SupplierConnect - Introduction

SupplierConnect provides a framework for enabling suppliers to send and receive electronic transactions to and from customers and business partners. Components are provided for validation, translation, and integration of transaction messages with internal systems. Suppliers benefit from the reduced operating costs of electronic exchange of business documents such as orders and invoices.

The SupplierConnect package includes a sample configuration which can be used to receive electronic orders from partners in cXML and BASDA eBIS-XML formats. Sample handlers are provided to parse, validate and translate those formats.

A typical SupplierConnect deployment sits on the corporate firewall, able to exchange data directly with customers and eCommerce hubs across the Internet.

The SupplierConnect server can receive electronic documents from business partners and customers via any method, for example secure HTTP, Web Services, or email. SupplierConnect can then be configured to process those documents using a series of reusable handler components in a processing pipeline. A typical processing pipeline would be:

• Parsing the incoming business document
• Validating the document
• Transforming the document into a format suitable for integration with internal systems (i.e. a sales processing application)
• Sending the transformed document to the target application

SupplierConnect can be configured to integrate with internal systems (i.e. sales processing applications)and automate the process of sending electronic documents such as Invoices or Shipping notes. A pipeline is configured to integrate with the internal system via an available means such as email, JMS, or reading files from a network. A typical processing pipeline would be:

• Parsing the internal format of business document
• Identifying the party to which the document will be sent
• Identifying the capability of that party to receive the type of document
• Transforming the internal format document into a format suitable for the target party
• Sending the document to the target party (i.e. sending an invoice document to a customer via the Ariba Supplier Network)

• Read the Getting Started page. This page includes instructions for downloading and testing the sample configuration, which includes a test harness to test cXML and eBIS-XML order processing.

SupplierConnect is a Java/J2EE application. A project goal is to support deployment on any J2EE application server, as this may allow organisations to use existing infrastructure where possible to reduce costs.

The primary development platform is JBoss 3 with further test deployment on BEA Weblogic 7.

SupplierConnect has been released as an open source project by Kenisys Ltd, a leading European eBusiness consultancy specialising in eProcurement and Enterprise Spend Management.