The new Translation, Extraction and Integration (TEI) Option for CONNECT:Direct further enhances data integration possibilities

The new TEI Option for CONNECT:Direct for Windows NT 1.0 from Sterling Commerce is now available in South Africa from local partner Supported Software, a company in the IT group Datacentrix Holdings. The TEI Option significantly extends the capabilities of CONNECT:Direct, a well established solution for inter- and intra-enterprise automated data exchange, which has been implemented widely across the globe and also within the South African banking, retail, automotive and manufacturing industries.

CONNECT:Direct TEI Option extends the capabilities of CONNECT:Direct by adding the power and flexibility of EDI- and XML-to-flat file translation and automating the insertion and extraction of records in ODBC-compliant databases. The Sterling Commerce translator and associated utilities are currently part of several Sterling Commerce solutions, including GENTRAN:Server and GENTRAN:Catalyst. This translator has now also been packaged with CONNECT:Direct.

Although the TEI Option is initially being introduced on the NT platform, UNIX versions will be added in 2001.

"With the TEI Option to CONNECT:Direct, users do not need to write custom code for any data access or transformation features. The CONNECT:Direct TEI Option protects a customer`s investment in legacy applications and adds a new dimension of automation to application integration through secure data delivery," explains Koos Wessels, the director of Supported Software`s Electronic Business Infrastructure Division.

The TEI Option is aimed at CONNECT:Direct customers and prospects who need the ability to perform XML translation to and from flat files, field-level data transformation, record layout re-ordering and EDI mapping and translation

Wessels explains the difference between CONNECT:Direct TEI Option and GENTRAN:Server, saying that while GENTRAN:Server is an advanced EDI solution that includes trading partner management, auditing, archiving, notification and communication for a few or many trading partners, CONNECT:Direct TEI Option provides CONNECT:Direct customers with a subset of the GENTRAN:Server capabilities but with a greater focus on data translation, extraction and insertion.

CONNECT:Direct TEI Option can be used both for XML and EDI transformation to and from flat files. If Company A, which needs to integrate order data with its legacy applications, is using CONNECT:Direct to exchange data with Company B, which uses XML, the TEI Option for CONNECT:Direct can translate the XML data into the format required by Company A`s applications. The TEI Option provides for the conversion of XML data to and from flat files and EDI formats.

Wessels points out that the solution also avoids the need for custom coding.

"If a company wants to transfer data from a remote location that is stored in a database, that company would normally have to write custom code to extract that data. Custom code would again be required on the receiving side to deliver that data in the format needed for the right applications," he explains. However, Wessels emphasises that with the CONNECT:Direct TEI Option, users do not need to write custom code to extract data or insert data into ODBC-compliant databases.

The TEI Option for CONNECT:Direct can map data, as well as re-order record layout data and perform field-level transformation to avoid problems usually experienced when record layout re-ordering and field-level transformation Integrating legacy applications have data in different formats. An example of a problem, which the TEI Option would typically avoid, would occur in the healthcare sector, where a provider would store patient data records in the format: last name, first name, middle initial, surname, address, city, state, zip. But the insurance carrier, to whom the provider needs to send data, requires the data in a different order or format.

The TEI Option also provides a tool for EDI translation and mapping, as well as EDI document translation.