1. Case Study – Connecting QAD To MES And 3PL Using QAD QXtend and Dell Boomi
Luke Laliberte, West Contract Manufacturing
Gary Yang, Roundview Technologies

2. West Contract Manufacturing Profile
Tech Group founded in 1967
Acquired by West Pharmaceutical Services in 2005
Rebranded West Contract Manufacturing in 2016
Annual sales approximately $300 MM
Operates 7 plants in North America (6) and Europe (1)
QAD customer since 1987
Currently running 2011SE on Red Hat Linux
Single server, six production QAD databases, each its own domain
Single QXtend/Boomi Atom server
Supporting 4 environments (Development, Test, QA & Production)

3. About Roundview Technologies
Founded in 2010 (
QAD Service Partner
Dell Partner (Boomi)
Specializes In QAD Consulting Services
Extensive Experiences In QAD Services Including QXtend, Dell Boomi, .Net UI, CSS, System Administration & Performance Tuning, Enterprise Financials, Advanced Customizations, etc.
Global Resources in QAD Technologies, .Net, J2EE Custom Developments

4. About The MES / 3PL Integration With QAD ERP
Intouch
SFOL
Geodis 3PL

5. Timeline
Spring 2013 – Initial proposal to integrate Intouch Monitoring with QAD
Summer 2013 – QAD Browse to Excel, csv delivered to Intouch
Fall 2013 – Integration Project kick-off, QXtend MWUG
Winter 2013 to Fall 2014 – Develop and test integration solution
February 2015 – Go-Live
May 2015 – Boomi middleware concept introduced
September 2015 – Boomi project kick-off
December 2015 – Boomi Go-Live
January 2016 – Monthly patch update issue, quickly resolved
March 2016 – Roll-out Project (to all other plants) kick-off
April 2016 – Project kick-off for integration with LZ Lifescience (Shopfloor Online)
November 2016 – Final plant (Dublin) enabled

6. Initial Intouch Messages
Work Orders (routing, BOM, inventory) Outbound
Labor Feedback by Work Order Inbound
Subsequent Messages
Work Order Backflush (delayed due to work with Shopfloor Online)
Shopfloor Online Messages (in testing)
Item Master Outbound
Location Master Outbound
Inventory Outbound
Work Orders Outbound
Production Reporting Inbound

7. Proposed Altesse Messages
Inventory Status updates
Transfers (to and from 3PL)
Purchase Order Receipts
Transfer with reference update
Sales Shipments
Cycle Counts

8. Challenges
Need timely two-way communication between QAD ERP and 3rd party systems
Business should be notified in case of any exception, and business can act upon them, completing RCA and resolution in short time
Need to scale in volume and business processes

9. To Meet The Requirements And Address The Challenges
QXtend, as the SOA based adapter to QAD ERP, is the choice of solution over file based approach
After initial successful implementation of asynchronous QXtend / Intouch integration, West CM decided to implement Boomi iPaaS to compliment QXtend for a more robust solution
Engaged Logan Consulting and Roundview Technologies to provide business and integration consulting services due to the experiences they have and the partnership

10. QAD QXtend Integration Framework And Dell Boomi
QXtend is the integration framework from QAD
QXtend is the adapter to QAD EA that allows QAD to communicate with 3rd party applications using standard Web Service protocols
QXtend is NOT a middleware, so the request/response model does have some rigidity for inbound transaction processing
After evaluating 56 or so middleware solutions, QAD has partnered with Dell and recommend Boomi as the middleware to work in conjunction with QXtend

11. Messaging Middleware – Why We Need It?
QXtend Web Service Is Synchronous - SOAP over HTTP(s)
Need For Queuing Mechanism
QXtend Is Only An Adapter
Failed Message Retry And Exception Handling Can Be A Challenge For Third Party Caller
Transformation And Message Orchestration – Dealing With Text Files, For Example
Need For Data Encryption
Enterprise Service Bus Is Becoming A Standard In Corporate IT

12. Messaging Middleware QAD EA MES PLM Workflow QMS Web Portal 3PL
Payroll
MES
QXtend
PLM
ESB / EAI (WebSphere MQ, Oracle Fusion, MuleSoft, Boomi, BizTalk, etc)
Banks
Workflow
Corporate Systems
QMS
Web Portal

13. Dell Boomi (http://www.boomi.com)
A Cloud Based Messaging Middleware Solution
Configuration And Developed Objects Are Stored in Boomi Cloud
Runtime Environment (Atoms) Can Be Deployed In The Dell Cloud, QAD Cloud Or On Premise
Queuing Feature Assures Message Delivery
More Flexible XML Structure (examples)
Customizable alerts
Various Adapters That Covers All Common Connection Protocols
Development Of Boomi Is Done Via the Graphical User Interface, Almost All Done Via Drag/Drop And Configurations
We Have Several Experienced And Certified Boomi Consultants On Our Team

14. Dell Boomi – Integration Platform As A Service (iPaaS)
Social Networks
PaaS Apps
Cloud Services
SaaS Apps
Integration

16. Dell Boomi – Market Leader For iPaaS (Gartner)

17. Dell Boomi – Intuitive User Interface

19. Intoch MES SFOL MES Geodis (3PL)
User Can Review Inbound & Outbound Message Processing Status Via Message Monitor
QXtend Outbound Becomes The Repository For Asynchronous Inbound Transaction Processing
SI QXtend Calls To Populate Intermediate Table
Boomi
Atom
Queue
QDoc
UI API
Intoch
MES
SOAP
QXtend Inbound
MFG/PRO
MFG/PRO
QAD DB Set
SI API
SFOL
MES
SOAP
QDoc
SOAP
QXtend Outbound
Event
SOAP / HTTPS
Geodis (3PL)
DDP

20. MES Inbound To QAD Interfaces
Intouch To QAD Labor Feedback By Work Order Interface
SFOL To QAD Composite Production Reporting Interface (Multiple QAD programs grouped into a single transaction via custom program ad custom QDoc):
Labor Feedback By Work Order
Work Order Receipt
if necessary, Inventory Detail Maintenance (for Expire Date)
Work Order Component Issue
Custom Label Printing Routine

21. QAD To MES Outbound Interfaces
QAD to MES Work Order Update Interface
Use Event Based Approach For Real Time Delivery of a Single Work Order Message
QAD to MES Daily Work Order Refresh Interface
Use Direct Data Publishing (DDP) Approach For Batched Or On Demand with Large Number of Work Orders In A Single Message

22. QXtend Message Monitor
One Of The Most Important Aspects That Defines Successful Interface Project And Failure Is The VISIBILITY Of Message Processing State
Message Monitor Is A QAD .Net UI Plug-In
User-Friendly Tool To Check For Message Processing Status And Data:
Browse Widget Can Retrieve Large Set Of Data
Workbench Type User Interface Provide Rich Data Content
User Can Re-Process Failed Message From Here If Needed
Key For Our Effort To Enable Business To Take Control Of THEIR Data

23. QAD QXtend Message Monitor

24. WebSpeed QXtend Message Monitor

25. Intouch Monitoring Mimic

26. Conclusion
The Boomi / QXtend Integration Framework Delivered All The Promises Of A Robust and Transparent System:
Message Monitor Empowers The Business To Handle Status Check, Root Cause Analysis And Issue Resolution
Alerts Provides Prompt Notifications When Exception Occurs
Boomi Message Queuing Ensures Message Delivery
Decoupling Of Message Processing From Boomi To QXtend Dramatically Reduced The Failure Rate
Common Interface Structure Makes The System Easier To Maintain And Trouble Shoot
Open The Doors For More Boomi / QXtend Based Integration Initiatives:
3PL Solution

27. Do Not Get Used To Be A Firefighter…….

28. Questions? Luke Laliberte At luke.laliberte@westpharma.com
Gary Yang At / LinkedIn