William Kammerer wrote:
> As far as XML's benefits go for B2B ecommerce: if permission to "play"
> with XML is accompanied by a management dictate to improve the process
> (regardless that the processes could have just as well been optimized
> with X12 EDI), then all might turn out well in the end. As an example
Doesn't this just mean that the real benefits of converting from X.12 to XML are
gained from reengineering the process as opposed to anything that XML brings to the
table?
Perhaps I'm just cynical about "yet another magic bullet that solves all EDI
problems", but I wince when I read all about XML's "magic ability" to make things
faster/easier/cheaper. In my case, most of my EDI is customer-driven, and my
customers come from such disparate market segments such as auto manufacturing,
construction, and appliance manufacturing. Each customer's EDI implementation
guideline differs from the next customers, often significantly. I don't see that
being any different with XML (one customer may use <CustomerName>Bzzt</CustomerName>
while the next will use <ShipTo>Bzzt</ShipTo>, I'm sure). This doesn't seem a whole
lot better than one customer saying "N1*ST*Bzzt" while the next says "N1*ZZ*Bzzt". I
*still* need to tell my application that these examples all map to something like
BLinfo.ShipTable.ShipName in my database tables.
I've always seen the real work in any EDI project as being the application
integration, and I don't that as being any easier with XML. As a matter of fact, I
think that the ease of creating customer-specific "standards" (cough choke gasp) may
well make the situation worse.
Keep in mind that I'm talking about the situation where XML is used in place of X.12
for EDI. I *do* see some significant benefits in using XML to communicate between
applications internally, but I'm still (very) jaded about XML for EDI. Is this way
off-base? What am I missing? I really want to jump on the XML bandwagon!
Paul Krikke
Coordinator, Business Applications
Taylor Steel Inc.
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