SCM Cloud B2B Messaging Strategy Executive Overview O R A C L E W H I T E P A P E R F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7
SCM CLOUD B2B MESSAGING STRATEGY
Introduction All modern supply chains deal with some form of collaboration whether they realize it or not. Supply chain collaboration includes any interactions with your trading partner network (customer, suppliers, 3PLs, etc.) and may involve manual processes such as phone and email, or completely automated processes such as B2B Messaging/EDI. Oracle has a comprehensive supply chain collaboration strategy that addresses multiple types of trading partner interactions and solutions to manage these processes. This paper focuses on one aspect of supply chain collaboration B2B Messaging for Oracle SCM Cloud. B2B Messaging includes all forms of automated data exchange with your trading partners. EDI, by far, is the most popular form of B2B Messaging but EDI s basic architecture and technology has not evolved much over the past 30 years. In addition, EDI has so many industry, regional and organization-specific variants, the effort required to implement EDI often surpasses the benefits of using a standard. Oracle s SCM Cloud B2B Messaging Strategy is designed to address the time and expense of implementing traditional B2B as well as support modern technologies such as XML and services. Figure 1. B2B Messaging Solution Overview As shown in Figure 1, in addition to SCM Cloud products and Trading Partners, there are two main components to Oracle s B2B Messaging solution Collaboration Messaging Framework and B2B Applications/Services. Collaboration Messaging Framework is part of Oracle SCM Cloud and provides a single, consistent interface for any B2B Application/Service integrating with SCM Cloud. B2B Applications/Services are an integral part of Oracle s B2B Messaging Strategy and are important because many organizations already have an enterprise-widflexibility to leverage this existing infrastructure or select a new B2B Application/Service that best satisfies their overall B2B requirements. B2B infrastructure. Oracle provides companies with the The next few sections will explain how all of these pieces work together to form a seamless B2B solution that is complete, designed to reduce cost, improve efficiency and will allow companies to maximize the value of implementing an automated, standards-based B2B Messaging strategy. 1 SCM CLOUD B2B MESSAGING STRATEGY
Streamline B2B Message Processing using a Centralized Framework A cornerstone of Oracle s B2B Messaging Strategy is Collaboration Messaging Framework which was introduced in SCM Cloud Release 11. Collaboration Messaging Framework is part of Oracle SCM Cloud s common infrastructure layer meaning it is included with every SCM Cloud environment no additional license is required. Figure 2. Collaboration Messaging Framework Overview There are many benefits to having a centralized B2B framework such as Collaboration Messaging Framework. One of the most important is the savings derived from having one solution for B2B implementation, training, daily operations and support compared to multiple, different solutions embedded within each application. Collaboration Messaging Framework provides a streamline set of configuration and setup tasks as well as setup validation tools to make implementation fast and easy. All B2B messages are tracked and monitored on the same page so daily production operations are very efficient. Ongoing maintenance of trading partners and overall support within a centralized framework also results in both time and cost savings. Another key benefit is the standardized external interface that normalizes all B2B messages into a standardized format for easier understanding and analysis of the business data. This standardized interface also enables B2B Application/Service integration using standard tools and technology (XML, XSD, WSDL, SOAP), resulting in faster and easier implementations. Eliminate custom integration/development from your implementation Oracle s B2B Applications/Services strategy is to provide customers with the flexibility to leverage their existing B2B infrastructure investment or select a solution that best meets their needs. Oracle has also partnered with strategic B2B Service Providers to create pre-built integration with Collaboration Messaging Framework and offer packaged solutions that work out-of-the-box with minimal setup and configuration. Each B2B Service Provider packaged solution is expected to provide the following key features: 2 SCM CLOUD B2B MESSAGING STRATEGY
» Collaboration Messaging Framework Integration. Ability to send B2B messages to Collaboration Messaging Framework by invoking a standard web service. Ability to receive B2B messages from Collaboration Messaging Framework by implementing a web service interface.» Trading Partner Onboarding/Connectivity. Add or update trading partners quickly, easily and with minimal cost. Establish connection with trading partners system to send and receive B2B messages.» B2B Message Mapping/Routing. Convert B2B message sent to (or received from) Collaboration Messaging Framework to the trading partners format. Route messages to correct sender/receiver based on user-defined business rules. In addition to these basic features, some B2B Service Providers may offer other value-add features such as pre-built EDI mapping templates or custom B2B message support. Strategic partnerships with B2B Service Providers allow Oracle to offer a complete, end-to-end solution that requires zero development and minimal implementation effort a solution that provides unique customer value and huge savings for both implementation and ongoing maintenance. Improve Interoperability using Global Industry Standards Reduce Time and Expense with a Pre-Built and Complete Solution Many people understand the concept of an absolute, unambiguous B2B standard is a myth. Hundreds of B2BB standards have been developed over the years and even within a single standard, variants exist due to region, industry or trading partner. Due to the number of potential B2B standard formats, Collaboration Messaging Framework has elected to implement a single, canonical B2B standard which is OAGIS (Open Applications Group Integration Specification). OAGIS has been Oracle s preferred B2B standard for 15+ years and has also been implemented in the Oracle e- Business Suite product family. There are many reasons OAGIS was selected as the B2B standard for Collaboration Messaging Framework. Following are some of the most important:» Global Standard. OAGIS has been successfully implemented in dozens of countries across all major continents. OAGi (Open Applications Group, Inc., the standards organization» Cross-Industry, Cross-Discipline Standard. The OAGIS message library spans all aspects of e-business including Financials, Manufacturing, SCM, CRM and HCM. OAGIS has also been implemented across multiple, diverse industries.» Customization/Extensibility Framework. Unlike many other B2B standards, OAGIS has developed a framework to easily customize and extend any B2B message and still be a valid OAGIS message. This is an extremely important and useful feature since almost all B2B messages require some degree of customization. In addition to all of the factors mentioned above, perhaps the most important reason for selecting OAGIS is its built- in interoperability with other solution providers and large enterprises who have also selected OAGIS as their canonical and/or B2B standard All of Oracle s development and pre-built integration efforts are focused on delivering the most complete B2B solution, at the lowest cost, with the fastest time to implement. Collaboration Messaging Framework already saves time and expense by consolidating all B2B Messaging into a single framework and interface. It also goes beyond this by looking at complete business processes when developing a new set of B2B messages. Instead of releasing a set of unrelated B2B messages, Collaboration Messaging Framework will take a business process such as Source-to-Settle and deliver all high priority messages 3 SCM CLOUD B2B MESSAGING STRATEGY
required to support this process in a single release. Collaboration Messaging Framework also pre-builds and pre- setup seeds all B2B messages so implementation is reduced to 1 system configuration task, 1 B2B Service Provider task (pre-seeded if using a partner with pre-built integration) and 1 trading partner setup task. Selecting a packaged solution from one of Oracle s strategic B2B Service Provider partners is yet another step toward having a complete, end-to-end solution that is cost-effective and can be implemented very quickly. All of the integration work is either pre-built or provided as a service (e.g. trading partner onboarding). Traditional B2B/EDI implementations can take months and onboarding new trading partners may take weeks or even months. With Collaboration Messaging Framework and a B2B Service Provider with a pre-built, packaged integration, this process will be reduced to days for both implementation and trading partner onboarding. Conclusion Automation and standardization resulting in higher quality, cost savings and operational efficiency has always been the goal of B2B. Unfortunately, costly custom integration/development, long implementation cycles and multiple B2B standards have prevented many organizations from fully realizing the benefits offered by B2B. Furthermore, organizations that have successfully implemented B2B may be fully automated with only a small percentage of their trading partner community due to the high cost of onboarding new trading partners. Oracle has solved this problem by implementing a B2B Messaging strategy that is complete, efficient and extremely fast and easy to implement. This approach not only reduces the cost of implementation, maintenance and support, but it also opens new possibilities to expand the number of trading partners using B2B and fully realize all of the t benefits associated with automation and standardization. For any remaining trading partners that are not fully automated due to size, technology or other constraints, Oracle s supply chain collaboration strategy offers alternatives as well as number of other value-add features to optimize collaboration and visibility with your trading partners. 4 SCM CLOUD B2B MESSAGING STRATEGY
Oracle Corporation, World Headquarters Worldwide Inquiries 500 Oracle Parkway Phone: +1.650.506.7000 Redwood Shores, CA 94065, USA Fax: +1.650.506.7200 C O N N E C T W I T H U S blogs.oracle.com/oracle facebook.com/oracle twitter.com/oracle oracle.com Copyright 2016, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is provided for f information purposes only, and the contents hereof are subject to change without notice. This document is not warranted to be error-free, nor subject to any other warranties or conditions, whether expressed orally or implied in law, including implied warranties and conditions of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. We specifically disclaim any liability with respect to this document, and no contractual obligations are formed either directly or indirectly by this document. This document may not be reproducedd or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without our prior written permission. Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Intel and Intel Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. AMD, Opteron, the AMD logo, and the AMD Opteron logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group. 0116 SCM Cloud B2B Messaging Strategy February 2017 Author: Garret Minakawa