ibm sterling integrator and sap integration out-of-the-box: it is possible!

Sterling B2B Integrator and SAP

Integration Out of the Box: It is

Possible!

Presented by:

Lance Lind, Solution Architect, Oxford Consulting Group, Inc.

Trevor Richards, Chief Technology Officer, Oxford Consulting Group, Inc.

Introductions

Lance Lind, B2B Architect & Manager, Presales, Oxford

Consulting Group

– [email protected]

Trevor Richards, CTO, Oxford Consulting Group


mailto:[email protected]






Agenda

• Oxford Consulting Vital Statistics

• B2B Framework Overview

• Case Studies

– Sun Products

– Ann Taylor

• B2B Framework SAP Edition Demonstration

• Questions

Oxford Consulting Vital Statistics

• IBM Sterling Commerce

Strategic Partner since 2000

• Over 700 Sterling product

suite implementations to date

• Global alliances to support

Europe & Asia

• B2B Framework & Visibility

solutions to extend value &

capabilities of Sterling B2B

Integrator

• SAP Edition for direct SAP

integration

• Founded in 1998

• HQ: Columbus, OH

• 70 dedicated Sterling

Commerce professionals,

North America

Oxford Consulting IBM Capabilities

B2B

Sterling B2B Integrator

Gentran Solutions for small enterprises

WTX

MFT

Sterling Connect: Direct

Sterling File Gateway

Sterling Control Center

Sterling Secure Proxy

Coming soon: MQ Series

Commerce

Multi-Channel Commerce

Catalog & Pricing

Distributed Order Management (DOM)

Warehouse Management (WMS)

B2B FRAMEWORK

Overview

Sterling B2B Integrator:

Implementation Challenges

• Flexible application development toolset

– Good development principles are not always followed during

implementation

– Bespoke BP development becomes common - each problem is solved

individually rather than through generic component reuse

– Upfront planning is required for: Communication Protocols, Data

Formats, Data Flows, Data Tracking, Error Processing, Restart &

Recovery prior to engaging in BP development

• Provides several ways to perform the same task

– Flexibility sometimes breeds complexity...

– Partner Management – Envelopes, Contracts, Protocols

– Tracking – EDI, AS2, Correlation, SwiftNet, Process Monitor

– Lacks visibility to archived data

– Limited out-of-the-box processing into business systems like SAP

Solution: B2B Framework

Sterling Integrator

Components

250+ Sterling B2B Integrator Prebuilt

Business Processes, Maps,

XSLT, Services

Generic Comm. BPs for: FTP, SFTP,

Mailbox, HTTP, AS2, E-mail, DB, Fax, JMS, MQ…

100% integrated into Sterling B2B

Integrator, leverages existing users & security

Framework Management

Interface (FMI)

Manages framework rules as well as allows for

content based routing

Custom properties for generic

Framework Control (switch features

on/off)

Custom database tables for Message, Document & Event logging plus rules

engine

Document Management

Interface (DMI)

Document driven portlet for viewing & managing doc life

cycle

Exception & error tracking based on key user defined

criteria

Supports reprocessing, re-

enveloping & resending of docs &

messages

Other

Supports MySQL, Oracle, MS SQL

Server & DB2

SAP Edition

Archive/Restore = document visibility

after B2B Integrator tables archived

B2B Framework Benefits

Enhances Value of SI

•Extends out-of-the-box processing & tracking for EDI messages to include all other formats (XML, binary, flat file)

•Extends SI correlation capabilities for tracking all formats

•Provides consistent visibility for all messaging with built in reprocessing

•Allows content based routing for all formats via rules engine

Reduces Time to Benefit

•Reduces implementation time by up to 70%

•Minimizes development & deployment time for new projects by reusing generic development components

•Minimizes trading partner on-boarding with generic envelopes

Standardizes Environment

•Provides common tracking & error handling across all business process

•Enables common communication management, regardless of protocol

•Provides standardized retry & recovery processing

•Extensible/customizable to ensure 100% fit

Stability

•Mature product with more than 50 customers in 6 countries

•Developed & support by IBM/Sterling Commerce partners with more than 25 years of combined experience selling & supporting Sterling Commerce applications

Extended Benefits with SAP Edition

SAP Integration

• Supports multiple SAP connections from a single Sterling B2B Integrator Instance

• Supports Portable Maps making the use of generic maps possible

Framework Management

• Framework send/receive business processes for Sterling B2B Integrator SAP Suite Adapter

• Supports File Based RFC and ALE connections

Document Visibility

• Leverages B2B Framework document visibility & tracking capabilities to add SAP IDOC as a unique document reference

• IDOC status messages supported include FA statuses: 24,4,5,6,8,10,12,16,17

• Retrieved IDOC can be reprocessed from the same document visibility interface

Case Study

• Challenge: – “Quick & easy” implementation of SAP with IBM Sterling B2B Integrator

– Large trading partner conversion effort without significant business process

development

– Visibility for quick error resolution given the volume of daily docs processed

• Solution:– Implemented Oxford Consulting B2B Framework SAP Edition

• Results:– IDOCs were transmitted to SAP on the 2nd day of implementation.

– Entire implementation completed without any BP development

– Implemented Rules Based mapping

• 80 TPs with no embedded customer logic in map

• New trading partners can be set up in less than 5 minutes with no changes to

maps

Case Study

• Challenge: – Replace & standardize existing B2B Integrator business process flows in order to

rapidly on board trading partners without development

– Establish connectivity with SAP in order to obtain document centric visibility

• Solution:– Implemented Oxford Consulting B2B Framework SAP Edition

• Results: – B2B Framework: SAP Edition installed and co-existed with the production

B2B Integrator Environment. Transactions converted to B2B Framework:

SAP Edition a single trading partner at a time

– Out of the box functionality allows the translation of the same data into

multiple formats, being sent to multiple systems (Legacy and SAP) for parallel

testing purposes

– SAP cross reference rules allowed IDOCS to be sent to multiple SAP

environments without map changes-system automatically populates client

specific data in the IDOCs before being sent to SAP

Framework Management Interface(Plug-in Business Processes and Maps to Rules)

Document Management Interface(Logging, Visibility & Reprocessing)

(Time)41 2 3

Messages

In

Errors

AlertsDocuments

Messages

Out

Common Processing Flow for all Data – Application or Trading PartnerSend

Protocol

Handlers

Receive

Protocol

Handlers

Identify & Split

Split

Rules

1 or more

Document

Rules

Route

Rules

Pre-Process

Core-Process

Post-Process

Route

Receive

Message

Receive

Rules

FTP/S

SFTP

E-Mail

AS2

JMS/MQ

HTTP/S

Send

Message

Send

Rules

FTP/S

SFTP

E-Mail

AS2

JMS/MQ

HTTP/S

B2B Framework Architecture

Let’s Take a Look….

• Outbound Invoice with Positive

Acknowledgment

• Outbound Invoice with Negative

Acknowledgment

• Standard Error Notification

All videos shown today (plus additional

examples) may be found at www.oxford-

consulting.com/sapframeworkdemo.php

http://www.oxford-consulting.com/sapframeworkdemo.php



Sterling B2B Integrator With & W/O B2B Framework:

SAP Framework


with

B2B Framework


W/O

B2B Framework

Document search by key criteria

Document management interface (DMI)

Business processes and data objects associated with document

can be accessed directly from DMI

Data objects before and after translation can be downloaded

from DMI

Document reprocessing at multiple points under DMI

Document visibility beyond SI/GIS archiving

B2B Framework components upgraded/enhanced

Designed for maximum fit without customization

Out-of-the-box status messages incl: 24, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16,

17

Connect to multiple instances of SAP with a single B2B

Integrator Instance

Portable maps

Questions?

Lance Lind, B2B Architect & Manager, Presales, Oxford

Consulting Group


Trevor Richards, CTO, Oxford Consulting Group


www.oxford-consulting.com/events.html to download a copy of

today’s presentation







http://www.oxford-consulting.com/events.html

