Introduction The information accuracy and labor efficiency that bar codes and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags provide are essential for activities managed with Oracle Warehouse Management (WMS) and Mobile Supply Chain Applications (MSCA). However, printing bar code and RFID labels with data from Oracle WMS and MSCA has traditionally been challenging because thermal label printers have proprietary printer control languages (PCLs). Label printer incompatibility and limited bar code and RFID support features within the software have forced users to add new servers or PCs to their print systems, or to implement custom programming to enable bar code and RFID output from Oracle applications. Now there is an Oracle-certified software alternative to traditional Oracle WMS and MSCA label printing methods that provides superior flexibility and lower total cost of ownership. Oracle WMS and MSCA users previously had three options for enabling bar code and RFID smart label output from the applications: Custom software development; Installation of a print server and associated middleware and design software to support label printers, or; Implementation of PC-based labeling software, which require operator intervention and adds a hardware layer to the print system architecture. Oracle recently certified two new methods for bar code and RFID output from WMS and MSCA: XML-enabled label printers preconfigured for Oracle connectivity; BARCODE 2000 XML labeling software from Unibar, Inc., which resides on the Oracle host and provides enterprise-wide bar code and smart label printing, without print servers or printerdedicated PCs. (See Fig. 1). Figure 1: Unibar BARCODE 2000 XML processes Oracle s XML print commands. No other software or processor is required between the Oracle application and the printer. Each method has advantages, limitations and different implementation and support requirements. Choosing the best solution was easier when users had few choices. The addition of new Oracle-certified hardware and software solutions creates choice, but can also create confusion. The number of label formats the enterprise must produce and the frequency that they change, legacy printer install base, RFID requirements, the 2
amount of in-house tech support the enterprise is willing and able to commit to supporting Oracle printing, and of course budget all play a part in determining which approach is best. To make the best choice one must first understand the options. This white paper will help by giving a clear overview of how each method works, outlining the hardware, software and support requirements for each approach, clearly stating their advantages and limitations, and describing the features, performance, requirements and advantages of the new Oracle-certified BARCODE 2000 XML alternative in detail. Bar Code and RFID Label Printing Challenges in Oracle Thermal printers are the best option for printing bar code and RFID labels, and are the only truly acceptable equipment for Electronic Product Code (EPC) RFID compliance labeling and other applications where label quality matters, such as receiving and item marking to support automated warehouse and distribution operations, shipping and receiving and automated inventory control and materials management. There is more to a quality bar code or RFID label than meets the eye. Bars and spaces must be produced within very tight width and darkness tolerances, and encoded data must be validated to ensure label accuracy. Purposebuilt label printers from leading manufacturers including Cognitive Solutions, Datamax, Intermec Technologies, Paxar, Printronix, Sato, Zebra Technologies and others include many print quality features that laser and inkjet printers can t match. The Achilles Heel of the bar code printer industry is that the equipment is not standardized, which makes printers much more difficult to integrate and use compared to laser and inkjet models. The main limitation is that each bar code printer manufacturer supports its own printer control language (PCL), which prevents interoperability and requires custom interfaces to integrate the thermal label printer with enterprise IT equipment and applications. This is not a problem for common laser and inkjet printers used in offices and shops, which have standardized on a few PCLs that are widely supported by hardware and software manufacturers. Oracle does not support any thermal printer PCLs in WMS, MSCA or any other application. That means users who want use bar code or RFID smart label printers with these applications need a solution to convert Oracle XML data streams into something the proprietary PCL can recognize. Custom programming is always an option, but rarely a good one. Custom programming requires knowledge of Oracle programming, plus the proprietary PCL. Developing the knowledge in-house is time consuming and makes the enterprise dependent on a programmer if he or she leaves the company, the ability to modify label formats or create new ones goes too. Outside integrators can provide the service, which can be expensive and is not cost effective if labeling requirements will change. 3
Oracle has made it easier to output bar code labels by creating 10 XML data sets that correspond to common transaction labels generated from WMS and MSCA. The data sets simplify bar code output from these Oracle applications, however a label format (either designed with third-party software or stored in an XML printer) is still required for printing. The stored formats available with select XML-enabled printers are a good alternative for enterprises with limited bar code printing needs that map to Oracle transactions. However, if additional label formats are needed, for example compliance shipping label formats required by customers, an additional bar code output solution will be required. Oracle took another step to make bar code and RFID output easier by choosing XML as the data format for print commands. Open, standard XML simplifies one side of the label printing equation. Instead of converting proprietary Oracle data streams for proprietary thermal printer PCLs, users now need to convert common XML commands for the PCL, without programming in the Oracle environment. As you will see in the following sections, XML enables print data streams to be converted with new software solutions, which don t have the limitations of traditional labeling software packages and offer numerous advantages to print servers and printer hardware implementations. Traditional Labeling Software The most common way to get bar code output from Oracle applications is with label design and print management software. Users design and modify label formats on a PC that holds the software. An operator requests a label, the software extracts the required variable data from the Oracle application, populates the appropriate fields in the stored label format, then sends the print job to the label printer. Labeling software is easy to use and has several advantages. Users create labels in a graphical environment and do not need any knowledge of Oracle programming or PCLs. Many packages support multiple printer brands, so users do not have to use printers from a single vendor. New labels and modifications to existing formats can be done fairly quickly in-house, without having to pay an outside software developer. There are several limitations and disadvantages to traditional labeling solutions. Operator intervention is required to request the print job, unlike other approaches that can automatically generate labels whenever transactions are executed. The user-driven approach adds a labor requirement to printing, and creates more possibility for error than event-driven printing. The PC that hosts the software adds to implementation expense and creates an ongoing support requirement. PC-based labeling software is site specific, which means multiple PCs and software licenses must be purchased for implementation at multiple locations. Many packages use ODBC drivers to extract data, which can slow printing performance. Unibar has been a leading provider of labeling software solutions since 1992 and has dozens of successful Oracle implementations. Unibar s BARCODE 2000 label printing software, BARZ_OUT PRO software for 4
adding bar codes to Oracle reports and forms, and e-barz PRO software for embedding bar codes in Web pages have features that minimize the limitations found in other packages. However, Unibar has concluded that XML-based software is a superior alternative for bar code and RFID label printing from XML-enabled Oracle applications. Print Servers Print servers function similarly to PC-based labeling software but add robust printer management features. Print server solutions provide label design features, data conversion and output management functionality, and management features to control networked printers within the facility or even at remote locations. Like labeling software, the print server sits between the Oracle host and the label printer but on a server, not a PC. The print server monitors Oracle applications for print jobs and downloads them along with required data from the Oracle application. The Oracle data is converted into the appropriate format and the populated label file is sent over the network to the label printer. Print servers support multiple PCLs and printer types, so multiple brands of printers, including non-thermal models, can be used for bar code printing. Print servers are effective and expensive. Cost is their biggest drawback. In addition to the software licensing costs, users must purchase and maintain a server for the printing system. Print servers are typically installed on Windows servers. Enterprises that choose to host their Oracle systems on UNIX or Linux hosts because of the reliability those platforms provide may need to compromise their system standards. There may be additional expenses required for Oracle users to implement a print server solution. Some packages offer separate modules for Oracle connectivity and enhanced RFID printing, which are sold separately. XML-enabled Printers Label printers with internal XML processors provide an interesting new option for bar code and RFID label printing from Oracle applications. The XML processor can parse data from the Oracle WMS and MSCA print job data streams, which are in XML. The only thing else that s needed is an XML-enabled label format. The first XML-enabled label printer introduced included 10 such formats stored in printer memory. This clean-and-simple approach is attractive, but limited. The first limitation is flexibility. If users need additional label types beyond those supported in the Oracle applications and/or the XML printer (most enterprises need numerous other label formats, including shipping and compliance labels), then label design software that supports XML is needed to design the formats and process the data streams. Hardware availability is another limitation. Legacy printers without XML processors can t directly process Oracle XML print jobs, so new printers must be purchased to implement this approach. When this white paper was prepared in early 2005, only one label printer manufacturer produced XML-enabled printers, and 5
only offered it on select, high-end models. XML printer support may well grow, but for now users who implement this solution will become vendor dependent and won t be able to choose from hundreds of models from multiple manufacturers. BARCODE 2000 XML The other new option is Unibar s BARCODE 2000 XML software, which provides the convenience and streamlined system architecture of XML printing and removes the printer selection limitation. BARCODE 2000 XML is installed on the same computer that hosts the Oracle application and can drive any printer that communicates with the host, with no print servers or PCs required to manage print jobs. More than 200 bar code and RFID smart label printers from all leading manufacturers are supported. The software also supports PCL and can be used to drive bar code output on PCL laser printers. BARCODE 2000 XML includes Unibar s popular label design environment, so users can easily create and modify all the label formats they need. For convenience, label formats can be designed on a PC. The design tools are J2EE compliant, which makes it easy to transfer the label formats to a server, or to a Unix or Linux client on a server. Formats are uploaded to the Oracle host using standard utilities (i.e. FTP), which means no Oracle programming expertise is required. Once loaded, the software enables bar code and RFID smart label output with Oracle application data to any networked printer. No software needs to be installed on the printer, and printers do not need to be XML enabled. The solution works with legacy printers because label formats support the native thermal printer control language and appear as normal print jobs to the printer. Besides numerous printers, BARCODE 2000 XML also supports numerous software applications. The native XML interface can be used to design bar code and RFID smart labels for any Oracle 11i application and to add bar codes to Oracle reports. BARCODE 2000 XML is optimized for use on UNIX and Linux servers and is compatible with Windows servers. Advantages to BARCODE 2000 XML BARCODE 2000 XML gives users the flexibility to create and manage their own label formats and to select the printer models that best meet their needs, without the expense of purchasing and maintaining hardware that middleware systems require to provide the same functionality. Other features give BARCODE 2000 XML a significant total cost of ownership (TCO) advantage compared to middleware and XML-enabled printers. The host-level software provides event-driven printing directed by the Oracle applications, with no user intervention required to initiate a print job. Users can output bar code labels from Oracle WMS and MSCA on their legacy printers, create and print labels for 11i and other Oracle applications, use bar code and smart label printers from multiple vendors, design their own label formats, and add bar codes to Oracle reports all with a single, software-only solution. PCL support means there is no need to implement separate software to manage bar code printing on thermal and laser printers. 6
BARCODE 2000 XML is also the only Oracle-certified solution of its kind, and the only bar code and smart label printing software created specifically for use on UNIX and Linux host systems. Oracle WMS and MSCA reside on the same host as BARCODE 2000 XML, which provides a convenient platform for centralized management of label printing and label formats. There is no reason to create multiple versions of the same label and storing them on different computers throughout the enterprise, which saves time when modifications are required. The host-level software provides event-driven printing directed by the Oracle applications, with no user intervention required to initiate a print job. Unibar is a proven provider of bar code and RFID solutions for the Oracle environment who has been providing bar coding and labeling solutions for Oracle users for many years. Integration interfaces include XML, PL/SQL, Java Methods, Oracle Reports and others. Not only is BARCODE 2000 XML Oracle certified, Unibar is also an Oracle Partner and an Oracle Applications User Group (OAUG) Star Partner. Located in Rochester Hills, Michigan, Unibar was founded in 1990 to develop and market data collection software. Unibar provides innovative and professional bar code and RFID label printing software for businesses and governments in more than 20 countries. Simple and easy-to-use, Unibar's BARCODE 2000 is the leading bar code label design software solution for Linux and Unix operating platforms and also runs on Microsoft Windows. Unibar, BARCODE 2000, and BARZ_OUT are trademarks of Unibar, Inc. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. # # # 7