Objective
Our Construction-industry client had a pre-existing integration built between simPRO and their ERP system. This integration had been build by their ERP vendor for them and was reliant on having IBM middleware in place, hosted by their ERP vendor. We had been involved in the original work to develop process and data translation for the integration and at the time our client decided that the vendor-owned solution was the best way to proceed. Unfortunately, there were a lot of ongoing issues with this existing integration – the integration services would fail reasonably often and take a day or more to be restarted, while any changes to the integration mapping and the middleware server could only be accessed by the ERP vendor. It became clear that expanding the integration to cover other functional requirements would be problematic and create even greater business risk. The end of the line for the current integration occurred when our client needed to do an ERP version upgrade and received a high, five-figure quote to “rebuild” the integration. They believed that there needed to be a simpler, more-robust and cost effective way of integrating. We were assisting the client on a separate process improvement project and they were aware that we had integration experience. They approached us and asked us if we could: a) provide a more robust integration method that removed the IBM middleware b) assist them with the expansion of the integration into additional functional areas, using standard simPRO integration methods, where possible.
Solution Delivery
- Our solution was split into a two stage project. The first stage involved the replication of the existing simPRO-customised integration, minus the IBM middleware, while the second stage needed to extend the integration and incorporate new functionality, this time using the standard integration methods. Due to improvements simPRO had made to their integration options, it would have been impossible to extend the integration based on the ERP vendor’s original solution.
- Removing the IBM middleware and replicating the initial integration was relatively straight-forward. Any data translation tables, which had previously only been accessible via the IBM middleware, were moved into our customer’s ERP via some minor customisation.
- Stage 2 involved the introduction of job amendments and purchase orders. Job amendments were available using the standard simPRO webhooks. In order to use the standard APIS, we built a simple Web Hook Listener within the client’s existing network infrastructure, which would allow us to poll both systems for changes and then pass the data on. In this specific scenario, the Web Hook Listener was used in conjunction with the simPRO web hook event for job updates. The changes could then be retrieved and passed on to the ERP for update.
- Due to restrictions with the client’s automated AP software, purchase orders were created from the ERP and then sent to simPRO. In order to meet the requirements to insert a vendor order in simPRO, additional information was required and needed to be mapped within the ERP. It was then possible to send and create the new vendor orders in simPRO.
- As part of Stage 2, investigations occurred into additional transaction types, such as labour and ad hoc charges, in order to determine how they could be translated and sent to simPRO from the ERP software. In order to do these investigations, we worked between analysis of current ERP process, review of simPRO functionality and further investigation of the standard simPRO APIs in order to advise our customer on the optimal way forward. These findings moved into a subsequent Stage 2C project, which is currently in progress.
Achievements
- Since replacing the existing integration was straightforward, this change could occur quickly and provided a more reliable integration for the client, providing 99.9% uptime.
- IT staff immediately gained access to control the integration mapping requirements, without needing to be vendor-reliant.
- Ongoing costs for the expensive middleware were removed.
- Implementation of the new web hook listener allowed immediate use of the simPRO webhooks and the ability to use standard simPRO APIs, providing a good foundation for further use of simPRO’s APIs.
- The entire setup was easily and quickly mirrored for another legal entity within the business group.
- Stage 2 changes have provided information in simPRO as expected and have also highlighted some previously hidden inconsistencies in processes between branches.
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