Non-SAP Feeder System Interfaces to GTS Jessica Hill – EntryPoint Consulting Dave Moore – EntryPoint Consulting April 25, 2007

Learning Points • Provide an overview of when you would use a non-SAP feeder system and the different types of feeder systems • Define the technical infrastructure and design to support this process • Understand how master data and transactional data flow throughout the process • Educate attendees on key challenges and design considerations

Background • Most large companies have multiple feeder systems that require some sort of interaction with a global trade solution • There is a general perception that a company needs to roll out or upgrade its entire ERP system prior to tackling a global trade solution • Shouldn’t have to wait 3-5 years for an entire ERP solution to be implemented before addressing global trade solution • Legacy systems can be connected to GTS while the ERP implementations are going on and then integrated when the ERP system is live

The Challenge • Compliance isn’t a revenue-generating process therefore it doesn’t always get the attention it deserves • Difficult to assess ROI beyond an unquantifiable cost avoidance of penalties • If GTS can be incorporated in to the entire landscape architecture, and beyond just SAP, companies will see a much greater value for their investment

What Can You Connect to GTS? • Non-SAP ERP systems (Oracle, JDEdwards, PeopleSoft, etc.) • • •

Master Data – Customers, Vendors, Materials Sales Orders/Delivery Notes Purchase Orders/Stock Transport Orders

• Intranet • • • •

Lobby/Front Desk/Visitor Management Systems Pre-screening of new partners via company Intranet (sales prospects, potential vendors, etc.) New employees/hiring process Foreign National screening

• Internet •

Internet orders not processed in ERP system

• Ad Hoc Flat File/Spreadsheet • •

Company acquisitions (screen all its partners before integrating) Marketing databases

Potential Landscape Visitor/Lobby System

ABC.com Account

Sales Prospects

SPL Web Service

XYZ.com Account

HR

Legal Control - Export Web Service

eXchange Infrastructure .NET Business Connect Java Connector

SAP ERP

GTS

Non SAP ERP Middleware

Ad Hoc Batch Screening

BI

Connection Recommendations • Create a middleware program • Use eXchange Infrastructure (XI) or a web service • Use a proprietary homegrown program designed to publish data to GTS and to accept events and statuses back from GTS

• Create a custom table in ERP system to store all master data and transactional data • Table should have a flag to indicate successful processing/error messages

• Connect middleware using .net, Business Connect, XI or J-Co

SPL Design Recommendations • Create a standard web service to funnel all feeder system data into GTS • Perform data mapping before or in web service to achieve a common data structure to pass to GTS • If partners have unique IDs, data map to API_1006_SYNCH_MASS • When a pre-screening is needed (no unique ID yet), consider these options: • Use a one-time customer partner type to create a document for screening • Run in simulation and create a custom report to read from Simulate Log and send results to BI for archiving • Screen in simulation mode and send result back to web service – No record of screening (no archiving); or – Create custom table to store blocked partners or all partners with result set

SPL Design Considerations • Native GTS requires an event to publish a status • False positives can be released and there is no native way to send that communication back to the feeder system • Problematic for some of the web based customer systems

• Consider creating a web service for the feeder systems that continually calls GTS for SPL screening, in order for false positives to be released in feeder system • Modify the system to create an event that pushes a status or return message to web service

SPL Business Partner Design Flow Non-R3System System Non-R3

Create/ Update partner with internal # ref. to external #

GTSUser User GTS

Create/ update business partner

GTS GTS

GTS (Master Data)

No

Run SPL and EMB check and record results in db

GTS block?

Yes

Partner OK

Add to Blocked Partners report

Run Blocked Partner report in GTS

False positive?

Yes

Release partner

Keep blocked

No

Same design flow when using an R3 feeder system

Product Master Considerations • Need to data scrub Units of Measure to synchronize values between non-R3 feeder and GTS

Customer Customer

GTS GTS

Non-R3System System Non-R3

GTS (Master Data)

Create product master

Create products with attributes

Classify products (assign ECCN or USML, HTS, or Schedule B)

Order Management/Internet Sales • Use a middleware program to replicate R3 Plug-In functionality • • • •

Map partner types, document types, material types, etc. from non-SAP to GTS Use API_1006_SYNCH_MASS for business partners Use API_6850_SYNCH_MASS for materials Use /SAPSLL/API_6800_SYNCH_MASS for customs documents

• Design Considerations •

Need to understand minimum data requirements for GTS processing and how to get those requirements from the feeder system • Prevent orders in ERP from being processed if on hold in GTS • Process Technically Incomplete Documents • Redetermine/recheck program to update sales orders with updated data from GTS and feeder systems

Transactional Data Flow Create SO

GTS GTS

Middleware Middleware

Non-R3ERP ERP Non-R3

GTS - Transactions

Check GTS

Create Delivery (Pick)

Can I proceed?

Create Customs Document

Status of Order

Check GTS

Can I proceed?

Create Customs Document

Status of Delivery

Goods Issue (Ship Confirm)

Fetch Export Data

Export Document ation

Foreign National Screening with GTS • Visitors • •

Use web service to perform SPL check and validate country of citizenship If restricted, issue limited access badge

• Hiring • •

Use web service to pass country of citizenship, working country, and other employee data Use simulation mode for export licensing to determine if employee is eligible to work in a specific area

• Access to restricted documents • • • •

Create engineering documents as material masters and classify in GTS Create employees as partners Use simulation mode for export licensing to determine if employee can have access to documentation Or use Export License Check web service

Foreign National Screening Flow HRSystem System HR

Create as a product

Publish classified document in non-R3 system

Register document and send metadata to GTS

Requestor Requestor

Author Author

Creating business partner

Non-R3 Non-R3

Create employee record

GTS GTS

Accessing Restricted Technology

Research document and Assign ECCN

Create a Customs Document

Receive Y/N response

Request access to classified document

Access granted or denied

Ad Hoc Screening • Examples of when Ad Hoc screening applicable • Purchase a marketing database and want to screen all entities on list • Acquire a company and want screen all partners in new company’s database

• Create an upload program that will screen partners from a spreadsheet

Challenges – Data Format/Quality • Country field not always required from feeder systems • Name/Address fields are longer than SAP standard of 40 characters • Potential for some feeder systems to have less control in customer file maintenance causing data quality issues • Not all feeder systems will translate double-byte characters to English • Design Consideration •

Put controls in place to correct any data integrity issues in feeder system • No auditing in GTS

•

May need to design field modifications in order to accommodate additional fields that are not native to SAP

Challenges – Data Synchronization • Difficult to keep non-integrated systems in synch with production system (data refreshes, master data maintenance in test environments, etc.) • If lose connection between the systems, the transactional and master data can get caught in the handshake • The currency conversion table requires updates directly in GTS • Design Considerations • • • •

Implement a maintenance process to keep systems synchronized Design a mechanism to notify feeder system of GTS outages Monitor middleware for synchronization issues Consider implementing automatic updates to currency table in GTS from feeder system

Challenges – SAP culture • When working with customers not familiar with SAP, it is difficult to help them understand the plethora of resources out there for the SAP user community • • • • •

Service Marketplace/Customer Messages SAP Training ASUG and Special Interest Groups SAP release cycle OSS notes/Service Packs/upgrades, etc.

• Finding the equivalent terms between the different ERP systems • • •

Quotes/Orders/Deliveries Customs Documents Post Goods Issue

Project Plan Considerations • Interface development requires additional time and resources compared to R3 Plug-In • ERP technical and GTS technical resources needed • Must scope properly in the schedule

• Data conversions • Data clean up and manipulation may be required • Less predictability on validation due to non-SAP feeder system

Best Practices and Considerations • • • •

One way interface highly recommended Data clean up is often times mandatory Force changes in feeder system Require a resource that has a deep understanding of sales and distribution and all the various business models • Extremely critical for design phase AND testing

Key Messages • GTS has the potential to be a core component to the entire enterprise and to maximize the benefit of the application • Companies can achieve a much greater value for their investment in GTS then initially realized • Multiple customers today are interfacing to non-R3 systems – proven functionality

Session Code: 4710