Hi all,
Can someone give me an idea as to what is meant by De-centralization of BaaN.
I m trying to exchange data between two different location within the same organization. The constraint i m taking into consideration is that there is no connectivity between these two locations. The set-up is something like the financial module along with the Distribution (Sales and Purchase) module is implemented at one location and the Manufacturing module and the inventory module is implemented at another location and there is no connectivity between the two locations.
Now what i want to achieve is that i should be able to transfer the data from one location to another location at the end of the day, i.e., want to move my Purchase & sales data to the manufacturing location and manufacturing data and inventory data to the location where my financial module is implemented.

Can oneone give me an idea as to how can one achieve this in BaaN.

Jericho

You can either use Exchange schemes or EDI setup.

No general advice can be given on that subject. It actually depends on what data you will have to exchange between the location.
The difficult thing is, that for a seamless integration, you will have to mix the data of the two location within some tables of Baan.
For example: You will have to generate a document number in the finance table tfgld018 when printing an invoice in distribution. So you need that table at your manufacturing side. On the other hand, on your finance side, that table will be populated by the finance people with (pure) finance document numbers. You will have to synchronize those two alterations of the same table.

There are even more difficult implications of that setup - when using integration between purchase and finance, you will have to make sure that you will not produce inconsistent data.

Example: A good is receipt in your production side on Monday. In the evening, you mirror that event to the finance side.
On Tuesday, Finance people match that receipt with an invoice. But also on tuesday, purchase people delete the receipt again (Because the purchase side doesn't yet know that the receipt has been matched already).

There are are lot of problems like that. You will have to examine all of them carefully, find solutions (like using number series, procedural guidelines) and set define a technical scenario how to exchange the data.

There is a lot of effort in doing this, and if you can avoid it by setting up an online connection between the side (if that's technically possible) you should check if that isn't cheaper at the end of the day.

Hope that helps a bit
Ulrich

what we would be trying to do is create two companies at both the locations with similar Data. Example Company 501(as the financial company) at the place where the Financial module along with the sales and purchase modules are implemented and Company 502 (as a logistics company). let me Location A
The same set-up with will replicated at the location with the manufacturing module along with the inventory module is implemented. Let it be location B.
Now at the end of the day, we will take the dump of 501 at the location A and upload the data of 501 at location B. Once this is done, the data of the 502 at location B will also be updated, after this, we will take a dump of 502 from the B Location and upload the data at Location A in 502 Company.

This is one of the solution i have thought over but i m not very sure whether it will work or not. Can someone put the comments as to what kind of problems would i be facing and whether i m moving in the right direction.

The connectivity is not possible at all between the Location A and Location B due to infrastructure Problems at the present time.

Jericho

If you use integration between finance and logistigs this will not be possible in the way you suggest (using standard baan dumps).

You will have to write import/export software with the exchange module or by other means (Like Baan 4GL). Probably you could use the dumps for some tables, exchange for others, and 4GL for the third.

Keep in mind that Baan is an integrated system. As I said above, Finance and Logistics data are mixed in some tables.

Further, you should not use ztwo different company numbers: The company number is found again (as data) in some tables in Baan, and you would end up with more or less corrupted data if you load the finance tables of company 501 into company 502 without changing that data values, too.

In the kind of multiside setup you have in mind, you will lose a great amount of Baan functionality (mainly the integration between logistics and finance). The scenario imposes a lot of application level problems. You have to deal with them first.

Hi
what i was saying was that we will replicate the data at both the locations, then at the end of the day, take the dump of the data from the 501(financial company at location A) and import in into the same company 501 (again a financial company at location B). after this is done, we will take the dump of company 502 (Logistics company at Location B) and import this dump into the company 502 at location A.

From what i read, and visualised was that the moment, we import the data of 501(Financial company) at location B, the tables in the 502 (Logistics company) will also be updated at location B.
Once this exercise is over, we will take the dump of 502 at location B and do the import in 502 at location A, thus both the companies at either location will have same data.

And what do you use the replicated data for?

Replicated data is needed coz the purchase and the sales order are being generated at a different location and the the SFC module is at different location.
How does the production orders get the data when the Purchase order are not being gererated at the same location.
thus for that we need to transfer that data from Location A to Location B where it can be used.

Hi,
I am not aware of the right solution to suggest you but
it looks like your way of replication, will NOT solve your basic problem.
I am sure that when you say decentralised set up, u don't want to lose integration capabalities offered by BaaN.
If you keep doing purchase in one company and Manufacturing in other think about what will happen to your stocks ? Stocks in one company will continuously go up and in other they will be negative
How your also planning engines will work ?

Create two companies in Baan on two separate servers i.e. Location A and Location B. Company number will be same on both the servers. Transactional data from server at Location A will be updated in server at Location B on a periodic basis, say every day morning using AFS (Application Function Servers) once the data is made available at server in Location B further transactions will be carried out at Location B. In the evening incremental transactional data from Location B server will be updated in server at Location A. At any point of time data at Location A server will be considered final. There will be some time gap between updating of data.

Example – Purchase Cycle

Purchase orders will be created at Location A. Every day morning data will be transferred to Location B server where further transactions like maintaining receipts, maintaining CENVAT credit will be carried out. In the evening data regarding receipt transactions will be transferred to Location A server where further transactions like matching and approving of purchase invoices and payment to supplier will be carried out. As the company number is same at both the servers’ data transfer will be possible. Same way other cycles like sales can be mapped using AFS functionality.

Financial entries pertaining manufacturing and excise can be updated at server at Location A on a periodic basis by transferring trial balance.

though i m still not clear how effective it is going to be ?[QUOTE]