Exploring new territories - the unknown world between … · Inhouse-conversion vs. external service provider 31 ERP system ... • UN/EDIFACT delimiter based • ANSI ASC X12 delimiter

Exploring new territories - the unknown world between two

SAP ERP systems

Philipp Liegl@ecosioHQ

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whoami

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whoami cont‘d

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Here be dragonsA journey between two SAP systems

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Electronic Data Interchange is fully automatedBut until it works, it is a people business

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SAP Project Manager“We must deliver on

time and budget”

SAP Consultant“I must adhere to the

business blue print and get the customizing right”

ABAP programmer“*@%#& them and their

constantly changing requirements”

SAP Basis“The instance is too small,I told them a million times”

Car manufacturer“Please call global service

helpdesk for further assistance”

Customer“We must go live on xyz

by all means”

Supplier“We do not have time

for EDI now, please comeback in 6 months”

EDI service provider“SAP team, customer,

suppliers and OEMs, please provide commitment”

Agenda

The roots of electronic data interchange (EDI)

EDI in detailIdentificationRepresentationData exchange

EDI and SAP

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The Berlin Airlift – the roots of Electronic Data Interchange

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1948

Goods identification and advanced shipping notifications

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„Information about the transported goods is as important as the goods themselves“

-- Edward Guilbert

What is Electronic Data Interchange exactly?

• Not a „single“ technology – rather a concept

• The exchange of structured electronic documents between software systems of different companies with minimal human intervention.

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Supplier

ERP system A

Manufacturer

ERP system B

Order

Advanced shipping notification

Goods

The necessity of a unique identification

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Schraube

screw

tire-bouchon

tornillo

vite

�� [��] śruba

The three main requirements of electronic data interchange

Unique identification of exchanged products and services as well as the participating partners

Unique representation of exchanged information

Exchange procotol, which guarantees the delivery of electronic documents

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Identification

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Identification cont’d

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Machine processing without unique identification. How many companies do you see?

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ecosio InterCom GmbH

Leoprechtingstr. 3281739 München

Deutschland


Leoprechtingstraße 32

81739 München


Leoprechtingstrasse 32

81739 Munich

Germany


Leoprechtingstr. 32

81739 Muenchen

Allemagne

Identification numbers to the rescueWe simply take SAP debtor or creditor numbers

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Do not do that. Ever.

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Necessity of unique identification

• Companies

• Products and services• Transport units

• EDI addresses

Solution

• Use of a common code scheme, which is maintained by a central administration body

• Prevents use of duplicate codes and guarantees global uniqueness

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Where to take these “unique” numbers from?

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Bilateral agreement between partners

• Global uniqueness• Very common in retail• Unique identification of partners (GLN),

products (GTIN), pallets (SSCC), etc.

• Global uniqueness• Unique identification of partners only (DUNS no.)

• No global uniqueness• Often used in industry (e.g., BMW-AG,

JLR, etc.)• Customer/supplier material numbers

Global Location Numbers (GLN)Unique identification of business partners and EDI mailboxes

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N1 N2 N3 N4 N5 N6 N7 N8 N9 N10 N11 N12 N13

GS1 company prefix(7 – 9 digits)

location reference check digit

Structure

Example

Company XYZBranch 1

Company XYZBranch 2

GLN: 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 0 0 0 0 0 4

GLN: 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 1 0 0 0 0 1

Tired?

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20166.062 billion cans sold

GTIN – Global Trade Item Number

• GS1 number for the unique identification of trade items

• A GTIN has 8/12/13/14 digits

• GTIN is based on the GLN of a company

• GTINs are exchanged using master data exchange concepts (e.g., GDSN - Global Data Synchronization Network)

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SSCC – Serial Shipping Container Code

Unique identification of transport units

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Sender:ecosio InterCom GmbHLeoprechtingstr. 3281739 München

SSCC:

GTIN:

Production date: Lot:

3 426030462 1234567 8

42 6030462 999 4

15.12.2016 4711A3

NVE

Why is the transport label in conjunction with EDI so important?

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Pallet 1SSCC: 342603046212345678GTIN: 4260304629994Delivered units: 10



Sandwich pallet:Master SSCC: 342603046212345104

Representation

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import java.math.BigDecimal;

import lombok.Data;

//Generates toString, equals, hashCode and //all getters and setters@Datapublic class Product {

private String id;private String name;private BigDecimal price;

}

import com.ecosio.entities.Product;

import java.math.BigDecimal;import java.util.ArrayList;import java.util.List;

public class ProductProcessor {

List<Product> productList = new ArrayList<>();

private void loadProducts() { Product p = new Product();p.setId("4711");p.setName("Some name");p.setPrice(new BigDecimal("34.50"));productList.add(p);

}}

Your nice internal data structures?

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Unambiguous representation of exchanged information is an important prerequisite for EDI

Application-to-application communication requires a standardized exchange format, which sender and recipient understand

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Sender‘sERP system

Recipient‘sERP system

EDIFACT EANCOM D01B DESADV

Sender‘sERP system

Recipient‘sERP system

Converter

EDIFACT EANCOM D01B DESADV

VDA 4913 dispatch advice

Data exchange formats

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VDAFlat-Text

EDIFACT

EDIFACT EANCOM

XMLcXML CSV

IDocTRADACOM GS1 XML

openTRANS

proprietaryformat

ZUGFeRD

UBL

JSON

ANSI ASC X12

A few standardization organizations

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A Joint Publication

ECM RecommendationPart 0 (ECM) Version 2.0, issued Aug. 2009 Replacements: Version 1.0

VDA 4965 – Part 0 Version 3.0, issued Jan. 2010 Replacements: Version 2.0

A Joint Publication

ECM RecommendationPart 0 (ECM) Version 2.0, issued Aug. 2009 Replacements: Version 1.0

VDA 4965 – Part 0 Version 3.0, issued Jan. 2010 Replacements: Version 2.0

Overcoming different languages

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Conversion (or mapping) – translating between different formats

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Sender

ERP system A

Recipient

ERP system B

Proprietary format A

Proprietary format B

ConversionRouting

EDI formate.g., VDA, EDIFACT, etc.

ConversionRouting

Inhouse-conversion vs. external service provider

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ERP system

EDI converter EDI serviceprovider

Routing

ERP-System

EDI serviceprovider

RoutingConversion

• In-depth EDI know-how necessary(setup of conversions and maintenance)

• Considerable initial costs and continuous maintenance costs

• For high volume EDI

• Setup and maintenance of conversion is done by external service provider

• Low inital costs – well suited for SMEs• No inhouse EDI know-how necessary

Motivation for an EDI standard

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A

B

CD

E

A

B

CD

E Standardformat

Examples for EDI standards

• UN/EDIFACT delimiter based

• ANSI ASC X12 delimiter based• VDA EDIFACT-based and fixed-length

• ODETTE based on EDIFACT

• EANCOM EDIFACT subset

• cXML XML

• openTRANS XML• IDoc XML or fixed-length, rather an exchange format, than

• … an EDI standard

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EDIFACT example for an ORDERS message

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UNA:+.? 'UNB+UNOA:3+01234567890123:14+01234567890124:14+130516:1552+MSGNR111++++++1'UNH+1+ORDERS:D:96A:UN:EAN008'BGM+220+DOCNR1234'DTM+137:20130519:102'DTM+2:20130520:102'NAD+BY+5682357469542::9'NAD+DP+3839204839274::9'NAD+SU+0293083940382::9'LIN+1++1122334455667:EN'QTY+21:11.00:PCE'UNS+S'CNT+2:1'UNT+12+1'UNZ+1+MSGNR111'

UNB segmentInterchange header

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UNA:+.? 'UNB+UNOA:3+01234567890123:14+01234567890124:14+130516:1552+MSGNR111++++++1'

Used charset

UNOA = UN/ECE level A equals ISO 646 – with some exceptionsUNOB = UN/ECE level Blike UNOA with less exceptionsUNOC = UN/ECE level Cequals ISO-8859-1UNOD = UN/ECE level Dequals ISO-8859-2UNOE = UN/ECE level Eequals ISO-8859-5 (cyrillic)UNOF = UN/ECE level Fequals ISO 8859-7 (latin/greek)etc.

Sender of message

Receiver of message

Date and time

Interchange ID

Test indicator

XML standards

• Became increasingly popular by mid/end of the nineties of the last century

• Distinction between markup and content• Larger memory footprint than delimiter based or fixed-length formats

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<document:MessageHeader><document:MessageReferenceNumber>1</document:MessageReferenceNumber><document:MessageType>DELFOR</document:MessageType>

</document:MessageHeader><document:BeginningOfMessage><document:DocumentNameEncoded>241</document:DocumentNameEncoded><document:DocumentNumber>000000108</document:DocumentNumber>

</document:BeginningOfMessage>

Memory footprint comparisonDoes it matter?

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VW DELFOR (EDIFACT)

Internal converter format(XML)

SAP IDoc DELFOR(XML)

12 KB 120 KB(10 x)

58 KB(~ 5 x)

UN/EDIFACT IDoc XML

Keep in mind that routing and storage do not come for free!

Typical message types in the retail industry

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Supplier Buyer

Order (ORDERS)

Order Change (ORDCHG)

Order Response (ORDRSP)

Dispatch Advice (DESADV)

Goods

Receipt Advice (RECADV)

Invoice (INVOIC)

Price Catalog (PRICAT)

https://blogs.sap.com/2017/09/05/realizing-procurement-edi-processes-with-ansi-asc-x12-edifact-and-idocs/

https://blogs.sap.com/2017/09/05/realizing-procurement-edi-processes-with-ansi-asc-x12-edifact-and-idocs/

Typical message types in the automotive industry

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Tier 1 supplier OEM

JIT forecast (DELJIT)

JIS forecast (DELJIT)

Goods

Receipt Advice (RECADV)

Invoice/Credit note (INVOIC)

Forecast (DELFOR)

ASN (DESADV)

Funct. Ack (CONTRL)

https://blogs.sap.com/2017/08/17/realizing-automotive-edi-processes-with-vda-edifact-ansi-odette-and-idocs/

https://blogs.sap.com/2017/08/17/realizing-automotive-edi-processes-with-vda-edifact-ansi-odette-and-idocs/

Routing of EDI messages

Each EDI message must be able to answer the following four questions:

• Who are you?• Where do you come from?

• Where do you want to go?

• Are you a test message?

Additional questions• What is your unique ID?

• When have you been created?

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Data exchange

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IBM 360 in action at Volkswagen

Data transport today using dedicated protocols

• AS2

• SFTP, FTPS

• OFTP2

• OFTP1 (not recommended, as ISDN will soon be switched off)

• X.400 (can be quite costly)

• RESTful Web Services• Usually for the last mile between ERP and service provider

• SOAP/WSDL• Quite verbose and rigid – cf. WS Death Star

• SMTP• Only when sender authenticates at the SMTP

• VAN• Old term for dedicated EDI networks. Some still exist, e.g., ANXeBusiness, ENX, JNX, etc.

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Data transport – usually a four corner model is used

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Company ASAP

ERP system

Service provider A

Routing

Delivery andFetch

Service provider B

Company BMS Dynamics ERP system

Delivery andFetch

Rule of thumb – be process compliant or prepare for a rough ride

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Ready? Let’s go

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SAP and EDI

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SAP ERP EDIservice provider

EDIFACT,VDA, etc.IDoc

outbound

inbound

Partner

IDoc – Intermediate DocumentProvide XML Schema and documentation to the EDI service provider

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WE60

SAP and EDIYes, there are dragons

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Customer‘s domain

SAP-System

Business partner

Business partner

Business partner

Business partner

Business partner

Business partner

…

EDIFACT D96A, X.400Telekom

VAN 1

VAN 2etc.

UBL-XML, SFTP

ODETTE DELFOR, SMTP

CSV, X.400

EANCOM D98B, AS2

VDA 4913, OFTP, ISDN

AS2server

X.400box

SFTPserver

etc.

EDIconverter

Performsmappings

Generates andconsumes IDocs

Typically a service provider is hired, who tames the „dragons“

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Import-/export-interface

Business partner

Business partner

Business partner

Business partner

Business partner

Business partner

…

all business partners,protocols and formats

onemanaged

connectionEDI service

provider(routing,

conversion)

ERP system

Closer integration using an API – EDI functionality as native feature of the ERP system

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ERPEL Add-On

Business partner

Business partner

Business partner

Business partner

Business partner

Business partner

…

all business partners,protocols and formats

SAP system

ERPEL API

Incoming messagesExample delivery forecast

Customer

VDA 4905 delivery forecastvia OFTP2

EPO Connector

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2Convert VDA 4905 -> SAP IDocPack in JSON object (with meta data)

4Unpack IDocs and hand over tofunction module in SAP

5aAfter successful creation of IDoc, call callbackservice and pass IDoc ID

5bIn case of an error, call callback, pass error message and pass IDoc ID

6 Correlate callback to original ID

1a OFTP EERP/NEERP

Acknowledgement

Message

3PULL using HTTP GETRetrieval of JSON objectwith embedded IDocplus ecosio message ID

EDI minefield

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Outbound message routing, based on EDI_DC40 informationOften unique sender and receiver identification is missing

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<DESADV01><IDOC BEGIN="1"><EDI_DC40 SEGMENT="1">

<TABNAM>EDI_DC40</TABNAM><MANDT>100</MANDT><DOCNUM>0000000046615484</DOCNUM><DOCREL>700</DOCREL><STATUS>30</STATUS><DIRECT>1</DIRECT><OUTMOD>2</OUTMOD><IDOCTYP>DESADV01</IDOCTYP><MESTYP>DESADV</MESTYP><SNDPOR>SAPP01</SNDPOR><SNDPRT>LS</SNDPRT><SNDPRN>P01CLNT100</SNDPRN><SNDLAD>7844849473214</SNDLAD><RCVPOR>ECOSIO</RCVPOR><RCVPRT>KU</RCVPRT><RCVPFC>SP</RCVPFC><RCVPRN>1005101</RCVPRN><RCVLAD>95412163215412</RCVLAD><CREDAT>20170822</CREDAT><CRETIM>064159</CRETIM><SERIAL>20170822064159</SERIAL>

</EDI_DC40>...

</DESADV01>

oftenmissing

Example Daimler

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UNA:+.? 'UNB+UNOA:1+SUPPLIER-XYZ+O0013007313MB006000+171005:1638+5571'UNH+80035375+DESADV:D:96A:UN'

Receiver identification on aper-factory basis must be retrieved from the exported IDoc

Re-keying of information

Oftentimes no unique representation of information is available• Buyer’s article number vs. supplier’s article number• Buyer’s sold-to identification vs. supplier’s sold-to identification• Matching of purchasing organization vs. sales organization• etc.

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Margarete (Gretchen) to Faust:

“Where shall we re-key?”

Don’t you dare!

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Where to re-key?

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Serviceprovider Daimler

Ship-To: GLC Germersheim4711

GLC GermersheimO0013007313MB006000

DESADVD96AIDoc

• The originator must re-key (= the SAP)

• Do not re-key in the mapping on the service provider’s side (maintenance nightmare)

Wrap up

• EDI is a prerequisite for efficient inter-organizational processes

• Large enterprises and medium-sized companies need EDI to run their business

• SMEs must comply with the EDI requirements

• However, they may benefit from EDI as well

• EDI converter – local vs. outsourced

• Four corner-model communication• SAP may serve as target/source for EDI processes

• EDI in SAP is not turn-key – some configuration is always necessary

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ecosio InterCom GmbHLeoprechtingstr. 3281739 München, GermanyTel: +49 89 6066 6456

ecosio GmbHLange Gasse 301080 Wien, AustriaTel.: +43 1 996 21 06

Email: [email protected]: https://www.ecosio.comTwitter: @ecosioHQ

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.ecosio.com/

Image credits

SAP Logo: SAP SE, http://www.sap.comWorld map: http://www.gallery.oldbookart.com/ Map of Germany, landing C-17, care package, planes at Tempelhof, tower of Babel, UN security council, IBM 360 at Volkswagen, Minen-Mines, Gretchen and Faust: Wikimedia CommonsCompany logos: https://www.fastcodesign.com/3034007/whats-the-difference-between-a-logo-and-a-symbol Loading ramp: http://www.butt.deGoods on truck: http://www.mvn.chBorder control: http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/n56225uJLV6/Customs+Border+Protection+Screen+Travelers/3etDcuVTplj Icons: Freepik - http://www.flaticon.comRed Bull: own pictureRough road: https://www.flickr.com/photos/childplay/7852066624

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Exploring new territories - the unknown world between … · Inhouse-conversion vs. external service provider 31 ERP system ... • UN/EDIFACT delimiter based • ANSI ASC X12 delimiter

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