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This week, our favorite European bloggers created some great posts on the Inovis UK blog.

First up was Tracey Robertson’s post on Non-EDI Translation and the iSeries Machine. Next up, Clare Salter wrote a fun piece about innocent drinks and their work with Inovis entitled 5 a day the Inovis way.  Tracey then posted a recap about the great news Inovis shared earlier this week in her blog, Who’s the leader of the B2B service providers? and rounded out the week with the engaging and informative post, Are you changing your ERP system and wondering how to continue doing EDI?

Check out the UK blog for some fresh perspectives by different bloggers and news from the other side of the pond. Stay tuned next week for some equally fun and helpful blogs.

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Those of you who have seen my previous posts know that I haven’t given up on EDI.  As near as I can tell, the debate of EDI vs. XML continues to rage around the world.  It’s interesting to notice that the arguments haven’t really changed.  EDI’s harder to read (by humans), XML takes a lot more bytes to say the same thing.  I won’t rehash all the points.  Suffice to say, EDI has good points and bad points…and XML has good points and bad points.  Kind of like the old “Tastes Great—Less Filling” argument.  The cold hard fact is this: They’re both here for the long run; neither is going away in the foreseeable future.

We recognize this and so we’ve enhanced TrustedLink for System i (TLi) to put EDI and XML on a more even footing.  Typically, EDI is specified by a limited number of standards organizations such as X12, EDIFACT, etc.  On the other hand, though there are some XML standards organizations (CXML, xCBL, UBL, CIDX, PIDX, HRXML, X12 (CICA) spring to mind for starters) we’ve seen that there are nearly as many industry groups, organizations and, yes, even individuals as there are XML message specifications.  Further, while EDI standards are easy to distribute and store in tabular format, XML specifications are usually distributed in nice suitable-for-parsing packages known as Document Type Definitions (DTDs) and XML Schemas.

Prior to TLi version 6.3.0, there were two ways to create maps for XML documents.  A user could hand-build the structure of the XML data in the Visual Mapper or, they could import a DTD.  Neither of these approaches is optimal.

• Manual entry of XML’s hierarchical structure often leads to complex document structures that are time consuming and error prone.
• The DTD importer, while much more useful, was limited by the nature of DTDs themselves.  A DTD provides basic structure, but has little control on data types and repetition counts.

As XML has gradually matured, XML designers, definers and users have turned toward the XML Schema as the preferred method of exchanging specifications.  The advantage to XML Schemas are two-fold:

1. They are written in XML using a very specific vocabulary.
2. They provide more specificity for things like data types, data sizes, and repetitions.

We realized that to stay relevant, TLi would need to be able to work with Schemas as well as DTDs.

Enter TLi version 6.3.0.  In this release, we substantially upgraded our support for XML by improving our XML importer capabilities.  For example:

• The new, improved XML importer can import Schemas and DTDs (standalone and multi-file, local and remote).
• It provides the ability to trim the XML structures.  We see many all-encompassing Schemas published.  These Schemas typically have all the common data structures, plus the roots for a variety of different documents.  In order to make usable, readable maps, it is very helpful to omit irrelevant structures.
• The Importer now provides a GUI for identifying the appropriate root node and for pruning the data structure tree prior to loading it into the Visual Mapper.
• The Importer and the Visual Mapper also support the use of namespace prefixes which is particularly useful for UBL specifications.

The result is greater flexibility and versatility that will keep you going in the modern eCommerce era no matter what your trading partners expect of you.

Gwyn Madsen has written another blog for your reading pleasure.  Enjoy!

Over the many years I’ve worked on the IBM midrange platform known as AS/400, iSeries, System i, Power system, blah, blah, blah.I have found it to be both a blessing and a curse. For those who know what one of these amazing machines can do, it’s obvious why there is such a following for this platform. However, for those who stare blankly when I explain what I do for a living, I’m often dismissed as ‘working on an old, legacy, ancient, dead or dying platform,’ or worse—a platform no one has ever heard of!

It’s a bit of an uphill battle for many companies to express the value seen in the IBM i platform too; if not from the sheer confusion in the name. IBM has done no favors for the loyal customer base by changing the platform name every couple of years. There are dozens of flavors of UNIX and Windows around but somehow a supermarket checker has heard of these platforms but not of the trusted System i that is the powerhouse running the grocer’s entire business.

Image Source: http://www-03.ibm.com

I’ve been blessed to work in the amazing and ever changing System i environment for more than a decade and have seen firsthand how versatile and robust this platform is. I regularly work with customers whose businesses hinge on the performance of the IBM System i. These companies trust the platform to manage critical business applications like EDI & order entry systems which are the center for managing business. Inovis has a tried and true EDI product offering on the System i platform and has serviced this market for over 20 years as Premenos, Harbinger, Peregrine and now Inovis. The TrustedLink System i application is well known for its ease of use, seasoned support staff and superior product function but none of this matters without the phenomenal stability and scalability of the System i.

So when the next acquisition or consolidation project rolls through the IT department, make sure to include some of those intangible items as part of the ROI discussion. Ease of use for a staple business application like an EDI translator means you don’t need a team of people dedicated to mapping and monitoring operations. Stability of a platform means fewer midnight calls with the Senior Executive team trying to understand how or why a critical system failed. We may still get blank stares when we talk about our AS400’s, but take the extra time to explain some of the benefits of the system before you are dismissed as working on an ‘old, legacy, ancient, dead or dying’ platform.  I, for one, love the 400, System i, iSeries, or Power whatever blah, blah, blah that IBM calls it next.

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We here at Inovis are pleased to announce that we have been cited as a “Leader” in the B2B Service Providers category in the most recent edition of “The Forrester Wave™.”

Forrester Research made their selections of key B2B service providers based on product fit, customer success, Forrester client demand, and also according to rankings of 85 criteria across current offering, strategy and marketing presence categories. Based on these scores, Forrester selected 12 B2B providers from a market of more than 50 vendors.

Inovis was cited as a Leader overall and received the highest score in the current offering category. The report’s criteria focused on vendor capabilities in networking services, communication services, community management customer support, disaster recovery, delivery alternatives, managed services, hosted support for application integration, process integration and the availability of integrated managed file transfer (MFT).

For more information on Forrester Wave’s selection of Inovis as a leader in the B2B Service Providers category, you may view the press release here.

There’s nothing more frightening than the things that go bump in the supply chain: chargebacks, deductions and errors, oh my!

These money draining monsters are menaces to your profit and enough to keep you up screaming at night—proving once again that the scariest things out there are those that you can’t see. Muahaha!

Don’t run away! They’ll only come after you. Instead, regain control with a powerful Visibility solution that will leave them shaking in their boots.

Fight those costly chargebacks with inbound and outbound transactions. Trigger and track those deduction items with drill-down access to root-cause data. And eliminate errors altogether by monitoring against business rules and compliance guides to prevent problems and create projects to fix the issues.

With the right software and tools, these terrible money suckers will never see the light of day.

Happy Halloween!

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This week, Tracey Robertson of the Inovis UK Solution Center contributed two great posts in regards to EDI.

The first one, entitled Where have all the AS400 machines gone? is a nostalgic look back at the history of AS400 and its evolution to its BladeCenter status today.

The second blog, Are you looking for a shiny new VAN? provides a few helpful pointers to companies seeking a new VAN service.

Are you a reader that is interested in finding out more about a particular topic? Leave us a comment or send us an e-mail with your request. We’d love to hear from you!

Today’s blog post comes from Ross Fetterman, a Tech Support Specialist III in Concord and a member of the Solution Center Staff. Enjoy!

TLi has been around a long time and so have many of our users.  Support will often know we are assisting a legacy user when the customer absolutely insists on accessing TLi via the greenscreen and grumbles at the idea of needing to start the GUI to access the Visual Mapper.  Here in support, we will often need to readily bounce from one TLi version to another in order to answer mapping questions and I recognize how it can be slightly annoying to be in a greenscreen session and then have to sign onto a brand new GUI session to start the Visual Mapper. Well, the TLi software developers must have also had the same feeling because they have created a new tool available with the TLi v6.3 Client installer called the “Visual Mapper Launcher”.

This timesaving tool allows you to easily create any number of desktop shortcuts that you can use to launch the Visual Mapper that can readily connect to any version of TLi v6.1 and higher that exists on any System i that you have access to.  This tool is great for people that have multiple versions of TLi, who have TLi on more than one server, who commonly go between Production and Test environments, or who are diehard greenscreen fans that feel angst against the GUI.

Once a desktop shortcut is created, you can easily double-click it and be in your map within seconds.  This tool also eliminates the need to always have the Seagull License Manager server running since you don’t need to go into the TLi GUI Client to launch the Visual Mapper.  This tool is valuable in support and I hope that all of our legacy and power users appreciate it as well.

We know you’re out there…and we’d love to hear from you! Since the blog’s beginning in August of 2007, we have received 128,751 views and have posted 575 blogs. Whew! That’s a lot of activity! But enough about us—we want to know about you.

1. Where are you from?
2. Do you speak another language besides English?
3. What other blogs do you follow?
4. Do you like Social Media sites? If so, which ones are your favorite?
5. What are your favorite topics to read about?
6. What do you like about the Inovis blog?
7. What do you dislike about the Inovis blog?

OK, so those are a lot of questions. Feel free to answer as many of the above as you like (whether it be one or all) or create your own questions!

Thank you for stopping by! We look forward to getting to know you.

Today’s post is by the newest member of the Inovis blogging team, Gwyn Madsen. Gwyn is the Senior Manager of Tech Support and brings with her a wealth of knowledge about TrustedLink. Enjoy!

I wish I could tell everyone how important it is to pay attention to the maintenance of their System i and their TLi application. I wouldn’t go out and buy a brand new car with the expectation that it would get me to and from work safely each day and never change the oil in it. So I question why anyone would neglect the engine that drives their EDI business & ultimately their entire company’s business.

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Inovis introduced the 6.3 version in August of 2009 which provides additional functionality around data & object management. There is now a non-dedicated purge function which will allow users to run the purge functions concurrently with other TrustedLink processes. This added functionality is just what companies need to keep their business running 24X7. It’s like changing the oil in your car while the engine is still running.

With the concurrent purge functions added in 6.3, coupled with the Archive Center options made available in TLi version 6.2, there is just no good reason to create an opportunity for large EDI libraries to accumulate on the System I; regardless of the maintenance window available. If you want to avoid that dreaded IBM message: ‘Maximum numbers of objects reached’, then devote a little time to setting up the concurrent purge. I surely wouldn’t want to neglect the engine powering my business and neither should you.

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When the topic of outsourcing comes up, a long list of Pros and Cons jump to mind and often overwhelm the discussion.  Although I like to quickly get through these rudimentary level checklists and get to the meat of the who, when, where and why of  outsourcing, I have found that in recent conversations with customers, they are starting to add new things to this worn out Pros and Cons list.

Being the Director of Product Management for the Inovis Outsourcing Product (and an overall positive guy), I think I will stick with the Pros today and hopefully add a fresh look to an old list.

So let’s get the basics out of the way—yes, the well worn faded pros:

-          Lower  TCO

-          An expert workforce that scales as demands change

-          The ability to focus your core resources on new strategic initiatives

And the newest addition to the list:

As I have visited with several new and existing customers over the last few months I have seen an interesting trend.  When I ask the question of why they chose outsourcing, there has been an additional response that I believe says a lot about our customers and how they view B2B and how that differs from where we were just two years ago.

That response is “Competitive Advantage.”  I have found that in a wide range of industries, customers are looking for B2B Outsourcing not just to cut cost and replace retiring EDI resources, but also to give them an advantage in how they are doing business.

B2B Outsourcing is no longer just about “What Maps, Which Maps, and How Many Transactions.”  Although these are important data elements, there is much value to be gained by truly understanding the customer’s business and not just their EDI.

By approaching our customers in a very flexible and consultative way, we are able to identify areas of their business where we can add significant competitive advantage.  This includes streamlining their purchase order process, expediting their invoice process, reducing time to respond to emergency requests, and providing  them with supply chain visibility that enables them to put strong SLA’s on both document and goods delivery, and that is only the beginning.

If we look a little deeper into what they are doing and why they are doing it, we can find much more value to add to their business.  Recent examples include:

-          Automating traditionally manual work flows that are embedded deep within the business

-          Exposing bottle necks in day-to-day operations

-          Reducing the number of support calls and e-mails through visibility tools that provide business critical information to customer and supplier

-           Provide executives with dashboards that reduce the amount of IT Ad/ Hoc Reporting

All of these points and other benefits have contributed to that one shining piece of feedback I am starting to hear more and more.  There is no greater feeling than when customers remark that they are gaining a Competitive Advantage in their industry.

In the end, understanding your customers’ business problems, mapping those to a business solution, and offering the technologies and services to accelerate their business and lower their operational costs can give your customer direct competitive advantage and earn you a customer for life!