Building a successful supply chain process can be a complex task. With BizTalk Server’s support for EDI standards (such as X12 and Electronic Data Interchange For Administration, Commerce, and Transport or EDIFACT), we have designed Business to Business (B2B) supplier integrations very quickly and efficiently. BizTalk Server can provide the same capabilities as that of value-added networks (VANs), with the additional benefit of using it as a platform for deploying service oriented architecture (SOA) based applications. In addition, we have worked with RF ID technology provided by BizTalk and other third party vendors to automate order fulfilment. We have also architected and delivered applications that fit the pattern of the “internet of things”. Some examples of the work we’ve done are listed below.
Problem:
A large steel manufacturer in the East wanted to migrate its trading partner integration from Gentran to BizTalk as part of its strategy migrate its core applications from mainframes to lower cost platforms,
Solution:
We implemented B2B trading partner integrations for EDI X12 810, 845, 850 along with 997/999 acknowledgements, using BizTalk’s deep support for document exchange using FTP, SFTP, and AS2 protocols in which to transfer and receive information, including trading partner configuration management, transformations, and orchestrations. We used BizTalk mapper’s advanced functoids to create complex maps for transforming inbound and outbound messages from internal proprietary formats to X12 standard formats. In addition, we developed business workflows through orchestrations, implemented rules via the business rules engine (BRE), provided document-tracking
Problem:
A large chemical company wanted to monitor chemicals in the tanks they supplied to their customers to determine when chemicals would need to be reordered and then use this information to control and optimize their manufacturing process. The chemicals sold by the customer protected equipment used in the water based industrial process e.g. reduced corrosion, calcification etc. If the tank runs dry, it could impact the equipment associated with the industrial process and result in loss revenues due to equipment failure and down time. Tank level monitoring has been used to control chemical dosages related to water quality used within industrial, commercial, manufacturing and municipal wastewater systems.
Solution:
We used Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010 to parse data sent via VPN by process controllers and sensors that monitor chemical levels in tanks so that the customer could track usage and alert their customers when levels were low and they had to reorder chemicals. The data collected from controllers were routed using Microsoft BizTalk Server to different databases and the data would be queried and reported using ASP.Net based web applications used by the operations team and sales engineers. This allowed them to monitor, in real-time, the need to reorder chemicals for their customers water treatment processes, including effectiveness of chemicals for treating industrial cooling towers, boilers,
