An Automotive Manufacturer Moving to Oracle Applications Needed to Improve OEM and Aftermarket EDI

This DCS Customer moved from custom COBOL business applications to Oracle Applications^TM ERP system. EDI conversion from Sterling Commerce’s Gentran:Basic^TM for the IBM zSeries^TM to Gentran:Server^TM for Unix was a considerable portion of the project as over 75% of customer orders arrive by EDI. Additionally, the DCS customer continued to acquire subsidiaries.

The EDI system needed to be implemented with no disruption to the ongoing business data flow. The scope of the Aftermarket project was increased as Inbound PO's (850) required SDQ segments for cross docking. Also, the outbound ASN's (856) required pick and pack hierarchy to satisfy customers’ RFID requirements.

Solution

The Customer chose Gentran to handle its expanding EDI traffic and Oracle Applications to accommodate both

• OEM order processes – Release (830, DELFOR), Shipment Schedule (862, DELJIT), Shipment Notice (856, ASN, DESADV), Receiving Advice (861, RECADV), and Remittance Advice (820, REMADV) and
• Aftermarket order processes (PO 850 with SDQ segments, PO Acknowledgement (855), PO Change (860), Shipment Notice (ASN, 856) with multiple packing hierarchies for RFID, Invoices (810), and Remittance Advices (820).

Key challenges included:

• Retraining both I.T. and customer service staffs at multiple divisions.
• Various operating divisions have common customers.
• Minor but knotty problems were Canadian postal codes, SLN looping issues, and Shipment and Billing Notices (857).

Result

DCS installed, tested and implemented the new system to achieve their objective of no visible disruption to their customers. Their Gentran EDI and Oracle Applications systems are working smoothly together to save countless hours of data entry time. Further support from DCS is rarely needed but available quickly and remotely.