Example Use Cases
Below are some typical use cases for our services. These examples
were chosen to highlight the general principles, and some specific features
of our products.
Order Fulfillment
Customer A receives mail and phone orders. They want
to send them to Vendor B several times a day for shipment. Vendor B is
only able to accept fixed length files in a specific format. Customer A's
system can only export text files, and these are much more free form than
Vendor B can deal with. After consulting with the parties, we set up our
translation.
Customer A normally sends the files via FTP to our site (we can
help automate this process too!). Vendor B wants to receive the files via
email. Every time Customer A sends a file to us, it is translated and forwarded
on to Vendor B within minutes. If something should happen to Customer A's
internet connection, they can still send the files to us via modem. If
the key operator at Customer A is on vacation, and their relief prefers
email, that's okay too. Our system will not care, and Vendor B will not
know the difference!
Store and forward processing
ISP A collects web survey files for Customer B. They
would like to forward the files to Customer B via email as soon as each
arrives. Customer B wants the surveys translated into a row/column/database
type file for each day. They want to get them from an FTP site about once
a day. They expect to pick them up every day, but may not.
We set up our system to accept the emails from ISP A, and build
a holding file. Once each day, it closes this file out, and packages the
data into a PGP encrypted file. This is then placed in a download directory
on the FTP site. Each night, files over a week old are removed from the
FTP site.
Outsourcing flexibility
List House A does not want to have to deal with translating
their address data into all of the different formats requested by their
customers. On the other hand, they don't want to appear inflexible. We
are able to perform the necessary translations, and the List House's customers
never even know we're there.
Remote device independence
Manufacturer A has a JIT relationship with several key
suppliers. They want to send standardized purchase order transactions to
the suppliers when they need new products or materials. Some of the suppliers
are able to accept the data directly and act on it. Some of them need the
standard types of translations described above. Others are basically small,
paper based companies. They don't have the resources or justification to
develop and maintain the systems needed to directly accept the orders.
We are able to receive the raw data files from Manufacturer A,
and transform them into print image files suitable for Prodigy or Zebra
label printers, and dot matrix, HP/PCL, or Postscript page printers. We
effectively transform the supplier's equipment into a remote printer for
the manufacturer, without them having to compromise their standards. Plus,
the suppliers can limit their investments based on the volume of work they
receive.
|