| INTERFACES |
| OVERVIEW |
| STRATIX/EXCHANGE is a STRATIX software product that provides
a range of real-time data interchange methods and standard API's that work
with external software systems to enable customers to further extend the
STRATIX software application for metal service centers. STRATIX provides
over 30 different types of gateways and interfaces to provide additional
flexibility for our customers. |
| |
| Interfaces |
| STRATIX/EXCHANGE covers all the major business applications
with STRATIX. This provides interfaces for integration with 3rd party systems,
for example: |
| |
| The STRATIX financial interchange functions are segregated
into 4 major areas. |
- EDI engines
- Shipment optimization systems
- Re-heat furnaces
- Rolling mills
- Custom and proprietary applications
- Document Personalization
- Third Party Financial Integration
- Nesting systems for Plate (e.g. SigmaNEST) and Long Products
- Slitting optimization nesting systems (e.g. MAS)
- Production Scheduling optimization (e.g. Preactor)
- Scale Interface
|
| Gateways to Import Data |
| STRATIX/EXCHANGE also includes the following gateways to import
data and create a transaction in STRATIX. For examples some gateways include: |
 |
| Gateway |
Description |
Heat Creation
|
Load the heat and chemistry
information from the vendor |
|
Test Set |
Load the mechanical test
information from the vendor |
|
Pre-Receipt |
Load the Advanced Shipment
Notification from the vendor |
|
Sales Order |
Import and create a Sales
Order electronically |
|
Purchase Order |
Import and create a Purchase
Order electronically |
|
|
| |
| For example, if the metal service center had a web site where
their customers could enter a Sales Order, this information can be passed
to the STRATIX- Sales Order gateway to create the Sales Order in STRATIX. |
| |
| Methodology |
|
Depending on the business application function, STRATIX/EXCHANGE uses
3 types of interface methodologies. Each is designed with a specific purpose,
in order to fully integrate with STRATIX. These include:
- Event Trigger Control Based Transactions
- Web Services
- Stored Procedures
STRATIX Web Services provide customers with a means to access the STRATIX
Business Applications using 3rd party applications and tools. These services
are developed using the SOAP API standards. SOAP API is a protocol of
XML messaging.
|
| |
| EXAMPLES OF STRATIX INTERFACES |
| Document Personalization |
| STRATIX provides the ability to 'personalize' their documents/labels
to meet specific business requirements. Some examples of business documents
include the Purchase Order, Quote, Sales Order, Work Order, Shipping Documents,
or Invoice.
The customization can be accomplished using two methods, the 2nd of which
highlight the interfacing capabilities of STRATIX and is hence described
in this document:
1. Add or change labels/field to the existing XML based document/label
template
2. Generate the document using a third party External Document Generation
System
|
| |
| Production Scheduling Optimization |
 As
part of the STRATIX/EXCHANGE suite of data interchanges - a web service
data exchange is provided to adjust Job information such as the work center
and scheduled date and time. This is typically used in conjunction with
an external scheduling optimizer tool such as 'Preactor' a leading product
for advanced planning and production scheduling system.
|
| |
| Third Party Financial Integration |
| For metal service centers that wish to preserve their existing
investment in their Financial Products, STRATIX can be integrated with Third
Party Financial products. For additional flexibility, the interfaces have
been structured to integrate with any Third Party Financial product (SAP,
CODA, Oracle, etc.), to receive financial information from these systems
and provide the notifications for data exports.
The interfaces are built to allow for continual exchange of data between
STRATIX and the external systems in a seamless way so that the systems
can operate concurrently with no end user interaction.
When integrating with a 3rd Party Financial Product, the user has the
choice of integrating one or more financial applications.
This includes:
- Accounts Receivable
- Accounts Payable
- General Ledger
- Financial Reporting
|
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