THE NATURE OF TRANSACTIONS IS CHANGING

The speed and manner in which business is conducted is radically changing. In today’s electronic landscape there is a growing demand for companies to share data more efficiently across their extended supply chains.  Today's business supply chain transactions are:

• Increasing in speed and becoming real-time.
  
  
• Increasing in diversity.
  
  
• Requiring dynamic configuration of systems linkages.
  
  
• Accessing internal business applications of partners directly.
  
  
• Employing new approaches to drive down the transactional cost.

Progressive companies can no longer operate without the ability to open internal business applications to suppliers, partners, resellers and customers.

IMPACT ON THE SUPPLY CHAIN

This is having profound positive ramifications in the area of supply chain execution efficiencies. Companies today are seeking to improve supply chain efficiency through improved management of their order processing, automating of their procurement process, improved management of customer and supplier relationships via improved supply chain information-sharing and distribution.

Examples of these changes include:

• Exchanging catalog data with trading partners.
  
  
• Real-time visibility into suppliers’ product inventory, pricing and configuration information.
  
  
• Placement of purchase orders to trading partners across the web.
  
  
• Tracking of shipments from point-of-order through to the receipt of the goods.
  
  
• Exchanging production / distribution planning information.
  
  
• Requesting and locking in available-to-promise commitments.

Can the traditional approaches work for this new world of electronic commerce?

WHY EDI FAILS IN E-COMMERCE

In the past, sharing data between enterprises involved the careful mapping from one source system to the receiving system. This is effectively Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). As source and receiving systems are added, the number of unique combinations that must be structured and maintained grows geometrically. Result: Perspiration instead of inspiration! This approach quickly becomes overwhelming.

While the Fortune 500 and major trading partners use EDI extensively, EDI has not and will never be adopted by small-to-medium sized businesses. It is simply too expensive and complex to build and maintain. With the increasing value of many-to-many business integration (instead of one-to-one) being driven by the electronic landscape, further EDI adoption will be severely restricted. In brief, this is why the market adoption of EDI over the past decade has stalled out.

WHY MIDDLEWARE FAILS IN E-COMMERCE

The other means enterprises integrate business applications is through use of Middleware. However, connectivity outside the company is typically supported in these Middleware architectures only if the trading partners have the same Middleware standards. This is not a realistic approach for a heterogeneous trading community. In brief, while Middleware solutions are able to provide one-to-one business application integration, these types of complex, expensive integration approaches do not scale adequately to support widespread and rapid adoption.

INTEGRATING WITH INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES

Ajillus focuses its expertise on a more promising approach for application integration across a trading group or a community of trading partners.

Ajillus solves the supply chain integration challenge through the use of integration servers built around rapidly-adopted Internet standards. With the emergence and widespread adoption of enabling Internet standards such as the Internet Protocol (IP), Extensible Markup Language (XML), and the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the ability for real-time linkages between trading partners and groups is technologically and cost-effectively viable.

To provide an appreciation for XML’s support level within the software community, XML has already been adopted and architected into their product offerings by key technology providers, including:

• Microsoft (largest software company)
  
  
• SAP (largest ERP software company)
  
  
• Sun (2^nd largest ‘platform’ company)
  
  
• Oracle (2^nd largest software company)
  
  
• Informix (2^nd largest database company)

AJILLUS AS A TRADING HUB ENABLER

Trading hubs may be web site – to web site, application-to-web site or application-to-application. The reasons for deploying XML-backed trading hub can vary greatly:

• Communicate more dynamically with a few key trading partners across the web.
  
  
• Create a more cost-efficient, reliable and open means to communicate with business partners and customers.
  
  
• Offer a new service to existing suppliers or customers.
  
  
• Start a new venture to aggregate data between suppliers and buyers.

Whatever the objective, Ajillus can help make your trading hub a vital component in your business strategy. Ajillus can assist in the following areas:

• Designing the trading hub.
  
  
• Developing the functionality.
  
  
• Integrating with data sources and streams.
  
  
• Operating the trading hub as a monthly service to the trading group.

Ajillus' approach to electronic commerce trading hubs ensures open, scalable, supportable solutions that can be rapidly deployed and cost-effectively expanded.

CONTENTS

Transaction Trends

Supply Chain Impact

Problem with EDI

Problem with Middleware

Internet Integration

Ajillus As Enabler

ADDITIONAL INFO

XML Supply Chain Report
(Aberdeen Group)

XML Resource
(webMethods)

Overview

Shipping Mgmt Systems

Overview

Net Business Renewal

Customer Connect

Net Operations

Digital Business

Warehouse Management Systems

Shipping Mgmt Systems

Supply Chain Improvement

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