Outbound EDI Route

Outbound EDI Routes identify outbound business documents and match them to a Business Process that performs the integration activity.

Outbound EDI documents originate, typically, in one of your back-end systems or ERP. Invoices, for example, typically originate in an Order Procurement system. Those invoices need to be sent to your partners, but they probably do not have the same ERP that you do. You need to convert them into a format that you have both agreed to. Since ERP and back-end systems vary widely, the Studio cannot make any assumptions about what your ERP data looks like. You have to give the Studio some "clues" about what constitutes an Invoice (for example), how to discover who it goes to, and what kind of format your trading partner expects.

Outbound EDI Routes associate your ERP's document format with a business process that produces a business document your trading partner expects. When an ERP business document is received for outbound EDI processing, the Studio will group the data, search the Outbound EDI Routes for a match, and then call all the Business Processes that are attached to the Outbound EDI Route. The Business Process performs the activity of converting your ERP's business document into the business document your trading partner expects.

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Business Use

Suppose you have two trading partners. You need to send invoices to each partner in X12/EDIFACT EDI format. Since the information originates from within your ERP you will need to convert the ERP's invoice format into the X12/EDIFACT EDI format your trading partner's expects. More than likely, the X12/EDIFACT EDI formats or the two trading partners may vary. You will want to ensure that each trading partner receives their EDI documents exactly how they have prescribed them.

In order to create outbound documents correctly for each trading partner, you will use an Outbound EDI Route. It identifies to whom the invoice should be sent and the business process activity that converts the invoice from the ERP's format to X12/EDIFACT EDI.

Now suppose your company grows and you need to bring on another trading partner to whom you wants to send invoices. You will need to identify who the invoice is sent to, but you'll be able leverage your established processes for handling invoices. In this case, you will still need to create an Outbound EDI Route, but you can leverage your previously developed processes. You don't have to create a new business process for each trading partner.

You may also experience a situation where a new trading partner dictates special business practices in order to accommodate their business. For efficiency purposes, you may want treat the new practices as an exception to your standard processes. In this case you need to have the flexibility to preserve your standard processes while handling your new trading partner as an exception. You can do this with the Studio, but will need to be able to identify which trading partners are exceptions and route them to the partners' special processes. All of these situations can be handled easily within the Studio using Outbound EDI Routes.

How the Object Works

Since back-end applications and ERP systems vary widely, the Studio cannot make any assumptions about what your outbound data looks like. You have to give the Studio some "clues" about what constitutes an invoice (for example), how to discover who it goes to, and what kind of format your trading partner expects. The processes for examining and identifying business documents and who they go to have to be built into the Studio. After the Studio has examines the data, it begins to look at the configuration you supply to direct the integration activity for a document.

The first step is for the Studio to search Outbound EDI Routes that match the information in your ERP data. When a match is found, the Studio will execute the Business Process associated with the Outbound EDI Route. If a match is not found, by default, the data is ignored. You can create custom processes that alert you in these circumstances.

The data the Studio uses to search Outbound EDI Routes is configured by you. You specify which fields/information in the data indicate which trading partner the data will be converted for.

Outbound EDI Routes are similar to Inbound EDI Routes in that they both create a link between data and the processes that convert them into a different form. Inbound EDI Routes link received data to Business Processes that convert to it your internal systems. Outbound EDI Routes link internal system data to processes that convert to it your trading partners formats.

Summary

To use an Outbound EDI Route, you must:

• Create an Outbound EDI Route in a package.
• Define the Outbound EDI Route in its editor.
• Create an Outbound EDI Route to associate a outbound EDI documents with Business Processes that perform integration activity.