Enterprise Application Integration and its Reusable Assets Integration of IBM Sterling Integrator and SAP ERP using accelerators Fujitsu India, Inc. Service Integration Division Tushar Aggarwal Abstract: In a supply chain environment, it very much important that things keep on evolving and a value add is provided to the client which will make you stand out of the crowd. The key differentiators for an organization with their rivals is providing the best solution using reusable assets. The basic business process flow still remains the same and automation of the same can increase the speed and efficiency also generating important benefits to the company as a whole. There is need for enterprises to ensure tighter integration between their ERP systems for seamless operations and effective outcomes. This paper outlines the challenges to effectively handle business process, the capabilities needed to address the challenges and how the IBM Sterling reusable accelerator can be used to automate business process for improved effectiveness and control. The paper also presents a real-world example of a food based industry which runs the order to cash cycle and also manage its compliance business process successfully. Keywords: EDI automation, IBM SI and SAP ERP EAI Process and Asset Management by Automation 1 Preface Also, there is a typically overlooked portion of the supply chain that can yield tremendous cost reductions. It can be overlooked as more critical issues require attention but it can be a significant source of value for a manufacturing organization. It is the concept of utilizing reusable or returnable assets in a supply chain. There s a strong desire among CXOs for clear end-to-end visibility of their processes and operations. But fundamentally, disparate legacy systems and lack of integration between them result in process inefficiencies. Such wasteful processes are the major causes of lowered productivity and high expenses, eventually leading to business failure
Participating Role to drive reusable assets A typical supply chain Order to Cash (O2C) can be described from the figure illustrated below - Steering Committee is responsible for guidance, governance and sponsorship of the asset Subject Matter Expert is the actual owner of the asset and his responsibility is to maintain and improve the results of the asset Competency Managers are responsible to maintain the repository of assets and also encourage the project team members to use them. (1) Inbound Process All the EDI transactions from EDI Trading Partners to SAP ERP are termed as inbound process. The EDI transactions which are covered in this accelerator are EDI 850 and EDI 860 which are order creation and order change in SAP ERP. (2) Outbound Process All the EDI transactions from SAP ERP to EDI Trading Partners are termed as outbound process. The EDI transactions which are covered in this accelerator are EDI 810 and EDI 856 which are invoice creation and Post Goods Issue in SAP ERP. A fully integrated enterprise seems to be any CIO's idea of perfection. Complex interactions between systems are orchestrated through precisely modeled business process definitions. Any data format inconsistencies are resolved through the integration layer. Relevant summary data is presented to executive dashboards with up-to-the-minute accuracy. Project Team is responsible to avail the benefits of the asset and use them in the project. This automation of IBM middleware and integration of EDI trading partners with SAP ERP serves the purpose of cost reductions and also helps in bringing consistency in fresh vanilla implementations by automating few standard processes. The advancements in technology have changed the way businesses operate. Globalization, Internet, and cloud computing have empowered enterprises, investing them with seamless capabilities. On the other hand, suboptimal usage of these disruptive technologies tends to intensify business complexities. Today, enterprises want real-time access to data and information to help meet their customers requirements. This boils down to having effective business applications in the veins of the enterprise to manage processes and provide quick results while enhancing performance. Automated business processes such as straight-through processing often drive integration initiatives. It is often advisable to model these processes outside of the applications to avoid coupling the applications to each other. 2/6
2 Business Process 2.1 Overview Various Status of outbound IDOC Outbound Flow Example Inbound Flow Example - 1) Output determination in SAP will trigger appropriate IDOCs from the trigger points in SAP, these IDOCs will be transferred to Gentran server using RFC / File communication. 2) Gentran Server will call necessary mapping conditions to convert ALE IDOC into standard EDI ANSI X12 format. 3) The EDI file generated by the mapping will be sent to Customer / Vendor / Warehouse by Gentran Server using communication protocol such as AS2, VAN and FTP etc. An example of the IDOC structure for the INVOIC 1) Any EDI file from Customer / Vendor / Warehouse will be pushed in Gentran Server using communication protocol such as AS2, VAN and FTP etc. 2) Sterling Integrator will perform necessary data structure conversion and pass the converted document in flat standard flat file format to ECC as ALE IDOC by File / RFC call. 3) The IDOC will reach the SAP and with the help of Function modules, it will perform necessary operations in SAP like Order creation, Goods Receipt, Goods Issue, etc. (Invoice Creation) in SAP: An example of the IDOC structure for the MBGMCR (Goods Receipt) in SAP: 3/6
Various Status of inbound IDOC 2.1.1 Business Process Reusable Accelerator In an implementation of EDI subsystem to integrate with SAP ERP, the following needs to be configured in Sterling Integrator 1) AS2 configuration AS2 protocol is the most common protocol used by Trading partners to exchange EDI documents 2) EDI Envelopes The 3 mandatory envelopes (ISA, GS and ST) needs to be configured 3) Business Process - The workflow needs to be developed in SI in order to achieve inbound and outbound process set up 4) Mapping We need to create inbound / outbound maps in order to translate the documents in the desired format. 5) ERP Connectivity We also need to connect the EDI subsystem with SAP ERP for which the SAP routes and Xrefs needs to be configured. The reusable asset is a transportable jar file which can be deployed in any Sterling Integrator environment. This jar file has the following EDI IDOC translation maps: The jar file consists of EDI 850 to ORDERS IDOC EDI 860 to ORDCHG IDOC DELVRY IDOC to EDI 856 INVOIC IDOC to EDI 810 1) Deploy the jar file in the Sterling Integrator system 2) Create the EDI envelopes for the trading partner set up 3) Deploy the AS2 certificates and configure the AS2 details in the system 4) Provide the SAP application server details in SI RACI MATRIX - Sr Activities Steering SME CM Project No Committee Team 1 Governance and R, A R R I Guidance 2 Define and extract I A,R C C assets 3 Asset analysis I C A, C/ I and rework 4 Maintain I C A, I repository and R publish 5 Reuse Asset in I C R A, R project 6 Measure I C R A, R effectiveness project in R Business Process It also contains SI BPMs which can be reused and deployed in the environment for inbound and outbound process. The below figure gives us a walkthrough of the steps that needs to be performed while using this asset - 4/6 R - Responsible A - Accountable C - Consulted I - Information
3 Reusable Asset Maintenance This is a basic but crucial task and all of the following success tenants are contingent long they have been in any place is crucial for program success. It is also important to ensure this information is included on order confirmations, ASN s and BOL s to ensure an clear, auditable path should the need arise. This may involve the creation of new SKU s to ensure the assets can be included on both electronic and paper documentation and once reusable assets are introduced, this should be completed for both reusable and one way assets to ensure continuity at the user level. The second entry of the series focuses on the process of managing the re-usable assets. This critical step should not be overlooked or ignored as it is crucial to any successful reusable asset program. Reusable assets leverage the same processes as products Company owned products adhere to certain inventory and transaction requirements to ensure the understood quantity of held products are as accurate as possible. Following the exact same processes with reusable assets returns in results similar to manufactured products. More importantly, the individuals responsible for the physical movement of the products and assets can follow the same process to record the assets as the products which reduces confusion and, again, allows for a clear, auditable process path should the need arise. party asset pooling company, incurred rental costs on assets that are no longer in the organizations possession and any possible penalties for not reporting and / or loss of the third party asset. This risk exponentially increases as the time from the actual movement of the asset increases because it becomes more difficult to identify what actually occurred with the transaction in question. The fourth part of the series reveals the importance of being able to manage by exception and potential pitfalls associated with a reusable asset program. Exception based management of issues The quantity of reusable assets will be staggering to an organization and their cost of usage will most likely be the largest indirect product cost. Because it is not a direct product component, the vast majority of the enterprises attention will be focused on direct product materials and any other direct revenue generating or cost containment activities. If a tool is not provided that enables the identification of exceptions, an enterprise can expect to employ at least one full time employee and most likely a team of full time employees to manage the reusable asset program. This cost will absolutely decrease the amount of cost savings realized when implementing a reusable asset program. The final part of the series leverages the capabilities of the previous four tenants and ensures that the corporation leverage a reusable asset program does not negatively impact itself or its customers. Immediate notification of issues The third entry into the series shifts from the process to the ability to understand what is happening to your assets and where they reside. Continuous monitoring of asset usage Typically, reusable assets are not viewed as critical components to the success of an organization and the attention given to the management of those assets reflects this. By not continuously monitoring the usage and the assets noted on transactions, organizations are incurring a significant amount of risk. The risk is the replacement cost of the asset or, if utilizing a third Successfully managing a reusable asset program, or supply chain circle, requires the ability to quickly identify and resolve issues as they occur. Supply Chain visibility software should be employed to enable this crucial tenant. Attempting to identify issues on a batch basis will result in the user not being able to identify the issues and as the task gets larger it will be delayed longer by the task owner as it is not the focal point of the individual. In many instances, if notification of an issue occurs in real time the recipient (most likely customer) of that asset will not be affected by the 5/6 associated issue
AB01A9914 Benefits of Reuse Reuse is not about just cost savings While cost savings plays an important role it is also necessary for an organization to improve the productivity. Reusable components also use standardize components in the solution to improve the quality of solution and long term manageability Maturity of solution A good reuse infrastructure helps the users to search, discover, access and use the asset. Metrics of effectiveness The metrics associated with reusable components helps to understand the total efforts actually saved. Conclusion The success of the reuse program directly depends on the discipline implementation of the proposed model. The effectiveness can be enhanced by implementing proper metrics plant to quantify improvement. Appendix EAI Enterprise Application Integration ERP Enterprise Resource Planning EDI Electronic Data Interchange SI Sterling Integrator RFC Remote File Call SME Subject Matter Expert CM Change Management 6/6