Service Connect or a Cheaper Way?

Yahoo Archive
1
Mark, Jitterbit looks really interesting and a lot like Service
Connect. I'm assuming that it supports the WS-* authentication
protocols that the Epicor web services use? I'm fuzzy on how all of
this fits together though. I'd like to play with it and see if I could
get it to similar things to SC, but can't imagine when I'd have time.



I agree that the biggest problem with the web services is the lack of
documentation, and according to David Weiseth from Epicor there likely
will never be one. Their own approach is basically experience based on
trial and error.



-brian



From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Mark Wonsil
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 4:51 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Re: Service Connect or a Cheaper Way?


I completely agree with Brian here. If you're using the Web
Services/Business Objects then you shouldn't see any data corruption.
But
like Brian notes, you can get unexpected results! If you run the .Delete
method, it will try to delete something.

Back to the question, has anyone tried any other web service
choreographer
package instead of ServiceConnect? Shouldn't BizTalk[1] server be able
to
communicate directly with the Epicor Web Services? There is also an open
source integration platform called JitterBit[2], which sports a free
version. Only one of these may be considered a "cheaper" way.

It seems to me however that the real "fun" in dealing with web services
is
figuring out the calling sequence, parameters, and error reporting in a
trial and error fashion. While one can trace calls, it sure would be
helpful
if there was some documentation.







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
2
We are looking for a way to import our part information and BOM from
Solidworks to Vantage. We are using PDMWorks Enterprise along with
SolidWorks and it sounds very similar to the way Service Connect
works. I got a price from Epicor for Service Connect and am hoping
for another alternative since we have already invested the money in
PDMWorks.

Anyone have experience with this type of integration or are we going
to have to bite the bullet and purchase Service Connect?

Mark
3
Mark, I'm not familiar with PDMWorks, but it seems to be a document
management system. If so, then it is quite different from what
ServiceConnect is about.



ServiceConnect (SC) is basically a XML document transformation and
workflow engine with a particular affinity for working with Vantage Web
Services. Its basic job is to take input, convert it to XML if
necessary (internally SC only understands how to deal with XML), match
it to a workflow, and process that XML document against the workflow.
The typical usage scenario for SC is to call Vantage Web Services using
the input, which is typically a document that has been copied to a
directory that SC is watching for input (although there are other ways
to invoke SC).



We purchased SC to enable us to do some consolidated AR processing
(which we're still waiting for Epicor to deliver, but that's another
story), but realized in our implementation, that given the modest amount
of data we were importing that we could leverage SC to handle the
import. Epicor sold us some SC workflows and import templates that
enabled us to do exactly that, and the process worked very well. It was
also far more convenient that the alternative, which would have been to
send our data files to Epicor who would have loaded them for us, and
sent us a new database (and this would have added a lot of delay to an
already tight implementation schedule).



So yes you can use SC to do exactly what you're talking about: import
Parts and BOMs (PartMtl data in Vantage's terminology), and that's
exactly what we did. However you don't need to buy SC to use the
Vantage web services, which are included with 8.03.4xx free of charge.
Basically the web services are wrappers around the business object
methods that the Vantage client calls natively, and are basically just
another Vantage client.



Epicor includes in the documentation for the Web Services some
examples on how to code web services clients that will talk to the
Vantage Web Services in the way they expect. So you could write your
own import program to bring over Parts and BOMs.



The SC Part import workflow that we got from Epicor is quite
straightforward. However the PartMtl/BOM workflow is more complicated
in that you have to essentially mimic what the client does in terms of
Engineering Workbench (create an ECO group, check out Part Revisions,
etc.) and re-creating that would be decidedly non-trivial. However
depending on your internal programming resources this might be a route
to explore.



Hope this helps clarify a bit,



-brian



--

Brian W. Spolarich ~ Manager, Information Services ~ Advanced Photonix /
Picometrix

bspolarich@... ~ 734-864-5618 ~
www.advancedphotonix.com



From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of rapat_mark
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 11:59 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Service Connect or a Cheaper Way?



We are looking for a way to import our part information and BOM from
Solidworks to Vantage. We are using PDMWorks Enterprise along with
SolidWorks and it sounds very similar to the way Service Connect
works. I got a price from Epicor for Service Connect and am hoping
for another alternative since we have already invested the money in
PDMWorks.

Anyone have experience with this type of integration or are we going
to have to bite the bullet and purchase Service Connect?







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
4
We use both Epicor's PLM software (ProFile made by ProCAD) and also
recently purchased the Solidworks integration, as well.

Even with PLM, PLM hands off part transfers into Vantage to Microsoft
BizTalk. BizTalk hands off to Service Connect. And if all the stars
are aligned perfectly, the part gets into Vantage. Only 4 or 5 fields
are passed and the workflows are limited; but customizable. It's a pain
and there's a lot of linkage involved, but when it works, it works
great. Both ProCAD and Epicor have been great with support which we've
needed a lot of.

We are an Engineer-to-Order business and heavily rely on PLM/ProFILE.
It has limitations, but it works.

Vic Drecchio
ERP Administrator

TIMCO Aviation Services
Greensboro, NC
Email: vic.drecchio@...
Office: 336.668.4410 x3091
Mobile: 704.530.3092



-----Original Message-----
From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of rapat_mark
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 11:59 AM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Service Connect or a Cheaper Way?

We are looking for a way to import our part information and BOM from
Solidworks to Vantage. We are using PDMWorks Enterprise along with
SolidWorks and it sounds very similar to the way Service Connect works.
I got a price from Epicor for Service Connect and am hoping for another
alternative since we have already invested the money in PDMWorks.

Anyone have experience with this type of integration or are we going to
have to bite the bullet and purchase Service Connect?

Mark


------------------------------------

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5
Sorry to jump in. Great Info below. May I ask, do you have to
purchase the workflows in addition to the core Service connect
package.

Thanks in advance.

--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, "Brian W. Spolarich "
<bspolarich@...> wrote:
>
> Mark, I'm not familiar with PDMWorks, but it seems to be a
document
> management system. If so, then it is quite different from what
> ServiceConnect is about.
>
>
>
> ServiceConnect (SC) is basically a XML document transformation and
> workflow engine with a particular affinity for working with Vantage
Web
> Services. Its basic job is to take input, convert it to XML if
> necessary (internally SC only understands how to deal with XML),
match
> it to a workflow, and process that XML document against the
workflow.
> The typical usage scenario for SC is to call Vantage Web Services
using
> the input, which is typically a document that has been copied to a
> directory that SC is watching for input (although there are other
ways
> to invoke SC).
>
>
>
> We purchased SC to enable us to do some consolidated AR processing
> (which we're still waiting for Epicor to deliver, but that's another
> story), but realized in our implementation, that given the modest
amount
> of data we were importing that we could leverage SC to handle the
> import. Epicor sold us some SC workflows and import templates that
> enabled us to do exactly that, and the process worked very well.
It was
> also far more convenient that the alternative, which would have
been to
> send our data files to Epicor who would have loaded them for us, and
> sent us a new database (and this would have added a lot of delay to
an
> already tight implementation schedule).
>
>
>
> So yes you can use SC to do exactly what you're talking about:
import
> Parts and BOMs (PartMtl data in Vantage's terminology), and that's
> exactly what we did. However you don't need to buy SC to use the
> Vantage web services, which are included with 8.03.4xx free of
charge.
> Basically the web services are wrappers around the business object
> methods that the Vantage client calls natively, and are basically
just
> another Vantage client.
>
>
>
> Epicor includes in the documentation for the Web Services some
> examples on how to code web services clients that will talk to the
> Vantage Web Services in the way they expect. So you could write
your
> own import program to bring over Parts and BOMs.
>
>
>
> The SC Part import workflow that we got from Epicor is quite
> straightforward. However the PartMtl/BOM workflow is more
complicated
> in that you have to essentially mimic what the client does in terms
of
> Engineering Workbench (create an ECO group, check out Part
Revisions,
> etc.) and re-creating that would be decidedly non-trivial. However
> depending on your internal programming resources this might be a
route
> to explore.
>
>
>
> Hope this helps clarify a bit,
>
>
>
> -brian
>
>
>
> --
>
> Brian W. Spolarich ~ Manager, Information Services ~ Advanced
Photonix /
> Picometrix
>
> bspolarich@... ~ 734-864-5618 ~
> www.advancedphotonix.com
>
>
>
> From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf
> Of rapat_mark
> Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 11:59 AM
> To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Vantage] Service Connect or a Cheaper Way?
>
>
>
> We are looking for a way to import our part information and BOM from
> Solidworks to Vantage. We are using PDMWorks Enterprise along with
> SolidWorks and it sounds very similar to the way Service Connect
> works. I got a price from Epicor for Service Connect and am hoping
> for another alternative since we have already invested the money in
> PDMWorks.
>
> Anyone have experience with this type of integration or are we going
> to have to bite the bullet and purchase Service Connect?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
6
You don't have to purchase any workflows. We paid to have someone come out
and train us to use Service Connect because it is a little daunting if you
don't know how it all works. That was a very helpful start for us. They
gave us many examples like creating BOM structures and adding new parts and
orders. After that we always just write our own workflows, and for the most
part, it is pretty easy. Service Connect is well worth your money. Any
repetitive task that has to be done like price changes or adding parts from
speadsheets, can easily be taken care of automatically with service connect.
It basically can mimic anything a user can do.



Daniel

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
brychanwilliams
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 12:43 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Vantage] Re: Service Connect or a Cheaper Way?



Sorry to jump in. Great Info below. May I ask, do you have to
purchase the workflows in addition to the core Service connect
package.

Thanks in advance.

--- In vantage@yahoogroups <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> .com, "Brian
W. Spolarich "
<bspolarich@...> wrote:
>
> Mark, I'm not familiar with PDMWorks, but it seems to be a
document
> management system. If so, then it is quite different from what
> ServiceConnect is about.
>
>
>
> ServiceConnect (SC) is basically a XML document transformation and
> workflow engine with a particular affinity for working with Vantage
Web
> Services. Its basic job is to take input, convert it to XML if
> necessary (internally SC only understands how to deal with XML),
match
> it to a workflow, and process that XML document against the
workflow.
> The typical usage scenario for SC is to call Vantage Web Services
using
> the input, which is typically a document that has been copied to a
> directory that SC is watching for input (although there are other
ways
> to invoke SC).
>
>
>
> We purchased SC to enable us to do some consolidated AR processing
> (which we're still waiting for Epicor to deliver, but that's another
> story), but realized in our implementation, that given the modest
amount
> of data we were importing that we could leverage SC to handle the
> import. Epicor sold us some SC workflows and import templates that
> enabled us to do exactly that, and the process worked very well.
It was
> also far more convenient that the alternative, which would have
been to
> send our data files to Epicor who would have loaded them for us, and
> sent us a new database (and this would have added a lot of delay to
an
> already tight implementation schedule).
>
>
>
> So yes you can use SC to do exactly what you're talking about:
import
> Parts and BOMs (PartMtl data in Vantage's terminology), and that's
> exactly what we did. However you don't need to buy SC to use the
> Vantage web services, which are included with 8.03.4xx free of
charge.
> Basically the web services are wrappers around the business object
> methods that the Vantage client calls natively, and are basically
just
> another Vantage client.
>
>
>
> Epicor includes in the documentation for the Web Services some
> examples on how to code web services clients that will talk to the
> Vantage Web Services in the way they expect. So you could write
your
> own import program to bring over Parts and BOMs.
>
>
>
> The SC Part import workflow that we got from Epicor is quite
> straightforward. However the PartMtl/BOM workflow is more
complicated
> in that you have to essentially mimic what the client does in terms
of
> Engineering Workbench (create an ECO group, check out Part
Revisions,
> etc.) and re-creating that would be decidedly non-trivial. However
> depending on your internal programming resources this might be a
route
> to explore.
>
>
>
> Hope this helps clarify a bit,
>
>
>
> -brian
>
>
>
> --
>
> Brian W. Spolarich ~ Manager, Information Services ~ Advanced
Photonix /
> Picometrix
>
> bspolarich@... ~ 734-864-5618 ~
> www.advancedphotonix.com
>
>
>
> From: vantage@yahoogroups <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> .com
[mailto:vantage@yahoogroups <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> .com] On
Behalf
> Of rapat_mark
> Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 11:59 AM
> To: vantage@yahoogroups <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> .com
> Subject: [Vantage] Service Connect or a Cheaper Way?
>
>
>
> We are looking for a way to import our part information and BOM from
> Solidworks to Vantage. We are using PDMWorks Enterprise along with
> SolidWorks and it sounds very similar to the way Service Connect
> works. I got a price from Epicor for Service Connect and am hoping
> for another alternative since we have already invested the money in
> PDMWorks.
>
> Anyone have experience with this type of integration or are we going
> to have to bite the bullet and purchase Service Connect?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
7
I really appreciate all the great feedback. PDMWorks will create the
output in an XML file and our vendor says they have had success
"pushing" that data into ERP software but that whole idea scares me. I
can imagine Epicor's response if we wanted support after corrupting the
database.



I will have to try to come up with some other good uses to convince the
boss that it is worth the money. Hopefully Epicor's quarter end
incentives will help cut the price.



Mark



________________________________

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Daniel Laidig
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 12:00 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Re: Service Connect or a Cheaper Way?



You don't have to purchase any workflows. We paid to have someone come
out
and train us to use Service Connect because it is a little daunting if
you
don't know how it all works. That was a very helpful start for us. They
gave us many examples like creating BOM structures and adding new parts
and
orders. After that we always just write our own workflows, and for the
most
part, it is pretty easy. Service Connect is well worth your money. Any
repetitive task that has to be done like price changes or adding parts
from
speadsheets, can easily be taken care of automatically with service
connect.
It basically can mimic anything a user can do.

Daniel

_____

From: vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com>
[mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> ] On
Behalf Of
brychanwilliams
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 12:43 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [Vantage] Re: Service Connect or a Cheaper Way?

Sorry to jump in. Great Info below. May I ask, do you have to
purchase the workflows in addition to the core Service connect
package.

Thanks in advance.

--- In vantage@yahoogroups <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> .com,
"Brian
W. Spolarich "
<bspolarich@...> wrote:
>
> Mark, I'm not familiar with PDMWorks, but it seems to be a
document
> management system. If so, then it is quite different from what
> ServiceConnect is about.
>
>
>
> ServiceConnect (SC) is basically a XML document transformation and
> workflow engine with a particular affinity for working with Vantage
Web
> Services. Its basic job is to take input, convert it to XML if
> necessary (internally SC only understands how to deal with XML),
match
> it to a workflow, and process that XML document against the
workflow.
> The typical usage scenario for SC is to call Vantage Web Services
using
> the input, which is typically a document that has been copied to a
> directory that SC is watching for input (although there are other
ways
> to invoke SC).
>
>
>
> We purchased SC to enable us to do some consolidated AR processing
> (which we're still waiting for Epicor to deliver, but that's another
> story), but realized in our implementation, that given the modest
amount
> of data we were importing that we could leverage SC to handle the
> import. Epicor sold us some SC workflows and import templates that
> enabled us to do exactly that, and the process worked very well.
It was
> also far more convenient that the alternative, which would have
been to
> send our data files to Epicor who would have loaded them for us, and
> sent us a new database (and this would have added a lot of delay to
an
> already tight implementation schedule).
>
>
>
> So yes you can use SC to do exactly what you're talking about:
import
> Parts and BOMs (PartMtl data in Vantage's terminology), and that's
> exactly what we did. However you don't need to buy SC to use the
> Vantage web services, which are included with 8.03.4xx free of
charge.
> Basically the web services are wrappers around the business object
> methods that the Vantage client calls natively, and are basically
just
> another Vantage client.
>
>
>
> Epicor includes in the documentation for the Web Services some
> examples on how to code web services clients that will talk to the
> Vantage Web Services in the way they expect. So you could write
your
> own import program to bring over Parts and BOMs.
>
>
>
> The SC Part import workflow that we got from Epicor is quite
> straightforward. However the PartMtl/BOM workflow is more
complicated
> in that you have to essentially mimic what the client does in terms
of
> Engineering Workbench (create an ECO group, check out Part
Revisions,
> etc.) and re-creating that would be decidedly non-trivial. However
> depending on your internal programming resources this might be a
route
> to explore.
>
>
>
> Hope this helps clarify a bit,
>
>
>
> -brian
>
>
>
> --
>
> Brian W. Spolarich ~ Manager, Information Services ~ Advanced
Photonix /
> Picometrix
>
> bspolarich@... ~ 734-864-5618 ~
> www.advancedphotonix.com
>
>
>
> From: vantage@yahoogroups <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> .com
[mailto:vantage@yahoogroups <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> .com] On
Behalf
> Of rapat_mark
> Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 11:59 AM
> To: vantage@yahoogroups <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> .com
> Subject: [Vantage] Service Connect or a Cheaper Way?
>
>
>
> We are looking for a way to import our part information and BOM from
> Solidworks to Vantage. We are using PDMWorks Enterprise along with
> SolidWorks and it sounds very similar to the way Service Connect
> works. I got a price from Epicor for Service Connect and am hoping
> for another alternative since we have already invested the money in
> PDMWorks.
>
> Anyone have experience with this type of integration or are we going
> to have to bite the bullet and purchase Service Connect?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
8
Vantage 8.x can import/export to/from list tabs (grids)... if you can
get the BOM from the CAD package into an Excel spreadsheet, you can
import the BOM into the Vantage Engineering Work Bench without any
other software.

--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, "Mark Tellefson" <mtellefson@...>
wrote:
>
> I really appreciate all the great feedback. PDMWorks will create
the
> output in an XML file and our vendor says they have had success
> "pushing" that data into ERP software but that whole idea scares
me. I
> can imagine Epicor's response if we wanted support after corrupting
the
> database.
>
>
>
> I will have to try to come up with some other good uses to convince
the
> boss that it is worth the money. Hopefully Epicor's quarter end
> incentives will help cut the price.
>
>
>
> Mark
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf
> Of Daniel Laidig
> Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 12:00 PM
> To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RE: [Vantage] Re: Service Connect or a Cheaper Way?
>
>
>
> You don't have to purchase any workflows. We paid to have someone
come
> out
> and train us to use Service Connect because it is a little daunting
if
> you
> don't know how it all works. That was a very helpful start for us.
They
> gave us many examples like creating BOM structures and adding new
parts
> and
> orders. After that we always just write our own workflows, and for
the
> most
> part, it is pretty easy. Service Connect is well worth your money.
Any
> repetitive task that has to be done like price changes or adding
parts
> from
> speadsheets, can easily be taken care of automatically with service
> connect.
> It basically can mimic anything a user can do.
>
> Daniel
>
> _____
>
> From: vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com>
> [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%
40yahoogroups.com> ] On
> Behalf Of
> brychanwilliams
> Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 12:43 PM
> To: vantage@yahoogroups.com <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [Vantage] Re: Service Connect or a Cheaper Way?
>
> Sorry to jump in. Great Info below. May I ask, do you have to
> purchase the workflows in addition to the core Service connect
> package.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> --- In vantage@yahoogroups <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> .com,
> "Brian
> W. Spolarich "
> <bspolarich@> wrote:
> >
> > Mark, I'm not familiar with PDMWorks, but it seems to be a
> document
> > management system. If so, then it is quite different from what
> > ServiceConnect is about.
> >
> >
> >
> > ServiceConnect (SC) is basically a XML document transformation and
> > workflow engine with a particular affinity for working with
Vantage
> Web
> > Services. Its basic job is to take input, convert it to XML if
> > necessary (internally SC only understands how to deal with XML),
> match
> > it to a workflow, and process that XML document against the
> workflow.
> > The typical usage scenario for SC is to call Vantage Web Services
> using
> > the input, which is typically a document that has been copied to a
> > directory that SC is watching for input (although there are other
> ways
> > to invoke SC).
> >
> >
> >
> > We purchased SC to enable us to do some consolidated AR processing
> > (which we're still waiting for Epicor to deliver, but that's
another
> > story), but realized in our implementation, that given the modest
> amount
> > of data we were importing that we could leverage SC to handle the
> > import. Epicor sold us some SC workflows and import templates that
> > enabled us to do exactly that, and the process worked very well.
> It was
> > also far more convenient that the alternative, which would have
> been to
> > send our data files to Epicor who would have loaded them for us,
and
> > sent us a new database (and this would have added a lot of delay
to
> an
> > already tight implementation schedule).
> >
> >
> >
> > So yes you can use SC to do exactly what you're talking about:
> import
> > Parts and BOMs (PartMtl data in Vantage's terminology), and that's
> > exactly what we did. However you don't need to buy SC to use the
> > Vantage web services, which are included with 8.03.4xx free of
> charge.
> > Basically the web services are wrappers around the business object
> > methods that the Vantage client calls natively, and are basically
> just
> > another Vantage client.
> >
> >
> >
> > Epicor includes in the documentation for the Web Services some
> > examples on how to code web services clients that will talk to the
> > Vantage Web Services in the way they expect. So you could write
> your
> > own import program to bring over Parts and BOMs.
> >
> >
> >
> > The SC Part import workflow that we got from Epicor is quite
> > straightforward. However the PartMtl/BOM workflow is more
> complicated
> > in that you have to essentially mimic what the client does in
terms
> of
> > Engineering Workbench (create an ECO group, check out Part
> Revisions,
> > etc.) and re-creating that would be decidedly non-trivial. However
> > depending on your internal programming resources this might be a
> route
> > to explore.
> >
> >
> >
> > Hope this helps clarify a bit,
> >
> >
> >
> > -brian
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Brian W. Spolarich ~ Manager, Information Services ~ Advanced
> Photonix /
> > Picometrix
> >
> > bspolarich@ ~ 734-864-5618 ~
> > www.advancedphotonix.com
> >
> >
> >
> > From: vantage@yahoogroups <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> .com
> [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups <mailto:vantage%
40yahoogroups.com> .com] On
> Behalf
> > Of rapat_mark
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 11:59 AM
> > To: vantage@yahoogroups <mailto:vantage%40yahoogroups.com> .com
> > Subject: [Vantage] Service Connect or a Cheaper Way?
> >
> >
> >
> > We are looking for a way to import our part information and BOM
from
> > Solidworks to Vantage. We are using PDMWorks Enterprise along with
> > SolidWorks and it sounds very similar to the way Service Connect
> > works. I got a price from Epicor for Service Connect and am hoping
> > for another alternative since we have already invested the money
in
> > PDMWorks.
> >
> > Anyone have experience with this type of integration or are we
going
> > to have to bite the bullet and purchase Service Connect?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
9
Just to clarify, the web services interfaces (via Service Connect or
whatever method you want to use to invoke them) are the supported method
for getting data into Vantage (and out of it, although there are other
ways depending on what you're doing). You can't "corrupt" the database
if you go that route (although you may not get the results you expect,
which is why you want to test against a copy of your production db).
You *can* corrupt the database if you try to modify the underlying
database tables directly, and that is definitely unsupported and a Bad
Idea.



From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
Of Mark Tellefson
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 1:56 PM
To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] Re: Service Connect or a Cheaper Way?



I really appreciate all the great feedback. PDMWorks will create the
output in an XML file and our vendor says they have had success
"pushing" that data into ERP software but that whole idea scares me. I
can imagine Epicor's response if we wanted support after corrupting the
database.

I will have to try to come up with some other good uses to convince the
boss that it is worth the money. Hopefully Epicor's quarter end
incentives will help cut the price.





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
10
> Just to clarify, the web services interfaces (via Service Connect or
> whatever method you want to use to invoke them) are the supported method
> for getting data into Vantage (and out of it, although there are other
> ways depending on what you're doing). You can't "corrupt" the database
> if you go that route (although you may not get the results you expect,
> which is why you want to test against a copy of your production db).
> You *can* corrupt the database if you try to modify the underlying
> database tables directly, and that is definitely unsupported and a Bad
> Idea.

I completely agree with Brian here. If you're using the Web
Services/Business Objects then you shouldn't see any data corruption. But
like Brian notes, you can get unexpected results! If you run the .Delete
method, it will try to delete something.

Back to the question, has anyone tried any other web service choreographer
package instead of ServiceConnect? Shouldn't BizTalk[1] server be able to
communicate directly with the Epicor Web Services? There is also an open
source integration platform called JitterBit[2], which sports a free
version. Only one of these may be considered a "cheaper" way.

It seems to me however that the real "fun" in dealing with web services is
figuring out the calling sequence, parameters, and error reporting in a
trial and error fashion. While one can trace calls, it sure would be helpful
if there was some documentation.

Mark W.

1. http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/
2. http://www.jitterbit.com/
11
The export/import method is safe also as it uses the same
field/record checking as someone entering the data manually and will
stop on the first invalid data.
--- In vantage@yahoogroups.com, "Brian W. Spolarich "
<bspolarich@...> wrote:
>
> Just to clarify, the web services interfaces (via Service Connect
or
> whatever method you want to use to invoke them) are the supported
method
> for getting data into Vantage (and out of it, although there are
other
> ways depending on what you're doing). You can't "corrupt" the
database
> if you go that route (although you may not get the results you
expect,
> which is why you want to test against a copy of your production db).
> You *can* corrupt the database if you try to modify the underlying
> database tables directly, and that is definitely unsupported and a
Bad
> Idea.
>
>
>
> From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf
> Of Mark Tellefson
> Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 1:56 PM
> To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RE: [Vantage] Re: Service Connect or a Cheaper Way?
>
>
>
> I really appreciate all the great feedback. PDMWorks will create the
> output in an XML file and our vendor says they have had success
> "pushing" that data into ERP software but that whole idea scares
me. I
> can imagine Epicor's response if we wanted support after corrupting
the
> database.
>
> I will have to try to come up with some other good uses to convince
the
> boss that it is worth the money. Hopefully Epicor's quarter end
> incentives will help cut the price.
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>