JDE Integration: Salesforce.com and JD Edwards Integration Made Simple

JDE Integration: Salesforce.com and JD Edwards Integration Made Simple

If your company is using JD Edwards and Salesforce.com then this blog entry is for you. I recently witnessed a demonstration of a low-risk, low-cost out-of-the-box integration solution between Salesforce.com and JD Edwards World.

Seeing Is Believing. Ami Gal and Michael Singer of Magic Software Enterprises are two of the software gurus that have created this solution which can be implemented by your local JD Edwards consultant. The addition of the salesforce.com adapter to JDE Connect is big news for affected customers.

Most companies running these two programs together are either forced to live without integrated data or to engage in expensive and high-risk line-by-line programming projects. The costs of living without integration are enormous.

The Problems with Manual Processes and Manual Programming.Manual processes cause reentry of data at enormous expense to an organization with guaranteed errors and costly error corrections, delays in information and transaction processing, missing or lost customer data and worst of all – lost orders that make customers and employees scream.

Manual programming can overcome the integration challenge but it is extremely costly and most programming teams underestimate the complexity of the integration project. A high number of programming projects fail after several months of delay. Even those that complete on time are prone to serious deficiencies such as lack of error handling and exceptions management, inability to scale as your business grows and non-existent monitoring capabilities or archiving of business process flow information.

JD Edwards Integration with Salesfoce.com Done Right. But as I said, there is a solution that I have seen working with my own eyes. Salesforce.com activity can automatically trigger business process flows that check for the existence of a customer in the JD Edwards system and then add them to the address book within JDE if they are new, for example.

Just as important the quote to order conversion process is now fully transparent and automated with no time delays, no hassle and high reliability. Since the triggers are real time, a salesperson using salesforce.com can book the order and that will trigger a behind the scenes process that automatically initiates a JD Edwards Z-file load (after appropriate validity checking, of course) into the JD Edwards Sales Order data. And vice versa, salesforce.com data in an outside salesperson's domain, for example, can be updated when their inside salesperson enters an order directly using JD Edwards World sales order module. Now isn't everything more pleasant when we all just get along?

In the past, an integration solution like this could easily cost one to two million dollars because the integration software licenses cost six figures and the integrators, even when using an EAI system like TIBCO or WebMethods, were forced to do extensive Java style development of the connection itself.

Simplified ApproachNow with JDE Connect, you can solve the problem using business or IT analysts rather than programmers. JDE Connect allows you to visually design business processes and flows using drag and drop functionality. And here's the kicker: they have added a salesforce.com component that you can drag into the business flow as you are designing. And since all the JD Edwards data mapping is available as well, it is simply a matter of deciding what processes are most important for your business.

You don't have to do the work yourselves. Your JDE Connect business partner, backed by folks like Michael Singer and Ami Gal at Magic Software Enterprises can help tremendously.

Certified for Your Protection

JDE Connect / iBOLT supposedly went through some pretty rigorous testing to achieve the IBM Server Proven designation from IBM. According to Magic Software, makers of the JDE Connect / iBOLT solution for application-to-application integration for Oracle JD Edwards World and OneWorld customers, they have certified their integration suite for several technologies on the IBM System i, (formerly iSeries).

In terms of the computing platform itself, the official certification is for the IBM iSeries running V4.5 and above on IBM servers with PowerPC processors, requires PASE. This includes a formal announcement of i5OS support made at COMMON Spring 2006.

Needless to say, the supported database on the System i is DB2/400 and of course IFS is supported as well.

In terms of the tested Web servers, these would include so-called HTTP original and HTTP powered by Apache 2.0.47.

In the realm of middleware, JDE Connect / iBOLT can utilize IBM WebSphere® MQ 5.3 client/server for messaging capabilities; JMS (requires JMS API 1.3 Client or higher); JRE 1.4.2 for Java integration capabilities; LDAP V.2 and V.3 using simple bind; SOAP 1.1; and SNMP V.1 and V.2, among others.

When it comes to Application Servers, none is required, however, IBM WebSphere® Application Server V.4, is certified for J2EE integration. Thought you might want to know…

Integrating Small Package Delivery Services with ERP Systems

Small and mid-size businesses can't afford armies of IT professionals to create customized integration applications to manage shipment tracking. Straightforward online tools from shippers like UPS are available, but integration with backend systems seems complicated.

But if you're thirsty for a glass of water, you want to drink. And that's what JDE Connect does – it creates a refreshing connection between shipping services and your ERP system that let's even small and midsize business on System i (or iSeries systems) take advantage of online shipping services. Let's look at the example of integration with UPS OnLine Tools to see how:

What it Does

JDE Connect uses the iBOLT UPS component to facilitate connection to United Parcel Service (UPS) applications via the Internet. The UPS component supports various shipping services including getting shipping rates; selecting services; shipping packages; tracking packages; determining shipment time; and canceling shipments.

How It Works

The UPS component invokes UPS OnLine Tools by initiating HTTP communication with the UPS server, as an alternative, you can also use the iBOLT Web Services component and simply invoke a UPS Web Service, it's up to you. If you do choose UPS OnLine tools, keep in mind that they use the secure HTTP (HTTPS) method for protection. Under the hood, interaction with the UPS OnLine tools server uses the HTTP POST method and the HTTP message content is formatted as an XML document.

Why IT Benefits Your Business

A number of benefits can derive from integrating UPS online tools with J.D. Edwards:

By reducing errors at the point of entry, improving flexibility of shipping options and even customizing your tracking numbers, the entire customer experience is enhanced as improved customer service levels are achieved.

Enhance compliance by simplifying tracking and solidifying audit trails, which is especially useful for international shipping.

Reduces support costs, returns and misdeliveries due to address errors by utilizing UPS Online Tools that are fully integrated with your website and your J.D. Edwards order processes.

Provide customers and employees with online ordering, shipping capabilities, and tracking, fully integrated with your J.D. Edwards system, enhancing the customer experience and increasing use of your website.

For a set of sample projects including a project about this Component, click http://ftp.magicsoftware.com/iBOLTproduct/samples/v2.5/ and click on SampleProfect2.5.zip to download the sample projects.

Mixed Oracle JDE and SAP Scenario? Yikes!

People are always interested in the use case scenarios for using JDE Connect. This one is interesting and somewhat blows my mind because it involves a mixed Oracle J.D. Edwards and SAP Business One environment. How companies get themselves in these situations is beyond me (well, I guess I understand that mergers, acquisitions, and just evolution over time lead to all this disparity) but it happens every day. The scenario shown below describes a situation leveraging ERP applications running on different platforms: J.D. Edwards on IBM System i, SAP Business One on IBM System x, and a custom RPG application also on the IBM System i, and certain functions of these financial applications are all integrated via a Web-based interface.

The scenario consists of these steps:

• A request via the Web to a JDE Connect/iBOLT Server.

• The Server categorizes the request as Customer, Vendor, or Partner.

• Customer requests are directed to a JD Edwards 5250 application, running on an IBM System i (formerly iSeries or AS/400) server, which updates the JD Edwards database. The AR is then updated and a confirmation email message is sent.

• Vendor requests are directed to a custom RPG application, which also runs on flawlessly on the IBM System i server, so there is no need to replace it, just a need to bring in the web input that updates the vendor database. The AP is then updated and a confirmation email message is sent to the vendor.

• Partner requests are directed to an SAP Business One® system, running on a “Wintel” server, that updates the SAP database. The J.D. Edwards system running on an IBM System i server is then updated and a confirmation email message is sent.

So it is kind of odd how company get into these situations, where they are using one application for CRM and partner management and another for other core processes. But it happens. And when it does, it is nice to be able to keep everything in sync.

OpenWorld Had Little News for J.D. Edwards Integration

Most of the people I talked to at the recently concluded Oracle Open World were asking the question: "Where's the Beef?" Sure there were hundreds of sessions, but most of the sessions lacked depth. Reporters complained that Oracle executives dodged interviews and there were far more questions than answers. When will Fusion be delivered? When is the next version of Oracle J.D. Edwards World going to be released? How will J.D. Edwards users benefit from Fusion Middleware? Which components of the stack are needed for coexistence, which ones are required for migration?

With so much due in the future and so little delivering today, there were plenty of unanswered questions. Perhaps the most exciting thing about the conference was the sheer energy and mass of the gathering – some 41,000 people packed Moscone Center and the Hilton, where the J.D. Edwards program was centered. Quest International User Group put on a nice reception. But useful hands-on sessions that go beyond the basics were in short supply. It's as if Oracle thought there were 41,000 CEOs attending Open World instead of 41,000 IT professionals.

The current war between SAP and Oracle has many customers concerned as to whether or not they should upgrade. Most are searching for coexistence rather than migration, and that's where solutions like JDE Connect and the iBOLT Integration Suite appear as a right-sized approach to integration, whether they plan to upgrade or not. Most World customers will probably continue to solve urgent integration challenges with custom RPG programming. But for some enterprises, code-free alternatives like JDE Connect deserve a closer look.

Life Flows On: But Do Your Business Processes?

Sure life flows on, but do your business processes? As discussed earlier, the JDE Connect/iBOLT system helps you create smooth running business processes between your J.D. Edwards ERP system and the other applications and workflow processes that surround it. JDE Connect connects you to websites, portals, homegrown RPG applications, third party applications and even human workflow (such as SMS or email, etc.) with all the security and operational integrity measures you desire.

We've discussed in previous entries how JDE Connect lets you define a topology that describes the physical relationship between your servers and applications and also allows you to model a high level business process view.

These are essentially preparatory steps taken before the real task at hand which is to create an executable business process. To create a smooth-running business process, you need to define the actual steps and tasks in that process. With JDE Connect, this is accomplished using the iBOLT Flow Editor, a very useful visual editor with drill-down functionality for defining logical conditions, expressions, and branches using required services, triggers and schedules. In other words, you use the flow editor to visually dictate how the JDE Connect/iBOLT Server will execute your business rules. This approach gives you complete control over how the integration of procedures, websites and applications outside JDE are handled. The advantage of the visual editor is that it allows business analysts and system architects to implement and modify business rules without the need for programming and it documents the flow of these business rules in a way that is easily understood.

A flow is where you define integration processes that are part of your topology. Within your flow, you include flow components to manage integration processes. You can also define an error handling policy for the flow.
Let's consider at a high level, the kind of power JDE Connect gives you over your business processes:

JDE Connect Understands When to Act Triggers, schedules and branching let you control when steps in your business process are executed. JDE Connect can use triggers to monitor events and execute a flow each time that event occurs. JDE Connect can execute a flow on a schedule or interval that you specify. JDE Connect can group your actions in branches that follow steps in a procedure one at a time (serially) or all at once (in parallel). You create a flow by inserting flows into the Flow Editor. The Flow Editor has Trigger and Flow areas. Components that trigger a flow automatically are placed in the Trigger area. Components that are part of the flow are placed in the main Flow area. The flow is executed in the order that you place the components. However, you can move a branch of components to change the branch order.

JDE Connect Understands Whether to Act JDE Connect allows you to set conditions for any step in a process. You can use conditions, or rules, to define the flow's execution behavior and create Flow Logic. You can conditionally specify the execution sequence of the flow components by setting the conditions, the condition execution point in the flow, and which flow component is executed when the condition is True or False.

JDE Connect Understands How to Act If you had to build all of your business processes from scratch by building up logical routines for common procedures, that would be a lot of unnecessary work. Instead, JDE Connect/iBOLT's out-of-the-box flow components have been developed to let you use the different iBOLT services.
When you develop your flows, you can configure the components to utilize iBOLT services. The iBOLT services are building blocks that provide the project architect more control over the project and are used to specify specific behavior while modeling the project. Adding services to a flow is as easy as dragging the Service into the flow.

The various services available within JDE Connect/iBOLT for quickly building processes that incorporate a best practices approach to business automation are: Data Mapper Service, Scheduler Service, Locking Services, Logical Name Service, Delay, Publish and Subscribe Services, Enable Flow Service, Wait for Event Service, Post Event Service, Flow Data Service (ODS and Variables), Flow Manager, Save Message, BAM Service, SNMP Service, Java Class Connector Service, and EJB Connector Service.

In our next post, we will overview the available components within JDE Connect. Life flows on. Blog you later!

Monitoring the Situation: ERP Integration

The initial promise of ERP was that a single application could run an entire business. Needless to say, ERP systems had limits and there are dozens of enterprise applications running outside the ERP system in most businesses. These applications often have to be integrated to the ERP system. That work is hard enough. But when you add the requirement to monitor those exchanges occurring between applications, you stretch most IT department capabilities to the limit. That's why systems like JDE Connect/iBOLT provide business process monitoring ability. Every business needs up-to-the-minute 360-degree views of vital business information. Business pulsing is the act of taking a snapshot view of the state of the enterprise at any given moment.

Business activity monitoring is designed to deliver up-to-date, useful information about the processes occurring within a company. The threats and opportunities identified by monitoring systems range from technical threats such as data throughput bottlenecks to strategic threats such as customer retention rates that lag behind industry benchmarks. Business activity monitors, such as the one included in JDE Connect/iBOLT make excellent activity collectors for the executive oriented business performance management consoles and reports provided by such systems as ARIS by IDS Scheer. Unfortunately, these performance management systems are blind to underlying business processes, and therefore really need a solution like the monitoring capabilities of JDE Connect/iBOLT. How does JDE Connect/iBOLT business activity monitoring work?

The JDE Connect/iBOLT Monitor lets you see a wide range of information about your integration project’s deployment performance. (In fact, you can choose to monitor any or all of your integration projects). The system has visibility of all its processes and can help you to see what is really happening in your business. You can view the information for your entire ERP integration project or you can select different levels within the project, right down to the performance of individual flow components, which are essentially performing specific steps in a business process, such as the approval of price exceptions or the rejection of shipments. With JDE Connect/iBOLT, relevant information is displayed and updated regularly. By default, the information is updated every five minutes, however you can change the refresh time interval as desired.

The information provided by the Monitor lets you examine your J.D. Edwards World or J.D. Edwards Enterprise One integration project and see where you need to make any modifications to improve performance. This functionality is provided whether or not Oracle Fusion Middleware is present. In fact for users on the IBM System i or iSeries, JDE Connect/iBOLT is much closer to the actual system being monitored because it employs native integration servers on the System i in i5OS (OS/400) or Linux. The Monitor also lets you make adjustments to the Servers without having to go back to the Editor and reconfigure your project.

The Monitor has three views that show the current activities and history of the JDE Connect/iBOLT project you selected. These are the graphical Monitor View, the Activity Log view, and the BAM Message View.

Dashboard Views. The graphical monitor view is the most exciting to business people because it provides a visualization of your business processes. Remember our discussion of your topology – the definition of your business integration map, so to speak? Well now you can see the performance of your topology. What specific business processes (flows) are a part of it? How often are they executing? How quickly are the processes completing? How often do they fail? This information can be vital to understanding what is really happening inside your business, and in the hands of a trained business analyst are quite useful in diagnosing problems as well as successes in business processes. You can also drill down to get a dashboard representation of similar information for a specific object or step in your business process.

Activity logs may not be visually exciting, but they are just as important as dashboard views, if not more so. Activity logs can be archived and as such represent an important record of what really happened in your business process and the associated data. Often, the real story that will interest auditors and regulators is in the metadata and not the data itself. How did the information get here?

BAM Service. You can also use Business Activity monitoring for triggers, so that as certain JDE integration events occur in a process, they can trigger other events, flows, alerts, alarms and escalations. The BAM (Business Activity Monitoring) service lets you define and configure the messages sent by the server that are related to your business processes. BAM messages monitor the essential business processes and provide messages and alerts about them. JDE Connect/iBOLT gives you extensive capabilities to add the BAM service to your flow and define the messages that are returned.

Good News. For Oracle J.D. Edwards World and Oracle J.D. Edwards Enterprise One users, all of this is good news because monitoring can now occur outside the walls of the ERP system. Businesses gain a holistic view of the enterprise that helps to deliver on one of the original promises of ERP.