Amazon AS2 comminication setup using open source AS2Secure on Linux platform

Hello All ,

Very recently I have worked on below project and I have implemented successfully. Just I want to share some insights about this project.

Business Requirement : AuthorityBuy.com company wants to do business with Amazon to sell their products. As part of their business requirement , AuthorityBuy.com wants to exchanges their business standard documents like 850 , 855 , 856 etc. with Amazon using AS2 communication channel. So they are looking for low cost based in-house AS2 setup with any free open source AS2 application. After analyzing the available different open source AS2 applications options like OpenAS2 , Mandelson AS2 , AS2Secure etc. , They have decided to use AS2Secure application. 

Solution Implementation : As part of solution implementation , initially need to have any one web server (Ex. Apache , lighttpd etc) and registered domain name to send or receive files to/from external world. After installing Lighttpd webserver we need to map the domain name with one port to this webserver to handle any requests coming from external world. After that we have installed AS2Secure application on Linux platform and configured to handle AS2 requests and sending corresponding MDN acknowledgements over http protocol.

Responsibilities :

*** Installing and configuring Lighttpd webserver for receiving HTTP requests from external world.

*** Installing AS2Secure server for AS2 handling

*** Configuring AS2Secure server to handle any http requests over AS2

*** Done the EDI configurations for AuthorityBuy.com company in Amazon vendor central partner setups

*** Did some changes in AS2Secure PHP code and did the testing of outbound connection from Amazon

*** Troubleshooting connectivity issues and fixed the issues and getting successful response from partner AS2 server by getting positive MDN

*** Did the teting of inbound connection to Amazon and fixing the connectivity issues.

*** Providing support after implementing successful connectivity between Amazon and AuthorityBuy.com partner

*** Had documented the changes which we have done to current system while implementing connectivity setup

What to consider while making decisions on choosing right EDI software application that suits our business model

Please do not make an application decision based solely on IT nerdy attributes. Focus on the business model first before evaluating commercial off the shelf software.

Elicit the Business Requirements

* What is the business driver? Are you moving from fully paper process to the first EDI implementation?
* Is this EDI solution Supply Chain (orders, ASN, invoice, et al) vs HIPPA Medical? If Medical then hire one of the expert companies in that niche who are represented on this listserv.
* In what countries will the business be done? US only vs global?
* What formats and protocols are required? X12 (retail vs grocery), EDIFACT, any flavors of XML?
* Is there a requirement for EDI outliers like FAX-to-EDI, EDI-by-Email?
* What is the future Support Model? Will business process performers (ex: customer service professionals, schedulers, etc) continue to support the DATA in EDI transactions? Will one or more EDI Specialists support only the IT part? Consider the staffing model carefully.
* Your company will save money if you design a systems that enables a new trading partner to be properly onboarded to EDI as quickly as possible.
* Is there a requirement for Records Management? How about PII? PCI DSS? Auditing? Segregation of Duties? IT Security? There are special requirements for EDI in the EU, and other places as laws mature.
* I favor a logical model that states the computers will handle all steady state transactions without human intervention at all, and that the most appropriate service provider will always receive a timely targeted and actionable alert on exceptions.
* Focus on cost/document, cost and time to onboard, regulatory compliance and records management, troubleshooting.
* Is there a business drive toward cloud? Does you company have a private cloud?
* Design and build highly reusable standardized ERP interfaces, so that a customer order by EDI or by call or by web form all use the same ERP interface.
* What is the error rate on inbound documents today? Ex: How frequently are current trading partners sending bad data?
* What is your company's sales channel strategy? Some VMI. some EDI, some web form, some other stuff?
* If you are willing, buy the latest Gartner Magic Quadrant report. Consider the findings.
* Carefully consider the trading partners. What is their technical capability? Is your company a supplier that is being forced to support EDI as a cost of doing business? Are your company's Sales Reps able to understand EDI well enough to influence the pre-contract negotiation to avoid EDI failure?
* Even if you buy COTS EDI software, you may be required to pay for one or more VANs as stipulated by the buyer.
* What is the scope and scale of the EDI requirement? How may documents per year? How many trading partners? How many interfaces, where 1 interface = 1 document type to/from 1 trading partner? How big is the data footprint in MB/year for the archive?
* If you go with COTS EDI software, then I recommend a license and training in one of the leading schema/MIG/testing tools like SpecBuilder or EDIsym or others. Consider schema definition files carefully.
* What is the service level of the EDI application? Is it 24x7x365 vs just regular business hours on one time zone? What spoken/written languages need to be supported?
* Is there an ERP change coming soon? If so consider changing EDI at the same time.
* If you host COTS EDI on-premises then you also need to design a secure transmission solution that is fully IT secure. I have had good success with Cleo VLTrader. Consider DRP and HA during the selection process.
* In Supply Chain business, I recommend a design and system that allows for fast/easy/cheap reuse (or sharing) of maps, AS2, and SFTP, and FTPS (SSL/TLS) if and only if the software allows me to enforce encryption level else don't offer it. For riskier transmission, consider a cost advantaged VAN only for transmission.

Just saying. This decision process is often led by an Enterprise Architect or experienced EDI consultant. The implementation project can be done in-house or outsourced.

Amazon AS2 communication setup using open source AS2Secure on Linux platform

Hello All ,

Very recently I have worked on below project and I have implemented successfully. Just I want to share some insights about this project.

Business Requirement : AuthorityBuy.com company wants to do business with Amazon to sell their products. As part of their business requirement , AuthorityBuy.com wants to exchanges their business standard documents like 850 , 855 , 856 etc. with Amazon using AS2 communication channel. So they are looking for low cost based in-house AS2 setup with any free open source AS2 application. After analyzing the available different open source AS2 applications options like OpenAS2 , Mandelson AS2 , AS2Secure etc. , They have decided to use AS2Secure application. 

Solution Implementation : As part of solution implementation , initially need to have any one web server (Ex. Apache , lighttpd etc) and registered domain name to send or receive files to/from external world. After installing Lighttpd webserver we need to map the domain name with one port to this webserver to handle any requests coming from external world. After that we have installed AS2Secure application on Linux platform and configured to handle AS2 requests and sending corresponding MDN acknowledgements over http protocol.

Responsibilities :

*** Installing and configuring Lighttpd webserver for receiving HTTP requests from external world.

*** Installing AS2Secure server for AS2 handling

*** Configuring AS2Secure server to handle any http requests over AS2

*** Done the EDI configurations for AuthorityBuy.com company in Amazon vendor central partner setups

*** Did some changes in AS2Secure PHP code and did the testing of outbound connection from Amazon

*** Troubleshooting connectivity issues and fixed the issues and getting successful response from partner AS2 server by getting positive MDN

*** Did the teting of inbound connection to Amazon and fixing the connectivity issues.

*** Providing support after implementing successful connectivity between Amazon and AuthorityBuy.com partner

*** Had documented the changes which we have done to current system while implementing connectivity setup

IBM Sterling Integrator or Gentran Integration Suite maps – backward compatibility

GIS/SI maps – backward compatibility

If you work as a map developer, and your clients use different versions of GIS/SI (and different Sterling Integrator Map Editors), one day you might want to use a map from the higher version of GIS/SI in lower version. There is no problem for the opposite situation, but if you try to open a map created in Sterling Integrator Map Editor 6.4 in Sterling Integrator Map Editor 5.3 (for example), you’ll see something like this (“This map was saved by a newer version. You must upgrade in order to open this map.”):


Fortunately, there is a way to “downgrade” such maps. First of all, save your map as “{map name}.mxl” instead of “{map name}.map”. If you try to open this map in your “lower” Map Editor, you’ll see something like this (“Element content is invalid according to the DTD/Schema. Expecting: {http://www.stercomm.com/SI/Map}UseConfigurableTrimming”):

Ok, now try the following – create two the same empty maps in both Map Editors and save them as *.mxl. If your map to downgrade is X12 to IDoc, these empty maps should be the same. Maps in MXL format are just XML files, so you can open them in your text editor.
Open your empty maps in your “comparer/merger” (software to compare/merge text files. You have one, right? :))

You’ll see the differences between the maps. In my case, in 6.3 there are some additional fields:

<ErrorForNotUsed>0</ErrorForNotUsed>
<SWIFTValidation></SWIFTValidation>
<NotUsed>no</NotUsed>

and in my v5.3 map it’s <SerializationVersion>823</SerializationVersion> and in the 6.4 it’s <SerializationVersion>25088</SerializationVersion>
So, open your map to downgrade in the text editor and… remove these extra segments from it. And change the SerializationVersion to lower one (<SerializationVersion>823</SerializationVersion> in my case). That’s all! Now save it and try to open in your “lower” Map Editor – it should work.