Strong points of Bots open source edi translator
- A complete edi translator.
- Supports many edi formats. All edifact messages and x12 transactions as download.
- Powerful translations. Eg tackle the 'many similar yet different translations' in a sensible way.
- Good documentation.
- Very stable. Good performance. Runs over 150K edi files per month easily.
- Use the configuration change management to eg push changes test->production.
- Build-in acknowledgements/confirmations (997, CONTRL).
- Maintenance free.
- Flexible.
- Open source.
- Platform independent; runs on Windows, Linux, OSX, Unix.
- Commercial support available: EbbersConsult. Hire an expert!
Features of Bots open source edi translator
Edi data formats
- edifact - all messages/all versions available as download.
- x12 - all transactions/all versions are available as download.
- tradacoms
- xml
- csv/delimited
- fixed records
- excel
- json
- sap idoc
- eancom
- edi to readable format (html)
- direct database communication
Powerful translations
- Bots translates any formats to any format. Translate to the format you can directly use!
- Powerful mapping: easy querying of edi messages to retrieve and place content.
Think of Xpath or SQL, but tailored for edi.
- Partner dependent translations.
- Partner dependent syntax (often needed for x12).
- Tackle the 'many similar yet different translations' in a sensible way.
- Code conversion, e.g. EAN/UCC-numbers to internal article number.
- Fully integrated Unicode (character sets).
- Build-in acknowledgements/confirmations (997, CONTRL).
Management of edi flows (bots-monitor)
- Bots-monitor is web based. Use from any workstation in your company.
- Clear, non-cluttered interface.
- View and follow incoming and outgoing edi flows.
- View business documents like orders and invoices.
- View the contents of edi files.
- View the send and received acknowledgements/confirmations (997, CONTRL).
- Re-send and re-receive edi messages via interface.
- Get notified by mail in case of errors.
Flexible deployment
- Good scheduling options.
- Communication and translations can be manually started, be scheduled or started from eg ERP software.
- Automatic restart of edi files when communication fails.
- Use different user rights: viewers, staff, superuser.
- Use interface over HTTP or HTTPS/SSL.
- Maintenance free: bots does automatic maintenance of database, files etc.
- Archiving of edi files.
- Directory monitoring/watching (version 3.0)
Communications
- pop3 including tls, ssl.
- imap including tls, ssl.
- smtp including tls, ssl.
- ftp, sftp, ftps (in- and explicit)
- File I/O
- XML-RPC
- http(s)
- Database connector (direct communication to database).
- External communication modules.
- User scriptable communication.
- VAN's. Connections work with X400, IPMail, Sterling Commerce, Inovis, GXS, InterCommit.
- AS/2: not directly, but successful implementations have been done with: http://as2.mendelson-e-c.com
Plugins for distributable configuration
- Easy installation of edi scenarios.
- Example configurations can be downloaded.
- Distribution and sharing of configurations by e.g. users, ERP-suppliers, edi-communities or edi-hubs.
- Make a plugin of your configuration; eg for support purposes, configuration back-up, for test environement.
- Easy update/patch possible.
Technical features
- Platform independent; runs on Windows, Linux, OSX, Unix.
- Programming language: Python.
- Python is used for configuration (mapping scripts, grammars, user exits etc); not a self-invented toy language.
One advantage: use syntax highlighting and python syntax check in a editor.
- Bots uses the django web frame-work.
- By default the cherrypy web server is used. Bots is scalable: use apache as web server.
- By default uses SQLite database. Bots is scalable: use MySQL, PostgreSQLdatabases as database.
- Heavy customizable by user scripting/user exits.
- Powerful debug options when developing edi translations.
- Great features to test your configuration.
- Use different/multiple environments. Think of test and production ;-)
- Use configuration change management to eg push changes test->production.