considering edi-as-a-service? 10 best practices to guide your decision

®Integrate. Automate. Succeed.

Considering EDI-‐as-‐a-‐Service?

10 Best Prac9ces to Guide Your Decision

Jim O’Leary Ali Jenan

•  Migra1on

•  Onboarding

External Loca9ons, Partners, and Services

On-‐premise Applica9ons, Services, and Data

EDI Middleware versus EDI-‐as-‐a-‐Service

Vendors / Service Providers Customers Cloud / SaaS Applica9ons & Services

EDI Middleware Dashboard

Enterprise Applica9ons Windows / Linux / VMware

Opera9onal Data

Transac9on Data

Analy9cs Data

Design-‐5me Tools

Repository

Monitor

Manage Provision / Integrate

Internal Coordinator

•  Migra1on

•  Onboarding



EDI Middleware versus EDI-‐as-‐a-‐Service


EDI Middleware Dashboard


Opera9onal Data

Transac9on Data

Analy9cs Data

Design-‐5me Tools

Repository

EDI-‐as-‐a-‐Service

Manage Provision / Integrate

Monitor Coordinate Service

Internal Champion

Key Issues

1.  What’s most important to know and understand before deciding to outsource EDI?

2.  What responsibiliAes and acAviAes should you avoid outsourcing?

3.  How can you minimize the risk of choosing a soluAon that might limit or disrupt your business?

Profile: EXTOL Interna5onal

•  Provider of business integraAon soGware and services since 1989 •  800 Customers in TransportaAon, LogisAcs, DistribuAon, CPG, Food,

Apparel, Industrial Manufacturing, Health Care, PharmaceuAcals

•  How we’re different: –  Hybrid middleware and services soluAon with flexible licensing, deployment,

and management opAons

–  Faster Ame to value without sacrificing power or flexibility

–  Unmatched customer service and support

5

1. Verify if EDI-‐as-‐a-‐service is a good fit for your business

Factor Choose EDI-‐as-‐a-‐Service if factor is:

Choose Self-‐managed EDI if factor is:

Go-‐live urgency High Low-‐High

Strategic business value of EDI Low-‐Medium Medium-‐High

Number of trading partners Low-‐Medium Medium-‐High

Qualified IT resource availability Low Medium-‐High

Partner-‐side variability Low Medium-‐High

Internal integra9on customiza9on Low-‐Medium Medium-‐High

Frequency of change Low Medium-‐High

Service level complexity Low Medium-‐High



2. Conduct an inventory of current and future EDI needs


EDI Middleware


Opera9onal Data

Transac9on Data

Analy9cs Data

Number of trading partners to onboard now and in the future

EDI documents and direcAons

CommunicaAon methods needed

Non-‐EDI transacAon requirements

Back-‐end integraAon requirements

Poll #1

Which of the following EDI capabiliAes does your business require? (check all that apply)

q  Support for non-‐standard EDI documents (partner-‐defined flat file, XML, etc.)

q  Direct integraAon with applicaAons and data q  Very large document processing

(over 10 megabytes) q  Near real-‐Ame transacAon response turn-‐around q  24 * 7 monitoring and management

Change / Maintain

ü Provision new partners ü Configure new transactions ü Upgrade document versions ü Upgrade app / data interfaces ü Maintain platform, middleware

Monitor / Manage

ü Monitor activity ü Handle exceptions ü Manage service levels ü Report results ü Archive / purge logs

Design / Implement

ü Provision partner connections

ü Map transaction data ü Integrate with enterprise

applications and data ü Test / deploy ü Manage go-live

Gather / Plan

ü  Gather TP specs / data

ü  Analyze requirements

ü  Size environment ü  Configure EDI

infrastructure ü  Plan, schedule, and staff

EDI implementation

3. Use a lifecycle framework to evaluate op5ons

4. Choose based on requirements, not provider op5ons

ü  FuncAonal capabiliAes ü  Range of services ü  Licensing opAons ü  Deployment opAons ü  Change turn-‐around ü  SLA monitoring /

compliance

5. Understand how partner setups and changes work

Terms of Service

•  Standard vs non-standard changes

•  Fixed Price vs Time & Materials •  Lead time •  Response time •  Typical turn-around time •  Billing for services

Your business Service provider

Setup / Change Requirements

•  EDI partner onboarding •  Non-EDI partner onboarding •  New transaction provisioning •  EDI version updates •  Partner connection changes •  Application and data interface

changes

AuthorizaAon?

Requirements / Specs?

TesAng Process?

Sign-‐off Mechanism?

Status / Checkpoint Process?

6. Authorize someone to coordinate with your provider

Internal Champion

Responsibilities

•  Trading partner requirements •  Partner mediation / escalation •  Data mapping requirements •  Internal interface specs •  Problem escalation •  Implementation priorities •  Change requirements and approvals •  Status monitoring •  Delivery sign-off

Trading Partners

Internal Resources

SaaS

Hosted EDI-as-a-Service

Internally Developed Applications Database

Commercial Application

Suites

On-premise EDI-as-a-Service

File System

Firewall

EDI-as-a-Service Provider

Services

Last-mile Integration

Cloud Services Suppliers Service Partners Customers

7. Quan5fy the business value of last-‐mile integra5on

7. Quan5fy the business value of last-‐mile integra5on


$  Higher implementation cost $  Lower operating cost $  Lower error rate

$  Faster response $  Higher growth capacity

$  Improved SLA compliance

$  Higher customer satisfaction $  Lower opportunity costs

VS

Poll #2

For which endpoint types does your business need last-‐mile integraAon? (check all that apply)

q  On-‐premise commercial applicaAon systems (ERP, TMS, WMS, etc.)

q  Home-‐grown applicaAon systems q  Cloud-‐based SoGware-‐as-‐a-‐Service applicaAons q  On-‐premise enterprise data (DBMS, files, documents) q  Cloud-‐based enterprise data

8. Broaden your view of TCO

Gather / Plan Design / Implement Monitor / Manage Change / Maintain

ConfiguraAon Fees

One-‐Ame setup Fees

IntegraAon Fees

Training Costs

Assessment / Planning Fees

SubscripAon Fees

Usage Fees

Error ResoluAon Fees

Partner Setup Fees

Change Fees

Manual Processing Costs

Opportunity Costs

Early TerminaAon Fees

Switching Costs

Choose a hybrid soluAon that gives you the choice

of self-‐managing

EDI Coordinator Internal Resources

Internally Developed Applications Database

Commercial Application

Suites File System Services

Trading Partners SaaS

Cloud Services Suppliers Service Partners Customers

EDI-as-a-Service


Monitoring / Reporting

Choose a Provider with an onboarding speed advantage

Build a canonical interface to internal applicaAons and data

Choose a Provider with an integra5on speed advantage

9. Consider strategies to reduce or eliminate switching costs

Choose a hybrid soluAon that gives you the choice

of self-‐managing

Internal Champion

Service Provider EDI

ConfiguraAons

IntegraAon ConfiguraAons

10. Look for a collabora5ve partner with a track record of mee5ng needs like yours

•  How long in business? •  Customer references? •  Industry experience? •  Team size and composiAon? •  Ongoing support? AGer hours?

Q&A

Contact:

Website: www.extol.com Email: [email protected] Phone: +1 (570) 628-5500

Ø  Download our new white paper at: www.extol.com/ediservice

considering edi-as-a-service? 10 best practices to guide your decision

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