| |
BlueSeries
XML - Transform Printouts to XML Directly on IBM
System i (A/S400) |
|
It is expected that XML
will become the most used data interchange format
in the future.
EDI
Most people know EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)
as a way for larger companies to interchange data.
Due to varying communication equipment and isolated
networks, it is often necessary to have a third
party handling the data exchange and transportation.
This makes EDI difficult and expensive.
The traditional EDI data formats like X12, EDIFACT
and TRADACOMS is very time consuming and complicated
to integrate into existing ERP-solutions, which
means that many smaller companies refrain from using
EDI.
XML - and enhancement of EDI
XML (eXtensible Markup Language),
which is more modern and self documented than the
previous EDI data formats, uses the Internet to
transfer data. This means that it is now a lot easier
and cheaper to use EDI.
BlueSeries uses XML
With BlueSeries it is now
possible to transform invoices, order confirmations
and purchase orders to XML documents, without changing
anything in the existing ERP-solution. Missing data
will be taken from the ERP-solution via SQL Database-checks
and small Scripts. Further eXpress'it handles the
transportation via FTP or e-mail and documents all
transactions in the log.
When an EDI agreement is made, a DTD (Data Type
Definition), which describes the format of the XML
message is agreed upon between the parties and published
on an Internet site. BlueSeries takes this definition
from the Internet and via a visual data modelling
tool show the data definitions in a tree-like structure.
The individual levels/fields can be added a script
, which can be used to collect missing information
or format existing information.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
