Trading(Partner(SLAs:(( Managing(Ten(Compliance(Risks( · PDF...

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Trading Partner SLAs: Managing Ten Compliance Risks

Jim O’Leary Jeff Inns

EDI Service Level Agreement (SLA) Compliance

•  Mee#ng or exceeding trading partner and internal expecta#ons for EDI performance

•  Examples of SLA compliance factors: –  Data quality and completeness –  Acknowledgement and response #me –  Service availability and predictability –  Onboarding and change turn-‐around #me

Key Issues

1.  Which opera#onal and life cycle factors exert the greatest influence on service level compliance for EDI?

2.  What best prac#ces can mi#gate SLA compliance risk and cost?

3.  What role does technology play in SLA compliance? Where is human involvement necessary?

Profile: EXTOL InternaFonal

•  Provider of business integra#on soMware and services since 1989 •  800 Customers in Transporta#on, Logis#cs, Distribu#on, CPG, Food,

Apparel, Industrial Manufacturing, Health Care, Pharmaceu#cals

•  How we’re different: –  Hybrid middleware and services solu#on with flexible licensing, deployment,

and management op#ons

–  Faster #me to value without sacrificing power or flexibility

–  Unmatched customer service and support

4

External Loca-ons, Partners, and Services

On-‐premise Applica-ons, Services, and Data

Ten SLA Compliance Risk Factors

Vendors / Service Providers Customers Cloud / SaaS Applica-ons & Services

EDI Middleware / Service

Enterprise Applica-ons Windows / Linux / VMware

Opera-onal Data

Transac-on Data

Analy-cs Data

Design-‐Fme Tools

Repository

Status / results visibility

EDI Coordinator

Provisioning

Exception handling

Data accuracy And completeness

Service availability Scalability

Change control

Acknowledgements and responses

Work prioritization

Process latency

Poll #1 Which of the following SLA compliance ac#ons have you already taken in your business? (check all that apply)

q  Designate execu#ve / senior management accountability for compliance

q  Create a wri`en policy with compliance metrics q  Monitor and report excep#ons against baseline

compliance metrics q  Con#nuously evaluate opportuni#es to automate

compliance q  None of the above

1. Data Completeness and Accuracy -‐ Unmanaged

Trading Partner

Transac#on Data Staging

/ Input

ERP / Other Applica-on(s)

SLA Compliance Risks: ❌  Process latency ❌  Manual errors Ø  Unpredictable response Ø  Penalties Ø  Higher processing cost

EDI Middleware

Outbound Transac#on Genera#on

Valid envelopes / headers? Valid syntax? Standard compliance?

EDI Rejec#ons

EDI validation

!

Data completeness? Valid codes? Referen#al consistency? Valid usage? Other applica#on requirement?

Applica#on Rejec#ons

Application -level

validation

!

Multiple error management mechanisms

Slow resolution Of trading partner complaints and

disputes

Multi-step error identification

and diagnosis

1. Data Completeness and Accuracy – Managed

Trading Partner



EDI Middleware

Data completeness? Valid codes? Referen#al consistency? Valid usage? Other applica#on requirement? SLA Compliance Benefits:

ü  Lower error rate ü  Lower process latency Ø More predictability Ø  Fewer penalties Ø  Lower processing cost

Processing Logs

Rejected Data

! ! EDI +

Application validation

Automated error Notifications

(acks)

Faster resolution Of trading partner

complaints / disputes

Consolidated error

management


/ Input


Centralized error detection and diagnosis

2. ExcepFon Handling – Unmanaged

Trading Partner



EDI Middleware

EDI + Application validation

! ! Data completeness? Valid codes? Referen#al consistency? Valid usage? Other applica#on requirement? SLA Compliance Risks:

❌  Slow detection ❌  Slow resolution Ø  Unpredictable response Ø  Penalties Ø  Higher processing cost

Processing Logs

Rejected Data

High volume of logs and messages

Onerous error

diagnosis

Limited reprocessing

and resending options


/ Input


2. ExcepFon Handling – Managed

Trading Partner



EDI Middleware

EDI + Application validation

! !

SLA Compliance Benefits: ü  Timely detection / repair ü  Timely response Ø Predictable response Ø Reduced cost

Data completeness? Valid codes? Referen#al consistency? Valid usage? Other applica#on requirement?

Processing Logs

Rejected Data

Configurable error

notifications

Filterable drill-down auditing

Multi-level reprocessing

and resending


/ Input


3. Acknowledgements and Responses – Unmanaged

Trading Partner


EDI Middleware

Processing Logs

Missing / Late Outbound

Acknowledgements

Missing Inbound Acknowledgements

SLA Compliance Risks: ❌  Uncertain status of

acknowledgements ❌  Undetected errors Ø  Response latency Ø  Unpredictability

Late Inbound Acknowledgements


/ Input


3. Acknowledgements and Responses – Managed

Trading Partner


EDI Middleware

Processing Logs

In-process acknowledgement

generation Automatic

reconciliation

Late acknowledgement

detection

Activity Dashboard / Auditing

SLA Compliance Benefits: ü  Acknowledgement

compliance ü  Efficient

acknowledgement verification

Ø  Fewer undetected errors


/ Input


Rejected Data

4. Process Latency – Unmanaged

Trading Partner


EDI Middleware

Non-‐EDI Data

!

! Manual

data entry

Error correction / re-work

Multi-step manual data acceptance

Late fulfillment /

delivery

Personnel Dependencies

SLA Compliance Risks: ❌  Process latency ❌  Processing errors ❌  Unpredictable response ❌  Late/missed delivery


/ Input


Processing Logs

Rejected Data

4. Process Latency – Managed

Trading Partner


EDI Middleware

On-time fulfillment /

delivery

EDI and non-EDI

data

End-to-end Automation

without manual steps

! ! ! !

Management by exception

SLA Compliance Benefits: ü  Low-latency processing ü No / few manual errors ü  Predictable response ü  Improved visibility ü On-time delivery

Status visibility


/ Input


Trading Partner


EDI Middleware

SLA Compliance Risks: ❌  Information latency ❌  Limited access to alerts ❌  Opportunity for error ❌  Unpredictable response IT

Customer Service

Customer


/ Input


No direct visibility to status, results,

or alerts

5. Visibility to Status and Results – Unmanaged No direct visibility to status, results,

or alerts

5. Visibility to Status and Results – Managed

Trading Partner


EDI Middleware

SLA Compliance Benefits: ü  Information on-demand ü  Alerts and notifications ü Current, accurate data ü  Predictable response ü  Superior customer

service

IT

Customer Service

Customer eMail Mobile

Dashboard

Direct visibility to status, results,

and alerts


/ Input


Direct visibility to status, results,

and alerts

Focus on new business and

critical tasks

Programming)/)Coding)

Unassisted)(Conven3onal))Mapping)

Assisted)(“Automated”))Mapping)

)))))Map)Reuse)

))))Project)Genera3on)

6. Partner and TransacFon Provisioning – Unmanaged

Trading Partner


EDI Middleware


/ Input


Runtime Design-time

Lower-level configuration

gates skill and time requirements

SLA Compliance Risks: ❌  Missed customer deadlines ❌  Penalties ❌  Missed business opportunities

Object Reuse

Productivity and Accuracy

u Search for suitable maps or other base objects, If available

v Modify base objects (manually) to suit new requirements

w Repeat for remaining project objects

Provisioning Process:

w Test and rework Modified objects until correct results occur

4

Project Reuse

Object-at-a-time reuse can be slow

and error-prone

PROJECT

6. Partner and TransacFon Provisioning – Managed

Programming)/)Coding)

Unassisted)(Conven3onal))Mapping)

Assisted)(“Automated”))Mapping)

)))))Map)Reuse)

))))Project)Genera3on)

Trading Partner


EDI Middleware

Runtime Design-time

High-level configuration avoids onboarding delays

Productivity and Accuracy

SLA Compliance Benefits: ü  Lower risk of meeting critical

partner deadlines ü Higher quality deliverables

Object Reuse

Project Reuse

u Select a base project

v Create / generate derived project(s) with different partner endpoint(s), connection(s), map(s), etc.

w Configure added / modified objects

Provisioning Process:

w Test and deploy

4

PROJECT


/ Input


Project-level reuse is faster and

less error-prone

PROJECT

7. Change Control – Unmanaged

Trading Partner


EDI Middleware

Runtime Design-time


/ Input


Shared Library

PROJECT

SLA Compliance Risks: ❌  Untraceable changes ❌  Unrecoverable work ❌  Service interruptions

Unauthorized changes

Unmanaged merges

Un-versioned changes

Difficult to reverse

deployments

7. Change Control – Managed

Trading Partner


EDI Middleware

Runtime Design-time


/ Input


Repository Manager

PROJECT

Access Control

Check-in / check-out,

merge

PROJECT

PROJECT

Versioned changes

Easily reversible

deployments

SLA Compliance Benefits: ü  Auditable changes ü No lost work ü Rapid error reversal ü Higher service availability

PROJECT

Slower response times

8. Workload Capacity – Unmanaged

Processing Capacity

Time

Demand

SLA Compliance Risks: ❌  Unpredictable throughput ❌  Unpredictable response ❌  Small / unavailable

recovery window ❌  Missed business

opportunities

Longer processing windows

Delayed transactions

Transactions

Lost transactions

Lost business

8. Workload Capacity – Managed

Processing Capacity

Time

Demand

Add processing node

Add Processing node

Add Processing node

Add resources

SLA Compliance Benefits: ü  Predictable throughput ü  Predictable response ü Recovery headroom ü Growth opportunities

Add resources

Add resources

Business growth

Increased Market share

Transactions

Strategic value

9. Workload PrioriFes – Unmanaged

Trading Partner 1

EDI Middleware

Trading Partner 2

Trading Partner 3

Trading Partner 4

Trading Partner n …

Enterprise Applica-ons Opera-onal

Data Transac-on

Data Analy-cs Data

Trading Partner 4

SLA Compliance Risks: ❌  Late, unpredictable

completion of high priority work

❌  Potential for lost business ❌  Requires scaling the

entire system or adding supplemental systems

All inputs get identical priority

All workloads get identical resources

9. Workload PrioriFes – Managed

Trading Partner 1

Trading Partner 2

Trading Partner 3

Trading Partner 4

Trading Partner n …

Enterprise Applica-ons Opera-onal

Data Transac-on

Data Analy-cs Data

Trading Partner 4

Tunable resource allocation

SLA Compliance Benefits: ü  Timely, predictable

completion of high priority work

ü  Lower risk of lost business

ü  Tunable response without adding resources

EDI Middleware

Tunable input priority 1 1 2 3

1 2 3

3 3

1 3 3 Dynamic

queue management 1 2

10. Service Availability – Unmanaged – 1

Enterprise Applica-ons Analy-cs Data

EDI Middleware




Loss of throughput

Loss of queued work

No queuing of new work

SLA Compliance Risks: ❌  Unresponsive to partner

inputs ❌  Loss of unprocessed

transactions ❌  Delayed processing of

high-priority work ❌  Potential loss of business

Single node architecture with integrated communications and queuing

Opera-onal Data

Transac-on Data

10. Service Availability – Unmanaged – 2

EDI Middleware



Rapid service

recovery

Loss of queued work

Continuous queuing of new work

EDI Middleware

Multi-node redundancy with simple fail-over / restart

SLA Compliance Risks: ❌  Loss of unprocessed

transactions ❌  Potential loss of business



Opera-onal Data

Transac-on Data

Fail-over

10. Service Availability – Managed External Loca-ons, Partners, and Services


Continuous Service

availability

Preservation of queued work

Continuous queuing of new work

EDI Middleware

SLA Compliance Benefits: ü Continuous response

to partner inputs ü No effort required to

recover / restore queued work

ü Reduced risk of lost business

EDI Middleware

EDI Middleware

EDI Middleware

Work Queue Management

Work Queue Management



Shared Work Queues

Communica#on Proxy(ies)

Opera-onal Data

Transac-on Data

Multi-node redundancy with queue manager fail-over and fault-adapting workload processing

Poll #2 Which of the following are your biggest SLA compliance problems or concerns? (check all that apply)

q  Data accuracy and completeness q  Timely diagnosis and resolu#on of excep#ons q  Managing acknowledgements and responses q  Minimizing process latency / manual interven#ons q  Self-‐service visibility to status and results q  Rapid partner onboarding and changes q  Scaling to meet increasing / unpredictable demand q  Ensuring on-‐#me comple#on of priority workloads q  Maintaining high service availability q  Other

Key Take-‐Aways

•  Having an SLA compliance plan is essen#al, even if you outsource EDI to a third party

•  Anything that can impact design-‐#me or run#me results can affect service levels

•  Track SLA compliance against baseline metrics to assess progress over #me

•  Iden#fy and minimize manual dependencies to maximize compliance levels

Q&A

Contact:

Website: www.extol.com Email: [email protected] Phone: +1 (570) 628-5500

Ø  Download our new white paper at: www.extol.com/onboard

Trading(Partner(SLAs:(( Managing(Ten(Compliance(Risks( · PDF...

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