Think about this: the company had to rewrite all of their EDI data maps that were in production. They had to support all existing versions of all data maps which at my count working with them totaled around 30 different EDI transaction types and versions. Each version makes it a unique map and adds to the EDI Integration timeline.

At this point, they wanted to bail but they purchase the Sterling Integrator product, which is not cheap, and has had it sitting on the shelf in their office for 5 years. They spent the money on the software and had no idea what to do with it, had no idea how to make a plan to integrate it, and no idea how much it would cost. By the time they spoke to Spinks Technologies in the summer of 2011, the only thing that concerned them was how much it would cost and could we do this type of massive integration in 3-6 months.

Laugh now, cry later. Of course, the first thought that they had was to run to India and find some workers for $10 per hour to implement this quickly and throw 5 developers at the project to get ‘er done. That is always the thought but EDI Implementations are bigger than this. You cannot simply throw it over the water and magically have this stuff done and integrated in 120 days. I really encourage CIO’s reading this to STOP this practice immediately.

Supply Chain logistics are complex matters to not be taken lightly and yes throwing the integration overseas with an expectation to have it come back done properly and cheaply is taking it lightly. This is not Microsoft Windows and a product built for user consumption. These are back end systems that are tightly coupled. So, back to the question: how does one save money and reduce EDI Integration costs?

I recommend two things: take a step back and have an actual real EDI assessment done of your entire trading partner community and consider going for an EDI Cloud computing solution where your EDI integration is done in the Supply Chain Cloud. This allows you to save considerable monies on integration. Contact us for details.

Hands down, I have not met anyone even if they claim to be, that knows more about EDI than we do. In fact, I have even written architectural novels on EDI Implementations. I have met people who have just gotten into EDI recently and people who claim that people overseas know more. Each time, when put to the test, they never, ever know more than our internal knowledge on EDI subject matter. We are simply put, the best EDI subject matter experts on the planet.

But how does this benefit you? It benefits corporate customers because you get best in class EDI experts to implement EDI for you. It benefits people new to EDI in that we are now setting up training classes on EDI and XML technologies to pass on what we know so that people become experts in their own right.

This portal can also be used for anyone who wants to learn about EDI, how it’s done, how to efficiently get EDI done, and utilize best practices in doing so. We have just signed on our training partner in San Francisco and are establishing dates for our monthly training series in the Bay Area. In the meantime, you will be able to use our new community portal for information sharing and finding hardcore solutions to problems that you can’t find anywhere else on the Internet.

Spinks Technologies San Francisco EDI Training Facility

Spinks Technologies, a true real world EDI Implementation leader, is starting a hands on EDI training course in San Francisco and in the Silicon Valley in 2011. This EDI class will be for anyone who wants to learn how to do EDI, make themselves marketable, and understand EDI development techniques of data integration.

The EDI class will cover EDI data map development, EDI business process development, XML data integration, and EDI communication over AS2, FTP, Secure FTP, and traditional Value Added Network services. The initial classes will be two day courses with additional hands on EDI courses offered on a application subscription basis that will allow the student to also be able to develop EDI data maps each week on our server. This is a revolution in training and the student will have weekly assignments that will build their EDI mapping experience and allow them to create maps each week.

This type of training is revolutionary because it will do one thing and one thing well: build real world job skills that you can put on your resume and increase your knowledge which increases your ability to get employed in this niche. Watch for details coming soon. If you need direct information, call Gerard Spinks directly at 678-993-7743.

A true EDI architecture and solution revolves around business processes and connecting data to ERP systems, WMS systems, or TMS systems. It is not as easy as throwing the mapping effort down offshore and expect the maps to work flawlessly the next day when everyone gets in to their desks in the morning in the United States. The most efficient way to manage EDI Implementations if you don’t want to do it inhouse is to use an onshore model that we offer. Yes, believe it or not, all of your EDI integration work can be done onshore in the USA. You get to your desk the same time we get to our desk in America. What does this mean to you? We hold daily meetings with all team members here and know exactly what needs to be done from the Project Plan and Implementation plan.

If you’re going to Outsource your EDI Integration and Implementation, you MUST do it with a clearly defined and budgeted project plan and gap analysis. If someone quotes you a timeframe of 90 days without analyzing your needs, you will be cheated, trust me. Nobody in the EDI world can perform a true and successful EDI Implementation without knowing your supply chain, your trading partners, the versions of the maps that need to be developed, and all file layouts of all systems. If someone quotes you some AWESOME price and they know nothing about these things listed, you will be in a world of hurt trying to work out the kinks and get the project completed.

We provide real world managed EDI services to you because we operate in the real world and have done EDI implementations exclusively since 1990. We are not the high cost leaders and we believe that EDI can be done pragmatically and onshore hiring American workers. Contact us today for a confidential analysis of your needs.

Spinks Technologies has been implementing EDI at major USA corporations since 1990 and has an impressive list of clients. More than that, we are now teaching new developers how to harness and become proficient in EDI development and integration techniques. The classes are two day courses in small classroom settings at the San Francisco Hyatt, Oakland Marriott and San Jose Hyatt Hotels. The two day courses cost $900 per person.

We are presently working out the details of the courses and will provide more information and registration information soon. Stay tuned for details. These classes are for developers interested in hands on training using the Sterling Gentran Integration Suite and has expert Sterling EDI Map Developers and Business Process developers as instructors. The best and brightest architects from the Bay Area will be teaching! Please come learn.

Like anyone who has done things the same way for far too long, this is short sighted and why you need new, fresh eyes, and young people around technology. Sending data via VAN’s is old and costly. VAN’s charge about $.05 per kilocharacter to send data and for some large companies, this becomes cost prohibitive quickly.

To set up EDI AS2 or AS3, you need to exchange private key certificates with your trading partner, set up URL’s to receive the data behind your firewall, and enable your software package to send and receive data in this manner and store the messages on your server. It is NOT hard. It requires a focused effort and a commitment by upper management to get the job done and budget for resources who know what they’re doing. The reason EDI via AS2 has been slow to adopt is because corporate management either over simplifies what needs to be done resulting in setting the wrong expectations, or corporate management sends this type of implementation overseas to someone who doesn’t even know what EDI is and has about 1 year of experience or less.

EDI is a niche technology and always has been. I’ve been arguing this whole EDI over the Internet thing since I architected the Netfish Technologies B2B Server EDI service back in 1999.

BPM is ideally suited to complex multi-department processes with multiple system (e.g. WMS, TMS, Database Table) or human tasks. BPM provides a tool for analysis of current (as-is) processes and optimization based on changing key process variables to impact exception conditions. The first order of business in defining your business processes is to organize two things: your team and your implementation methodology.

Large EDI Implementations and Integrations touch many players and data points along it’s path. To not organize and regularly meet with all players will end in failure and escalating EDI Implementation costs. The Business Process Management team should look like this:

Executive Sponsor:-Performs process reviews, arbitrates disputes and reports status to senior management.

Solution Delivery Owner:- Responsible for project delivery, resource allocation, risk management and reporting status.

Business Analyst:- Responsible for leading process analysis and requirements gathering. BA’s oversee process discovery sessions with end users and managers, in addition to modeling the process and business rules.

BPM Architect:- The BPM architect oversees design of technical components of the process. This includes system installation and configuration, application and forms development, and back-end integration

BPM Developer:- Codes the process flows, role assignments and rules defined by the business analyst.

Integration Developer:- Develops code to integrate with external systems, queues or other data sources.

Implementation Methodology

The SCRUM/Agile development methodology as shown in the following chart is the preferred methodology for BPM deployments.

Sterling Integrator SCRUM Agile Business Process Methodology

These retailers would send in orders to Able and the pharmacy company would fulfill the orders and ship products out to the retailers. Our main job was to rewrite all of the Macola EDI data maps into Sterling Gentran Integration Suite Maps for the Oracle EC Gateway product. We analyzed and rewrote every single EDI Map at Able Laboratories including the Outbound 850 Purchase Orders, Inbound 810 Invoices, Outbound 820 Remittance Advice and EFT with the banks, Outbound 856 Advance Ship Notices, and all trucking logistics documents including the Outbound 214, 204, and 210.

We worked closely with the financial controller of the company, the CEO, the CIO, and the Oracle ERP Order Management team to sync up all orders and invoices within the Oracle that passed through the Oracle EC Gateway. Spinks Technologies’ latest offer is Managed EDI Services where we completely host our clients’ EDI solutions at our top of the line data center and run the application and handle all of your integration and mapping needs internally so that you don’t have to maintain the infrastructure or the staff to do so.

I applied for the job at Rubicon and interviewed with two of their top developers for a daytime position. They didn’t think I had enough experience coming from American Airlines over in Euless, TX but they had a night time support job during the graveyard shift. It was an awesome opportunity and I jumped at it because it was great money! They offered me $24,000 per year to support hospitals during the night. The software utilized an healthcare EDI protocol called HL7, Health Level 7, to move data between disparate machines. When the software went down at a hospital lab such as at Kaiser Permanente or some of their other clients, the client would call our night time support line and get me.

While the job didn’t have much actual coding, it gave me exposure to hospital information systems, SMAC machines, HL7 Interfaces, Clinical Laboratory Information Systems, Relational Databases, EDI, MUMPS code, and VMS Operating systems. It basically created the foundation for my learning and understanding of EDI and End to End Data Integration. I’m thankful for that experience and thankful that I am now considered an expert leader in EDI that no one can take away from me regardless of what a recession will do and what some people may try and have one believe.

I moved on from Texas and moved to the Silicon Valley where I was exposed to massive EDI Implementations and launched my company back in 1993 by providing services to hospitals and Marin General Hospital to kick it all off. We now service different vertical markets and branched on from just hospital and healthcare but I still love data integration and the entire end to end data process.