped IT consultants use EDI2XML in their EDI integration projects.

EDI2XML as a Service is our popular translation and communication service. All conversions of EDI files are done on our end, leaving customers with no on-site installation of software or hardware and an EDI project that is on time and within budget.

Read: EDI Integration of B2B e-commerce for small companies

If you would like to know more about the plans offered for EDI2XML (Free EDI Consultation), or would like to see it in action (live Demo), please do not hesitate to contact us.

Free Guide Intro to EDI

Related Posts:

Electronic Data Interchange: Key Information You Need to Know
ANSI ASC X12 Standards Overview
What Are the Differences Between ANSI X12 and UN/EDIFACT
A technical introduction to EDI

The Definitive Checklist For Oracle JDE and EDI Integration Projects

This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.

Article written by Pierre Namroud, EDI Integration Specialist & Business Consultant

I had the pleasure of attending Collaborate17, a Technology and Applications Forum for the Oracle community. This opportunity brought together Oracle professionals, integrators, project managers and IT experts from around the world, who all work in different spaces of integration. It was such a great experience speaking with so many Oracle experts and attending educational sessions.

One of the main points of discussion during the various speaking engagements was on the challenges that professionals were facing when it came to integration projects involving EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) as well as eCommerce data to JDE (JD Edwards). The opinions were unanimous in the sense that Oracle still has more work to be done in order to strengthen and simplify integration with legacy EDI protocols and build simpler integration flows for protocols such as X12, EDIFACT, Rosetta Net, etc.

I’m writing this article, in order to share my own expertise as a data and EDI integrator, where I had the chance to be involved in several eCommerce and EDI integration projects with Oracle JDE. Hopefully it will help inform other Oracle professionals looking to overcome some of these integration challenges.

Challenges currently being faced by Oracle JDE professionals

There are many challenges that any JDE professional might see when it comes to data and systems integration with Oracle ERP software in general, whether for on-premises or cloud systems. [As a side note, Oracle’s cloud systems have their own specific limitations that I recently learned about during one of the Collaborate Sessions].

Below, I have listed some of the most common challenges that not only have I experienced in my own projects with Oracle customers but that others have expressed during the Collaborate conference;

  • Oracle’s JDE does not have a seamless built-in integration with all EDI X12 documents “out of the box”.
  • The current integration process for EDI X12, EDIFACT, HL7 or any other data format now happens by writing into transition tables (or Z files) and then triggering a business function to process those incoming data.
  • Even though Oracle’s JDE system supports business functions, some older versions do not support new API functions, which can cause some headaches.

    Looking to integrate your EDI or eCommerce processes with Oracle JDE enterprise one, look no further, since we have the best integration option where we turn your Oracle JDE system into a modern REST API, that receives https requests and acts accordingly. Learn More>

Integration Project Checklist

Before starting an integration project with your Oracle JDE system, I recommend that you go through the following list of questions. This way, you’ll be able to make the best decisions to move forward with development efforts as efficiently as possible.

  • Who are the Business or Trading Partners you want to exchange electronic data with?
  • Which documents (or types of data) are you requested to exchange from your Business Partners? In normal circumstances, they’ll provide you with the necessary documentation and specifications as a road map and for compliance reasons.
  • The exchanged data will be sent under what format or standard/version? (X12, EDIFACT, RosettaNet, XML, custom format…?)
  • What is the protocol of communication used to send the data back and forth between you and your Business Partner? Is it point-to-point, such as AS2 or sFTP?
  • Is a VAN required in order to transport the data?
  • Do you have the necessary expertise to select the appropriate certified communication software (for first time project implementation)?
  • Do you have the necessary expertise in your development team to decrypt and understand the terminologies of legacy EDI formats?
  • Has your team ever done an EDI integration project, that includes a full certification process?
  • How many partners will you be exchanging with? The more partners you have, the more complex the project can become.
  • Check the specs of all of your partners (when possible) to verify the differences in their requirements. It is well known in the EDI integration world that there can be many distinctions and exceptions found per Business Partner and per document. Every EDI project can be unique.
  • What is the lead-time to complete the certification and testing phase with your business partner before going live?
  • What is the volume of exceptions that your development team can currently handle in the project in order to be on time and within budget?
  • Do you have the necessary integration tools to simplify the EDI syntax in order to work with one format regardless of the format of the data you receive from different sources?
  • Is your team coding directly in Oracle JDE native framework, or are you using any efficient integration tool available today?
  • Will you be doing end-to-end integration using Z tables of Oracle JDE, or you are going to use API (or business functions) of JDE?

Recommendations for a Successful Integration Project

As you might have noticed, data integration projects involving legacy EDI protocols or custom data format exchange are not simple. They are projects that need a lot of expertise and experience in data communication and transportation, data mapping and systems integration into Oracle’s JDE system.

Moreover, at most enterprises that we’ve completed EDI integration projects for, it was evident how stretched and overwhelmed the internal JDE development team was in their own day-to-day operations, support and maintenance of the application and were incapable of learning new standards to respect the strict timeline given by Trading Partners. In these cases, they looked for help from an outside Service Provider, such as EDI2XML.

My recommendations for such projects are as follows:

  • Outsource the EDI part of the project to a reliable Service Provider, who is highly focused on service availability and quality, since EDI is quite sensitive. This will allow your team to continue working on their daily tasks and keep doing what they do best (JDE support and maintenance, for example). This way, you’ll have a simplified and streamlined EDI integration process; you build one tunnel between your EDI provider, where they deal with the exceptions, and your own process.
  • In case your company policy requires you to deploy the EDI integration solution on-premises, make sure to use an efficient EDI conversion tool such as our EDI2XML technology that has the capability to turn the EDI documents from X12 format to a human readable XML format, for example.
  • Equip your team with the right tools for data integration such as Magic xpi, which we have been using for many years in our data and systems integration projects. Leveraging such technologies allowed us to integrate anything-to-anything (JDE to SAP, SAP to Salesforce, EDI to any system as examples).

I sure hope I was able to expose the most common EDI integration challenges and complexities and help you to overcome these obstacles with the above checklist and recommendations.

If you are interested in learning more about this topic or any other issue related to EDI integration projects, please click on the image below and I will be more than happy to contact you personally for a FREE consultation.

 

Free consultation ecommerce JDE integration

 

EDI, XML or Web Services; what’s Best for eCommerce Integration

This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.



eCommerce platforms have been largely used by small and mid-sized enterprises, to sell their products and services to the booming consumer market (B2C) on the internet. Amazon and eBay for example, are among the most popular eCommerce platforms; for ease of operations and integration they offer different ways to exchange data between the trading partner and the platform. As an example, Amazon offers EDI integration capability, or Web service calls to exchange data or simple XML transactions. The most frequently asked question, by business owners, is: what is the best option to have a quick integration at a minimal cost with a maximum return on investment?

In this post I will explain the different integration mechanisms and share my opinion on how to decide which way to go. As a complementary article to this post, I invite you to read my previous post entitled Tips to Empower your eCommerce with great Supply Chain through EDI Integration to get more detailed advise about eCommerce and EDI integration to be able to build a strong SCM channel.

Let me start by quickly defining each of the above technical terms:

EDI

EDI is the oldest protocol used to exchange data between business partners. It has been standardized and heavily used for decades. It is very well ingrained in the manufacturing and retail verticals. Data in EDI format has a pre-defined format and structure. It is transmitted using different types of secured communication protocols (i.e. VAN, AS2, FTP, sFTP…).

Useful reading: What is EDI? 

 

XML

As defined by the W3Schools website , XML is a markup language much like HTML, meant to carry data, not to display data. It is designed to be self-descriptive, where users define their own XML tags to describe data. XML is a W3C recommendation. XML was created to structure, store, and transport information, in contrast to HTML that is meant only to display data in a web browser.

Since XML has been developed, it quickly became a popular means to transfer very well structured data between business partners. Thanks to its ease of use, and its descriptive aspect of the XML data format, it has been the preferred choice of many software vendors and applications used in integration projects.

Web services

Wikipedia defines a Web service as “a method of communication between two electronic devices over a network. It is a software function provided at a network address over the web with the service always on as in the concept of utility computing”.

Web services are designed to support machine-to-machine interaction over a network, using different protocols, by sending and receiving “messages” using HTTP and XML in addition to other web-related standards.

Now for the technical use and interpretation of Web Services, it is simply triggering the execution of a program or function remotely, using the internet, and returning the result to the caller. In addition, Web services use XML in different formats to send structured data back and forth. The advantage of Web services is that it uses the internet as a communication and transport protocol, in addition to the XML structured language to format the data transmitted back and forth.

If you want to know more about  different types of web services such as SOAP and REST and why EDI developers prefer use RESTful services, read our new article: Seamless EDI implementation through Web Services

Useful reading: What is EDI2XML web Service?

 

eCommerce integration

eCommerce integration means the process of sending data from the eCommerce platform to an external system or platform, and receiving data into the eCommerce platform using an automated process. Integrating your ERP system or a company’s CRM system with the eCommerce platform enables the necessary data to be sent in both directions so that both systems can interact in a seamless way, without the need for human intervention. This will improve efficiency and enterprise capabilities to serve clients faster.

Useful reading: Tips to Empower your eCommerce with great Supply Chain through EDI Integration

How to select an integration method and what is the best option

In my opinion, there is no single rule when selecting an integration method. Any business owner, executive or integration consultant should ask the following technical questions before selecting a technology and protocol to integrate their eCommerce platform with their own system:

  • What’s the expertise of my integration team?
  • Are they familiar with EDI format and protocols as well as its business flow?
  • Are they more familiar with XML and web services?
  • What are the additional technical advantages that the enterprise would gain by selecting one versus the other?
  • Are these advantages important issues for our business?
  • What are the add-on costs for both options?

Basically, the decision comes down to evaluating the level of expertise of the integration team and their zone of technical comfort. From a technical perspective, there isn’t a perfect option. Of course, the business aspect of the decision is a major factor and sometimes, business reasons might outweigh technical reasons.

If you need more information or would like to discuss your eCommerce integration needs, I will be more than happy to provide a free 1-hour consultation.

EDI Web Service for edi integration
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How to solve Shopify eCommerce integration with EDI

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This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.

 

ECommerce (or online retail) has been a growing trend over the last few years. Due to this, business partners, retailers and suppliers have been transforming their flows and processes in order to better serve today’s well-connected, tech-savvy and wise consumer, who is constantly plugged in to the latest technologies. Read more

Everything you need to know about EDI2XML Translation Service

It’s no secret that our EDI2XML team loves helping businesses increase efficiency, improve partner relationships, accelerate movement of goods to customers and improve shipment accuracy by allowing them to easily exchange documents electronically between Trading Partners (read “Benefits of EDI Communication”).

But, how do they do this and for how much? We want our customers to fully understand the processes involved in our EDI Translation Service and all the costs involved as well. It’s about providing a service for companies that will only benefit them and not cause more hassles, issues or headaches. So, let’s start from the top; Read more

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EDI X12, EDIFACT, CSV, XML – Why is a conversion necessary?

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This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.
x12-to-xmlcsv

EDI formats are not understood or easily read by just anyone. It requires an EDI expert to be able to read the files and dissect them. Many large Trading Partners impose their own rules and requirements on top of those outlined by the standards, which is why, in many cases of translation, it is not always as straightforward as hoped. Most business executives are hesitant to begin trading via EDI because of these complexities.

However, if you find the right EDI Provider, who can handle all translations, all EDI mapping, all Partner configurations and all outbound and inbound communication with your partners, then you have nothing to worry about.

Our very own EDI2XML translation and integration services eliminate all of these complexities for you and you can begin trading electronically in no time. If you have your own in-house EDI and IT integration expert(s), then they can simply use our EDI2XML Web Service.

If you’re looking to meet your Trading Partner’s requirements but also keep your business processes streamlined and integrated internally, then check out EDI2XML. Our team of EDI experts are experienced and flexible enough to work with any EDI format, where specs are readily available, and convert to a format your team or system can work with. It’s about keeping costs low and simplifying the whole EDI communication process. Contact us today!

 

Free EDI Consultation

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