EDI Integration and Automation

blusky75

Member
Hello,

I'm interested to hear how other companies have tackled EDI translation (850's, 810's, 856's primarily) and Integration with JDE. Currently we are using Gentran:Server (4.0 for Windows) to export/import inbound and outbound flat files from JD Edwards (OneWorld on an AS400 box). JD Edwards reads and writes these flat files using the R47xxxC programs (flat file conversions for the EDI Z tables such as F47011, F47046, etc).

There are several problems with automating EDI this way:

1) the need for a windows logical application server (since the AS400 seems to have issues running the R47xxxC flat file conversion programs).

2) inbound flat file processing (e.g. 850 purchase orders) run in batch mode and are not transaction safe (would rather isolate transactions down to the each EDI PO)

3) Gentran:Server does not have any integration capabilities with other systems (we had to program SQL Server DTS jobs on Gentran to pull JD Edwards EDI cross reference data into Gentran - this is taxing on both JDE and Gentran). Nor can JD Edwards initiate a Gentran:Server process.

We are having a hard time getting a feel for what other JDE clients are using for EDI translation and integration. So far we have had an extensive proof of concept demo of Gentran Integration Suite (which has shown us to be capable of performing table selects/inserts/updates/deletes to the F47 tables via SQL and a JDBC adapter).

EDI translation is just one piece of the puzzle. Other requirements include integration (to perform lookups in JD Edwards such as the address book, as well as execute BSFN's using THINNET, etc), as well as UCCNet / ECCNet item synchronization capabilities, and AS2/EDIINT communications.

Obviously with the many problems associated with automating flat file conversions using the vanilla JDE tools, we're looking at better ways to approach the problem. What EAI/EDI solutions are most popular and favorable in the JD Edwards community? All references I have found praise GIS with other non-edwards packages.

Also, if anyone has been using GIS with your Edwards outfit, I'd very much like to get your input!

Steve Krisjanovs - Programmer Analyst
 
Hello Steve,

Interesting topic. We haven similar EDI connections for Orderintegration with our website. EDI PO an SO do not support updates to Sales Order or Purchase orders. Currently we are exploring SeeBeyond Software which can use the JDEdwards Java Business Functions. To change from batch to interactive we think about using an XML Broker like Bizztalk to convert XML messages to JDE XML with embedded BSFN.

XML interoperability is in my opinion a big black hole in JDEdwards, The KG doesn't help a lot and the manuals are a nightmare.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Thanks for your reply!

I'll elaborate a little more.

We've been able to create sales orders from EDI POs (e.g. F47011,F47012). We have created a custom UBE that validates the data in the F47 tables and if all is well, a sales order will be created. It works quite well, it's integrating the F47 tables to the outside world has been the painful step.

Steve
 
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