To compete in a global economy, companies of all sizes are looking for ways to improve the efficiency and accuracy of their operations.  For Shipping Solutions Professionals users, one of the increasingly important components of the software is our Integration Utility, which allows companies to link Shipping Solutions with their accounting or ERP systems to reduce data entry and improve the accuracy of their export forms.

The DXM contains an executable file that is called from a script or run manually from the command line on a MS Windows computer.  When used with a script that your company creates to extract data from your accounting or ERP system, the DXM provides a flexible method to move data between systems.  In addition, the DXM logs each transaction recording each successful operation and detailing any errors that occur.

Installing the Data Exchange Manager

1. The DXM runs on the Microsoft .Net 2.0 platform.  If this software is not already installed on the computer running the DXM, you will first have to install it.  From the DXM CD Main Menu, click on the “Install .Net 2.0 Runtime” option.  For more information about the .Net 2.0 Runtime program including its basic system requirements, visit the Microsoft Website at:
   
   http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=en

2. From the DXM CD Main Menu, install the DXM on the PC or server where the programs will run. The software includes two executable files.  The first file is the DXM Configuration Manager that you will use to configure the data exchange.  You will find an icon for the DXM Configuration Manager on your desktop.  The second executable file runs the actual data operations based on the parameters specified in the configuration file.

Using the Data Exchange Manager

The first step in setting up the software is preparing the data to be delivered to Shipping Solutions Professional. This version of the software accepts two text delimited files.  The first file is the header file that contains the information normally found at the top of an invoice.  The second file is the detail file that contains the line items found on an invoice.  They are linked together by the data in the first column of each file.

You may use commas, tabs or pipes ( | ) as delimiters; however we strongly suggest the use of pipes since they usually don't conflict with other characters that may be embedded in your data such as commas in the description and address fields.  You may include your own field names in the first row of data.  If you don't, the program will assign generic field names for mapping purposes.

The sample files below contain the information for two shipments using the 'pipe' delimiter with field names in first row of data.

Header File:

ordno|exporter|address|city|state|zip
1234|US Exports Company|4253 Your Street|Jonesville|AR|93234
4321|SD Exports Company|4253 Green St.|New York|NY|03234

Detail File:

ordno|prodid|proddesc|unitcost|quantity|extcost|include_on_sed
1234|A132|Wild Widgets44|12.00|4|48.00|true
1234|A133|Wild Widgets22|10.00|4|40.00|true
1234|A134|Wild Widgets99|12.00|5|60.00|false
4321|A199|Tame Widgets Green|10.00|4|40.00|false
4321|A888|Tame Widgets Blue|12.00|5|60.00|true

Notes About the Data Fields

Data types between systems don't always match.  Here are a few guidelines for Shipping Solutions Professional data types:

1. Fields listed as Yes/No fields are Boolean types (True or False).  To move data into these fields in Shipping Solutions Professional, use a value of True or False.  Optionally you may use -1 for true and 0 for false.

2. Date fields accept dates in the MM/DD/YYYY format.

3. Numerical values will be interpreted as passed.  12.00 will be 12.00.  There are no assumed decimal points.

4. Text data has length limitations. Refer to the Shipping Solutions Professional User Guide for the field lengths.  If the data passed to the DXM is too long, an error will be written to the log and the shipment data will not be inserted into the Shipping Solutions Professional database.

5. Column headings cannot include spaces or other unusual characters.

Configuring the Data Exchange Manager

To configure the DXM, click the DXM icon on your desktop.  The Configuration Center screen will open and you will see the following options.  They must all be set properly for the software to run.

If you don’t have any data to test and you just want to view the operation of the programs, you can use the sample files located in the SAMPLES folder that was installed in the same folder as the program.

Select Delimiter—Select the delimiter you used (comma, tab or pipe) and check the box if the first row of your data contains field names.

File Locations—Select the location and names of the files you will be importing into Shipping Solutions Professional.

Mapping—Click on these fields to map the data from your source files to the data fields in Shipping Solutions Professional (see “Mapping Your Data to Shipping Solutions” below).

Locate SS Data File—Click here to find the location of your Shipping Solutions Professional data file (SSDATA.MDB) into which you want to send your accounting or ERP information.  The data file is where all the export shipping information is stored by Shipping Solutions Professional.

Processed Files—Click here to identify the folder in which you want to store your original data files after they have been processed and imported into Shipping Solutions Professional.  They will be renamed with the system date and time stamp.  You can retrieve, rename and reprocess this data if there is a need to do so.

Mapping Your Data to Shipping Solutions

Click on the mapping button.  A new window will open displaying a grid containing the Shipping Solutions Professional data fields on the right and a drop-down menu on the left.  Click on the drop-down menu to select which of your data fields should map to each of the Shipping Solutions Professional fields.  You may map as many of your fields to as many Shipping Solutions Professional fields as you like.  For example, it’s possible to use your Order Number field in three different Shipping Solutions Professional fields.

When you are finished mapping the data, click the Save and Exit button to return to the main screen. Click the Cancel button to exit without saving your mapping.

Creating Scripts to Call the Data Exchange Manager

If you want to automate the integration process using the DXM, you will need to write a script that will call the script that extracts data from your accounting or ERP system and then call and run the DXM.  Here is a sample script:

Contents of runme.bat

yourdataextractor..exe         your extraction script
converttxt2ssdata..exe             SSPro DXM

A script like this sample script will extract the data from your accounting or ERP system and move it to the location specified in the DXM setup.  The DXM will then load its configuration file and process those files.  The results of this operation will then be written to the log file “ssprointlog.txt” and echoed to the console window for viewing in the test environment.

Files Contained in this Package:

Root Directory:

• Ssdatamapper.exe - Mapping Program
• Converttxt2ssdata.exe - Data Integration Program
• Converttxt2ssdata.exe.config - Configuration File
• Log4net.dll - Logging Library
• Log4net.xml - Logging Config
• Ssprointlog.txt - Log File

AppData:

• Ssfielddata.mdb - Mapping Data
• Convert2xml.xml - Configuration File

Sample Data:

• Ssdatahdr.txt - sample header file
• Ssdatadtl.txt - sample detail file