Sorry about the long answer, but maybe this will shed some insight into what we are up to…
At present we know of a number of organizations who utilize our ECF that have successfully integrated with a number of "ERP" and "CRM" systems including SAP, Oracle/Peoplesoft, Microsoft Dynamics (Multiple Flavors), Salesforce.com, Sage (Flavors), Quickbooks (smaller level), and a number of other offerings on the market. In addition, there are a number of integrations with legacy or home grown systems that organizations have in place.
Of those integrations, people have chosen a number of approaches to their integration. Some have developed directly to the ECF API. Some have chosen to interface directly to the ECF Database, and some have chosen various import and export approaches to moving data back and forth between the ECF and their ERP. Some have even formalized interfaces based on their target and specialization of the ERP in question. Basically, the approach varies with the situation.
We have been specifically focusing our direct energy here over the last year on the MS Dynamics channel for several reasons. The first and foremost is that all of the ERP systems have a common pattern of integration with their ecommerce counterpart (ECF) and so we decided to simply pick one and to create a targeted solution and method for that market and then expand our solution into other markets using the base approach/solution. We have also been focusing on the B2B space more in conjunction with this product as we have had a lot of requests from organizations who want to use the ECF as a base for multiple online sales and relationship channels.
Our approach then was this…
1) Analyze the patterns and Architect the solution to enable a smart solution
2) Focus on delivering a strong web services/SOA interface for this solution
3) Partner with experts within the Dynamics Channel (We are working with this now with other vendors/products)
4) Engage several customers who need the solution and bake it in (We have done a number of live implementations)
5) Package and document the solution
6) Release it to market…. This is what we now call ECF Integration Services (ECF I/S)
So here we are now with a new package on the market that is designed to complement the ECF and make it easier and faster for developers to a) have a new source code package based on Web Services that they can extend or leverage b) provide core capabilities that allow for smarter integration between the ECF and ANY ERP, and c) provide yet another mechanism to be able to also develop custom applications and tools to work with the ECF such as call center order apps etc… In short, we are simply trying to expand the capabilities of ECF to fit more easily into the integration tentacles that all commerce solutions need to operate with.
A Targeted Scenario
As I mentioned earlier, the ECF already provides a large amount of choices and options for integration. With the new ECF I/S package we now provide you with a new source code framework that is designed to leverage the existing meta data structure of the ECF database but enable new capabilities like synchronization services which is critical to what we believe is the smartest approach for connecting your ERP to your ECF commerce engine.
Perhaps the best way to describe it is to describe the approach we have now taken using this product with a number of Microsoft Dynamics customers. In specific, I will describe a classic scenario from a Microsoft Dynamics Navision ERP integration perspective.
Customer X has a national wholesale/distribution/dealer network and they are selling to consumers as well as dealers and distributors. They want to have a common eCommerce engine to handle their B2C and B2B relationships. They have a multi-year investment in using their Dynamics/NAV ERP and their backoffice processes are already in place.
To simplify this, the most obvious desire is to completely leverage their ERP (Customers, Products/Skus/Items, Pricing Tiers, Orders, and Other critical information) and be able to seamlessly move transactions and information between their ecommerce front end and ERP backend.
So – here is how it works using the ECF I/S product we just put on the market. There is a clear planning effort you should do regarding the mapping of data and fields between your ERP and the desired data attributes you will have in your ECF site since you will be moving data between the ERP and the ECF. For brevity, I am implying that this has already been done in the scenario below.
Step 1 – Install Baseline ECF 4.1 Distribution/Solution
Step 2 – Install ECF I/S Package and Web Services Code
Step 3 - Create your Synchronization Approach Between ERP and ECF I/S
Note: Again you have many options as to how to do this, but the general approach is make sure that you have a mechanism to trigger bi-directional transactions based on activity that happens in the ERP or in the eCommerce Engine. Here are a few classic examples to quantify this.
1) If a customer purchases a product from the ECF, then the order information is passed back to the ERP Via ECF I/S
2) If a New Customer or customer type/segment is added to the ERP, then the customer information is sent to the ECF Via ECF I/S
3) If Inventory or pricing changes in the ERP then that information is sent back to the ECF Via ECF I/S
4) If New Products are added to the ERP, then the product and sku/item/variation information is created in the ECF
These are a few common examples. The key is to ensure that you have the method or synchronization service between the ECF I/S and the ERP. This is where you have some choices as well including write your own, or use other products that are specially geared to this. For example, if you are using Microsoft Dynamics/Nav (Navision) as your ERP then you will know that the ERP itself has some challenges for integration. Mediachase does not specialize in ERP nor will we. Rather we know that our ECF needs to provide clean ability for integration and customization. So in this case we find a partner who is expert in Dynamics/NAV ERP and who has a proper integration product that enables seamless access to the ERP and the complexities behind the scenes of dealing with ERP business logic, Database etc. For Dynamics/NAV we partner with Western Computer who has a product called Fusion which acts as a gateway to NAS and offers synchronization services transactional coordination between the ECF I/S and Navision. You can find out about Western Computer & Fusion at this link.
http://www.westerncomputer.com/
http://www.westerncomputer.com/doc/solutions_ecommerce.html
http://www.westerncomputer.com/doc/solutions_fusion.html
The basics of the configuration from a middleware abstraction perspective are here.
ECF <-> ECF I/S <-> WC Fusion <-> MS Dynamics/NAV
The advantages to this are that with this form of abstraction you can do different things with the front and back but remain protected from change to future versions and products or even replacements of core systems. In short, the whole reason for multi-tier systems with well defined service architecture.
In the case of fusion there is both an API and a scheduler that allows you to define the nature of the synchronization. Real-Time – Sync every 5 minutes for orders – sync every night at midnight for customers – etc. Basically you define the nature of the types of transactions and connections you want for the ERP based on your business needs.
Of course, you still have all sorts of other approaches you can use including using tools like BizTalk, or other established workflow/middleware approaches/adapters, but we have found that working with teams who truly understand the ERP and who specialize in it provide the best way for us to deliver targeted versions of the ECF I/S for those specific ERP implementations. Bottom line – you have a whole bunch of choices but if you use ECF I/S as a base code framework, you can leverage and extend in many ways.
For us now, we are very serious about integration and are actively seeking and working with partners who either have products and specializations with certain ERP solutions and who can leverage ECF I/S towards targeted ERP and CRM solutions. In addition, there are a number of other types of integration or even application development in the 3rd party eco system for ECF that are underway.
You will be hearing a lot about this as we start to make announcements towards the end of the year. Keep your eyes on this section over the next 2 weeks.
http://www.mediachase.com/ecf/integrationservices.aspx
Hope this helps…