IBM Europe Announcement ZP07-0110, dated February 13, 2007 IBM WebSphere Data Interchange for z/OS V3.3 offers advanced EDI and industry standards-based integration Description .................................................2 At a glance Product positioning .................................... 4 WebSphere Data Interchange for z/OS® V3.3 includes the following benefits: • Delivers the latest and most capable stand-alone EDI translator in the WebSphere portfolio designed to meet high volume and performance requirements within multiple industries • Includes substantial new functionality for transaction/document store, reporting and error handling, role- and group-based management, and audit trails • Adds support for services-oriented architecture (SOA) implementations, new EDI standards, and for handling large files and international (Unicode) characters Overview What's new in V3.3 • Migration to browser-based reporting • Improved error and notification handling • Improved group and role-based management • Extension of management reporting to Data Transformation maps • Improved audit trail functionality • Enhancements to WebSphere® Data Interchange Client • Enhanced data storage/handling • Enhancements to Document Store for storing flat-file and XML data • Support for submitting transaction replay/resend from WebSphere Data Interchange Client • Ad-hoc submission of transformation commands • Support for multiple and expanded Record IDs • Streaming function to support processing of large messages • Support for new ANSI X12 functional acknowledgements (X12 999) • Java™ API for invoking WebSphere Data Interchange as a Web Service for use in SOAs • Java API for parsing XML-format event log data enabling the creation of CBE/CEI-compliant messages, for use in SOAs • Support for directory-based triggering of WebSphere Data Interchange Server IBM Europe Announcement ZP07-0110 IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation 1 • Support for IBM Support and Educational Assistants Key prerequisites Refer to the Software requirements and Hardware requirements sections. Planned availability date March 16, 2007, Tape, U.S. English only Description WebSphere Data Interchange facilitates the creation, deployment, execution, and management of data transformation, and related standards-based processing, between standards-based EDI and XML formats and internal application data formats. It supports requirements for EDI Trading Partner® data exchanges such as auditing and data content validation as well as other required functions. Examples include trading partner profiles, enveloping, syntax validation, and functional acknowledgment, which enable EDI-based integration between trading partners. WebSphere Data Interchange supports data mapping and transformation conversion between standards-based EDI and internal application data formats. Standards supported include, but are not limited to, ANSI X12, UN/EDIFACT, and UCS. WebSphere Data Interchange supports the subsets of the published ANSI X12 and UN/EDIFACT standards as interpreted by industries such as retail, transportation, electronics, financial services automotive, petroleum, health care, insurance, and manufacturing. WebSphere Data Interchange can operate as a stand-alone EDI system or it can be integrated with other enterprise applications, either through its WebSphere MQ-based interface, or through its own APIs, including a new Java API, which allows WebSphere Data Interchange to be invoked as a Web Service consistent with SOAs. In the context of a typical enterprise architecture, WebSphere Data Interchange fulfills the role of an EDI broker that performs standards-based EDI validation, transformation, and exchange functions and propagates the resulting transformed data either internally or externally. It may also be integrated with WebSphere Partner Gateway to leverage business-to-business (B2B) gateway functions. Internal propagation of transformed data may be conducted through a business process manager such as WebSphere Process Server, or through a message broker such as WebSphere Message Broker, or through direct connectivity with backend business applications, or through any combination of such capabilities depending upon on the needs of the enterprise. Further, WebSphere Data Interchange can participate with the core elements of an SOA-based, B2B solution, including WebSphere Partner Gateway (for secure connectivity and trading partner management), WebSphere Message Broker (for mediation and routing of EDI-related messages as they pass between the gateway, WebSphere Data Interchange and internal business applications), and WebSphere Process Server (for managing business processes). External bi-directional exchange of transformed data may be conducted through an EDI value added network (VAN) or through EDI/Internet transport mechanisms (such as EDIINT, AS1/AS2/AS3), or directly with trading partners, or via any combination of these, depending on the nature of the relationship between the enterprise and its trading partners. WebSphere Data Interchange is sufficiently flexible in its architecture that it can integrate and interoperate with a wide range of such solutions. This is of particular advantage where an enterprise may already have an established EDI VAN provider. Enhancements to WebSphere Data Interchange V3.3 for z/OS include: • Document Store tables support flat-file, XML and international (Unicode) data, in addition to storing EDI data, which is currently supported. • Data transformation processing store and retrieve data using the updated tables for flat-file, XML and international (Unicode) data. This addition of a PERFORM command can check the Document Store for any overdue functional acknowledgements, and generate errors for any that are overdue. These errors may be used to trigger new e-mail alerting and event handing capabilities. • WebSphere Data Interchange Client users can reprocess transactions and interchanges from IBM Europe Announcement ZP07-0110 IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation 2 the Document Store, similar to the capabilities currently in the z/OS Facility. • Migration of reporting function to a browser-based interface, and removal of dependency upon external viewer software includes the capability to generate predefined reports associated with the use of all WebSphere Data Interchange objects. • Improved error handling and related e-mail-based notification of translation errors allow the replacement of the Common Error Services with a new Common Event Handler to allow "pluggable" actions when any "event" (including any message) occurs. • Support for error and informational messages in a program-readable format (XML and/or fixed-record) allows automated processing. • Support for message files can be routed to designated files or WMQ queues for handling by a user-defined or a WebSphere Data Interchange provided program. These may be routed based on criteria specified by the user, such as a given error severity level or the presence of specific errors. • Inclusion of a Java API allows users to read and parse the message files, and allow users to process them easily, including the creation of CBE/CEI messages for use in SOAs. • Improved filtering support of error messages reduces the PRTFILE size. • Physical filenames can be added to messages in the PRTFILE. • Support for e-mail alerts via SMTP when errors or other conditions occur is included. These alerts can also be sent to pagers, cell phones, and any other devices that support SMTP-based text messages. A handler is provided to process the program-readable message log, and generate alerts. Configuration parameters will be provided to allow users to customize the content and format of e-mail alerts. • V3.3 includes support for pluggable e-mail component support integration with other systems. • Inclusion of sample source code for the e-mail handler program allows customers to customize functionality. • Management reporting function is extended to Data Transformation maps, which currently exists only for send/receive maps in WebSphere Data Interchange V3.3. Such function captures operational metrics such as, but not limited to, number, size, document type, and status of transactions exchanged with trading partners. They can identify which trading partner are using which maps. Such functionality is used for reporting and trouble-shooting. • Role- and group-based access and management for the WebSphere Data Interchange Client are improved. They allow assignment of users to roles and groups, allow permissions to be granted to such roles and groups, and restrict access based upon such roles and groups. • Improved audit trail functionality maintains a complete chronological log of all changes made to WebSphere Data Interchange objects, such as the date, time, and user ID associated with create, update, and delete changes. • Support for submitting transaction replay and resend commands, and the ability to view results, from a list within the WebSphere Data Interchange Client and from the Document Store is included. Also removes dependency upon TSO CLIST and CICS® transaction menu in z/OS environments. • Support for ad-hoc submission of transformation commands, and the ability to view results, from within the WebSphere Data Interchange Client allows greater flexibility in testing and production management and the ability to view related audit logs. • Support for IBM Support Assistant (ISA) is included. It includes a new Tool workbench which