Tempe, AZ — March 27, 2003 — Two supply chain solution providers, Manhattan Associates and RedPrairie, today separately announced new integration with software from enterprise application provider PeopleSoft.
Atlanta-based Manhattan Associates, a provider of supply chain execution (SCE) solutions, has joined PeopleSoft's Software Alliance Program and plans to develop integration between its product and PeopleSoft's Supply Chain Management (SCM) modules.
Manhattan said that the integration between its warehouse management systems (WMS) and PeopleSoft Supply Chain Management 8.4 should provide customers with a cost-effective means to integrate the management of complex warehouse environments into complete supply chain processes.
The planned integration is expected to offer tight coordination between production, order management and fulfillment processes for complex manufacturing and distribution organizations. In addition, once completed, the integration of the solutions is expected to provide customers with an easier upgrade path and reduced cost of integration and maintenance, according to Manhattan.
"Well-coordinated fulfillment is critical for both cost reduction and customer service objectives," said Patrick Quirk, general manager of PeopleSoft's Supply Chain Management Division. "PeopleSoft SCM's integration with Manhattan Associates' WMS functionality is expected to give companies the opportunity to tightly coordinate operations with precise inventory requirements. In addition, organizations can have access to immediate, accurate product availability information-regardless of the complexity of their extended supply chain."
Manhattan Associates is planning to qualify for PeopleSoft certification testing by the third quarter of 2003.
RedPrairie connects TMS to ERP
Meanwhile, Waukesha, Wis.-based logistics specialist RedPrairie rolled out a new adapter for its transportation management system (TMS) that will provide integration to PeopleSoft enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain applications.
The new TMS adapter will complement RedPrairie's previously developed and certified adapter for integration of its warehouse management system (WMS) with the PeopleSoft ERP suite.
The new adaptor will enable the necessary transactional interchanges between a PeopleSoft ERP implementation and RedPrairie's TMS, DLx Transportation. As part of an integrated logistics workflow, the adapter provides for communication of customer, location and order release information to the TMS.
On completion of transportation planning, optimized load consolidation and shipment execution processes, the adaptor enables communication of shipping plans back to the PeopleSoft ERP. The adaptor can be configured to support real-time integration, for example, when changes occur within transportation planning and execution processes that need to be immediately communicated to the ERP.
RedPrairie's PeopleSoft adapters, as well as its certified interfaces to other ERP solutions, are built using DLx Integrator, RedPrairie's enterprise application integration (EAI) framework. DLx Integrator capabilities include visual data mapping; the ability to integrate using multiple protocols, such as XML, direct table-to-table, HTTP post, flat file, SAP IDOCS and others; the ability to send and receive data synchronously and asynchronously to one central point for communication to multiple sites; embedded event management to proactively notify appropriate personnel if a transactional problem occurs; and real-time transaction monitoring that enables information technology (IT) organizations to monitor and troubleshoot transactions anywhere across their networks.
