www.wipro.com RETAIL STORE INTEGRATOR (RSI) ENGINEERING A COMPLETE ORACLE SOLUTION Scan the QR Code to learn more DO BUSINESS BETTER
Table of contents 03... Introduction 03... Key Requirements 04... Solution Approach 05... Architecture Overview 06... Solution Framework Capabilities 07... Data Requirements 08... Benefits 08... Conclusion
Introduction In recent times, organized retail has emerged as a growing trend among conventional retailers as well as non-conventional retailers in several sectors including telecom retail and pharmaceuticals. While most conventional retailers choose to use Oracle Retail Merchandising suites (RMS, WMS, RPM) for their supply chain management, many non-conventional retailers prefer to leverage their existing applications such as ebusiness Suite or any other ERP solution comprising supply chain processes and financials etc. When these retailers implement Oracle store applications for their point of sales and inventory management functionalities, while retaining legacy ERP applications, there is a need to address severalissues, specifically from the integration perspective. The integration between Oracle store applications and legacy applications, gains relevance particularly when these retailers implement Oracle Store Applications, but prefer to leverage their legacy applications for existing business processes. We have developed a solution framework named Retail Store Integrator (RSI) that handles the various gaps in telecom retailers store operations. One of the largest telecom service providers in South East Asia implemented this framework. The project charter mandated building a robust and seamless integration solution to ensure stable store operations and addressing several specific business needs of the telecom retailer. Non-conventional retailers too can use this solution. This white paper provides an overview of the solution framework for integrating Oracle Store Applications with legacy applications, particularly the Oracle ebusiness Suite applications. Key Requirements The following key requirements that were kept in mind while building the solution: Should be flexible and adaptable to various ERP systems Should have rules/validation engine that can be configured to minimize errors and flow of faulty data to the systems Must leverage the base store application architecture to process the data at the end points Should guarantee real-time delivery of information Ability to check the status of data sent Ability to resend data in case of failure Ability to audit the data exchanged Comprehensive error handling / reporting mechanisms 3
Solution Approach Figure 1 depicts an overview of the solution built to align with the above key requirements and objectives. ORPOS ORCO ORSIM Transformation Layer Integration Layer Validation Engine Staging Data Importer Staging Area ERP Application Figure1: Overview of the solution The context diagram in Figure 2 shows the various entities involved in the Retail Store Integrator (RSI) solution 2. Transactional Data Sales, Returns POS Client POS Server 1a. Foundation Data Updates Central Office Integration Framework 2a. Transactional Data Suppliers Orders, Inventory synch up Bank Statements E-Business Suite 1. Foundation Data Updates Customer 1b. Foundation Data Updates Store Transactions Updates ORSIM 3. Inventory Movement Updates Back Store Operations (Returns, receiving, transfers) Store Personnel Figure 2: Context diagram of the solution 4
As depicted in Figure 2, each store application has two touch points (inbound and outbound) 1. Central Office (ORCO) a. Inbound: Foundation Data b. Outbound: Transactional Data (e.g. Sales, voids etc.) 2. Point Of Sales (ORPOS) a. Inbound: Foundation Data b. Outbound: Transactional Data (e.g. Sales, voids etc.) 3. Store Inventory Management (ORSIM) a. Inbound: Foundation Data b. Outbound: Transactional Data (e.g. Transfers, receiving etc.) While the transactional data is client specific, the foundation data (i.e. Inbounds) are mostly standard and hence the solution framework (RSI) focuses more on the inbounds. Architecture Overview Store - 1 (ORBO) Store - 2 (ORBO) Store - N (ORBO) Inventory System (ORSIM) JMS Central Office (ORCO) Integration Framework Rules Engine Staging Importer Transformation Layer Error Handling and Reporting Auditing Staging Area Message Monitoring and Management Security ERP Applications (E-Business Suite) Figure 3: Conceptual Architecture of the Solution 5
Above is the conceptual architecture of Retail Store Integrator (RSI) interacting and integrating the Legacy ERP application and the store applications (Store Inventory Management, Central Office and Back office/point of Sale). The highlights of the architecture are explained as below: Publish-Subscribe model: Solution leverages the centrally available application server for publishing the transformed foundation data to the JMS queues (In the above architecture it uses the central office server) Store applications subscribe to the JMS queues Store and forward mechanism are used for publishing the messages to the stores to ensure delivery Secure communication: Secure JDBC and JMS connectivity ensure that authorized clients to subscribe and receive messages Store Inventory Management (ORSIM) application can optionally subscribe to the messages or choose the option that enables the framework to push the messages Solution Framework Capabilities The differentiators and value additions that the integration solution offers are detailed below: Flexibility The approach to integrate the store applications is loosely coupled. It offers users the flexibility to decide which application needs to be integrated. For instance,if the organization is not implementing the Store Inventory Management (ORSIM) application, then the solution can be easily configured to exclude the application Rules engine A robust rules engine is built-in which validates the data supplied by the external system based upon set rules. These rules can be configured for greater flexibility and adaptability for integrating the solution with various systems. It also takes care of the dependencies between various data as may be required by store applications. Any data that does not conform to the agreed set of rules is rejected by the validation engine. Leveraging existing store architecture The integration approach is designed to leverage the store architecture. The transformation layer builds XML data that conforms to the base products. Central office features such as publishing the data in the JMS queues is used for transmitting the data to the stores. Infrastructure requirements Guaranteed delivery Options for real-time delivery/batch processing Reprocessing of data Auditing of processes Error handling Error monitoring and reporting Secure communication Open standards based solution The solution is based on open standards (Java, JDBC and JAXB APIs for marshaling XMLs and JMS for publishing and subscribing messages). It follows the NRF standard for XML message flow and data definitions. Provides flexibility for easy deployment in any chosen JVM machine Provides flexibility for the receiving systems to choose the integration mode Adaptability The system is designed with an easily integrated approach for external applications with an agreed set of data in the staging area. This forms the basis for the store applications. This procedure isolates the integration layer from the ERP system thereby facilitating the integration unit to be plugged to any ERP system 6
Data Requirements Detailed below is the foundation data that the framework uses to integrate with ERP applications. Stores Items Pricing Tax Suppliers Item-Stores Item-Suppliers Sufficient mapping as well as an analysis of the rationalizations required in the ERP applications to meet the foundation data requirements. This needs to be undertaken before proceeding with the solution. Table 1 shows an example of mapping for an ERP Application (ebusiness Suite): Foundations Data for store applications Store ebusiness Suite Mapping Stores are created as customers in ebusiness SuiteStores are created as organization units (sub-inventory). Merchandise Hierarchy Category codes and category sets are created in ebusiness Suite. Items Items are created in inventory module. They can be differentiated as inventory items, package items and service items. ebusiness Suite is the single source of truth for items. Pricing Pricing lists are created and attached to each inventory unit. Price information again is controlled in ebusiness Suite. Tax Tax rules are defined in accounts receivables. Suppliers Suppliers are created in the purchasing module and separate organization unit. Promotions Promotional rules are created using the advanced pricing module. These are created for enforcing centrally controlled promotion activities across all stores. Item - Locations Associating items to various stores can be a cumbersome process in ebusiness Suite, there can be customization to associate the items to the stores (locations) and suppliers. Item - Suppliers Associating items to various suppliers can be a cumbersome process in EBS, there can be customization to associate the items to the stores (locations) and suppliers. Table1: Foundation data mapping with ERP 7
Benefits Retail Store Integrator (RSI) reduces the cost of integration of legacy applications and Oracle Store applications thereby resulting in reduced implementation cost and schedule for the implementation. This framework provides retailers a sense of confidence in having their legacy ERP applications integrated with Oracle Store applications. This results in better chances of opting for the Oracle Store applications for implementing the store operations. Error reporting, Message Tracking and reprocessing abilities of the RSI increase the operational efficiency. Conclusion Considering the availability of a wide range of ERP software from leading vendors such as SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft, among others,our solution frameworkto integrate Oracle store applications and ERP applications drives operational excellence and efficiency in stores and improves customer experience. This certainly creates a win-win situation for customers, Oracle and service providers like us. The choice of an appropriate solution depends on the scalability of the legacy applications and the rationalization needed to meet store application requirements. The solution is highly reliable and reduces the risks and constraints while providing a seamless integration between the Oracle store applications and the external ERP systems. 8
About the Author Suman Adhikary suman.adhikary@wipro.com Suman Adhikary is a Principal Architect and Domain Competency Head Oracle Practice at Wipro. He has 15+ years of experience in the IT industry. He is instrumental in providing consultancy to global companies on various technology and business solutions. His area of focus is identifying various vertical solutions and building new revenue stream and customer centric CoE for the same. Srinivasa Rao Durgavajjula srinivasa.durgavajjula@wipro.com Srinivas is a Senior Architect at Wipro. He is a domain expert in Retail and has worked extensively with various Oracle Retail Product suite applications over a span of 10 years. He specializes in Oracle Retail store Applications and its integration with other modules. He played key roles in implementing Oracle Retail applications for big and medium size retailers across various regions (US, Europe, Asia Pacific) in the globe. His retail consulting experience includes requirements study, gap analysis, designing solutions for package implementation, upgrades and application support. Apart from the strong consulting experience he has also worked in product development and lead couple of GA releases successfully. About Wipro Ltd. Wipro Ltd. (NYSE:WIT) is a leading Information Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing company that delivers solutions to enable its clients do business better. Wipro delivers winning business outcomes through its deep industry experience and a 360 degree view of "Business through Technology" - helping clients create successful and adaptive businesses. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, a practitioner's approach to delivering innovation and an organization wide commitment to sustainability, Wipro has a workforce of 140,000 serving clients across 57 countries. For more information, please visit www.wipro.com. 9
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