Connecting MS Dynamics F&O with Legacy ERP

Be it AS/400 in-house developments or proprietary MS SQL server solutions with .NET Active Server Pages; be it the veterans of corporate IT such as Infor Baan or Lexoffice solutions that have become too small: The range of source systems is wide, their technical status often outdated. No modern interfaces, no simple expansion options, no self-explanatory database abstraction. Given this initial situation, how do you migrate your branches, sister plants and company acquisitions to one or more modern cloud ERP systems - and do so with minimal risk and without interrupting operations? Let's take a look at a specific case.

Let's take Baan as an example of a legacy ERP system Infor. Baan offers the outdated EDIfact format for data exchange, which is difficult to use. Baan could be replaced by any other legacy ERP system that is nearing the end of its life. 

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Be it AS/400 in-house developments or proprietary MS SQL server solutions with .NET Active Server Pages; be it the veterans of corporate IT such as Infor Baan or Lexoffice solutions that have become too small: The range of source systems is wide, their technical status often outdated. No modern interfaces, no simple expansion options, no self-explanatory database abstraction. Given this initial situation, how do you migrate your branches, sister plants and company acquisitions to one or more modern cloud ERP systems - and do so with minimal risk and without interrupting operations? Let's take a look at a specific case.

Let's take Baan as an example of a legacy ERP system Infor. Baan offers the outdated EDIfact format for data exchange, which is difficult to use. Baan could be replaced by any other legacy ERP system that is nearing the end of its life. 

Baan Distribution Website

 The target or new system is to be MS Dynamics365 F&O, which is apparently based on MS Dynamics AX (Axapta).

First, a decision should be made as to whether the changeover from Baan to MS Dynamics365 F&O should take place everywhere in one go (big bang) or in several steps (incremental). This decision determines whether a one-off (automated) data migration should take place or whether a permanent data exchange must be established between MS Dynamics and Baan.

EDIfact in MS Dynamics365 F&O (Example)

In the first case, automation is implemented from Baan (old system) to MS Dynamcis (new system) so that all orders (ORDERS) including master data etc. flow once into the new system. The old system can then be decommissioned. The automation can be kept simple.

In the second case, bilateral automation is implemented so that orders can be transferred both from Baan to MS Dynamics and from MS Dynamics to Baan. The automation must be able to handle numerous exceptions, be scalable and stable. It must also offer logging and monitoring in order to be prepared for errors.

As a rule, companies opt for the second approach in order to migrate branches or plants to the new world one after the other. The migration risks are lower here; in addition, the migration process can be continuously improved so that later migration candidates benefit from these optimizations (lessons learned).

Microsoft Dynamics365 F&O - Purchase Order

In both cases, however, we are confronted with incompatible data formats. Baan can only communicate with the outside world via EDIfact, while MS Dynamics365 F&O is very well suited to RESTful Services or SOAP Services. Here it is important to "communicate linguistically".

As soon as a purchase order is created and approved in MS Dynamics, for example, it is available to third-party systems via API. We therefore access the purchase order via the MS Dynamics365 OData interface and convert it into the EDIfact D95B ORDERS format. D95B stands for the exact version of the ORDERS document type - in this case, variant B of the standard adopted in 1995. However, this can be any version of this document type; they are very similar.

If we take a closer look at the outgoing purchase orders, we see that they consist of numerous fields with detailed information on the services or products ordered. Delivery information can be found next to billing information, payment deadlines next to tax information and, of course, the items ordered. All of this must be transferred correctly to the target document ORDERS.

Microsoft Dynamics365 F&O - API

The field structure of the EDIfact ORDERS format contains largely the same fields as the JSON-formatted source file from MS Dynamics, but in a different structure. The correct mapping of the source fields to the target fields is therefore crucial. Only then can Baan transfer the order details correctly from the MS Dynamics source. Often only a subset of the information is required or the information must be displayed in a different order, which on the one hand simplifies the mapping, but on the other hand represents a source of error if you do not know the exact meaning of the fields.

An immediately obvious challenge in mapping is the lack of nesting in EDIfact, which is easily possible in JSON. As a result, logic must be introduced during the conversion which, on the one hand, incorporates this nesting, but then "flattens" it again.

Furthermore, it must be determined how orders that have already been transferred in MS Dynamics are marked so that they are not created again in Baan - and therefore do not generate unnecessary corrections and additional costs.

All of this may sound tedious - but it doesn't have to be. What is needed is expertise in the various data formats, creativity in eliminating supposed incompatibilities between the systems and the clever selection of tools. Even if the future of technology may be "modern" and "rosy", we have to get on the road to it in the here and now. Tearing down and rebuilding everything will rarely find a viable majority due to the high risks to business continuity and costs, so modern technologies paired with methodological expertise point the way to success.

As the companies of the future are likely to rely on modularly combinable systems (Composable Enterprise), i.e. using Saleforce, Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, Servicenow, Hubspot, Freshdesk, DATEV, SAP etc. in various functional combinations at the same time, a prudent and effective integration strategy is essential.

Gartner

To ensure that this does not remain just PowerPoint concepts and end in desperate night shifts in the Far East, the path to success leads through good IT consulting and implementation. This is exactly where we come in: Business Automatica GmbH works with you to identify the functional and technical requirements, develops the right system architecture and implements the solution in the shortest possible time using the latest tools from leading and innovative manufacturers until you and we are satisfied.

Business Automatica reduces process costs by automating manual activities, increases the quality of data exchange in complex system architectures and connects on-premise systems with modern cloud and SaaS architectures.