Following is the problem description :

We will have all information about matched invoice in flat file / ASCII file from a third party application .
Now this data needs to be loaded back into Baan, as payments will be made from Baan.

So we have to find ways how to load back this data into Baan.
We have to load data as if the invoice is entered manually.
I am exploring the ways like baan exchange .


Here Baan version is Baan IVc4
Operating system is HP Unix 11.00
Database is Informix version 7.31.FC4

I actually havent worked on API / AFS ....can it also be used for the above.

Please give me ur suggestions on the same ..


Regards,
Rohan

Rohan -

There are numerous integration methods for interfacing 3rd party apps with Baan. The first one that you mention, Baan Exchange, is great in that it is easy to use, fast to setup, has good performance and has utilities for troubleshooting. The downside to using Baan Exchange is that it loads the data into the appropriate tables without checking the business logic; therefore, the referential integrity at the database level is ensured but the business logic at the program script level is not. As an example, via Baan Exchange, it is possible to create a new sales order with Ship Complete set to YES (tdsls040.scom = tcyesno.yes). Also, the use of Baan Exchange is batch oriented, one-directional communication that is not in real-time.


A second type of integration that you mentioned, using API or Application Function Server technology, does allow the business logic to be invoked (unlike Exchange) but the cost is in development time. It too is batch oriented communication that is not in real-time.


Other integration technologies for Baan include:
* BaanOpenWorld (real-time communication)
* EDI (batch-oriented)
* DDC Function Server (real-time or batch-oriented)
* ODBC (real-time, dangerous & risky, limited usage)

Rohan,

try AFS if you have a reasonable small amount of invoices to process. For a first rough guess calculate at least one second for each invoice. If that leads to a good processing time, go for AFS, because that you are done within one day or two. (However, in my opoinion, you should have something like Service pack 8 or above for the AFS functionality to work really stable).

If you have to process a huge amount of invoices, I wouldn't do it by exchange but write an interface script instead - there you have better control over the update procedure - you will have to fill some tables to have it work correctly and in Exchange you can't debug. Exchange is more suitable for one-time data upload into single tables.

Uli

using exchange is not recommended for uploading purchase invoice data as it involves updation of gld and acp tables. you will need to update roughly 6-7 tables. Also the input file will have to be complete with all additional data which are required by the gld / acp tables.

If this is going to be a regular feature then use AFS.