EAI follow-up: Piecing it all together

The ROI and TCO Benefits of Data Deduplication for Data Protection in the Enterprise Sign up to receive Security Resource Alerts

July 07, 2003 (Computerworld) -- A year after Steve Kaufman and his staff at Goshen, Ind.-based health care insurer Mennonite Mutual Aid Association (MMAA) launched a massive enterprise application integration (EAI) project (see story), the results are in, and the news is mostly good.
The company's goal was to use tools from Vitria Technology Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif., to integrate core insurance applications running on IBM AS/400s with applications running on Windows NT servers and to more than double its system-to-system interfaces over the next five years.
The project is being driven by the approach of the October 2003 deadline associated with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), which requires the use of a set of specific standards for the electronic exchange of data.
"We finished our first project in August of last year, the HIPAA 834 group enrollment transaction, and now we're working on the most complicated transaction," says Kaufman, MMAA's director of IT architecture. That's the 837/835 transaction, in which MMAA receives a health claim from a provider and then tells the provider how it's going to pay the claim. This is also the transaction with the highest volume.

Steve Kaufman of Mennonite Mutual Aid Association (MMAA)

MMAA has also completed an interface from a Windows NT SQL Server database to an AS/400 DB2 database, connecting the company's two main databases.
On the downside, initial plans to double the number of system-to-system interfaces have been slowed. "Our organization had plans for CRM, and those were cut back quite a bit with the whole economic situation, so that's going to slow down how many interfaces we put in," Kaufman explains.
Remaining Attractive
Another EAI user, Corporate Express Inc., an office supplies distributor in Broomfield, Colo., has improved customer service by almost doubling the number of interfaces to business partners, from 120 to more than 200. Its aim was to cut costs both internally and for its customers so it would remain attractive as a preferred supplier.

	Andy Miller of Corporate Express

The company has also completed a handful of other EAI projects in the past year, including integrating its PeopleSoft ERP system and its warehouse management system.
"The integration effort is probably even more successful than we planned," says Andy Miller, vice president of technical architecture at Corporate Express. "We didn't think that we would replace as many legacy interfaces as we did. We actually went back to quite a few older interfaces between applications and retrofitted them."
One of the results was that the company set a new record for online sales this past January, selling more than $7 million in office products online in one day. Online sales now represent more than 50% of its total sales.
In addition, Corporate Express' integrated business-to-business systems, which include EDI and XML interfaces with customers' e-procurement systems, achieved a new daily high of more than $2 million. Corporate Express has integrated with more than 250 customer e-procurement systems, including platforms such as SAP AG, Oracle Corp., Ariba Inc. and Commerce One Inc. The company expects its 2003 e-commerce sales to exceed $1.5 billion.
Corporate Express is using integration technology from Fairfax, Va.-based WebMethods Inc.
By the end of 2003, Miller says, he expects to complete five more strategic EAI projects that will, among other things, expand the company's products and enhance its delivery capabilities.
"We haven't measured it officially, but we know of cases where we've won business because of our integration capability with customers," he says.
Looking ahead, Tom Dwyer, an analyst at Boston-based Aberdeen Group Inc., predicts that worldwide spending on integration software and services will continue to grow faster than overall technology spending for one simple reason: It's cheaper to integrate existing applications with new ones than to rip everything out and start fresh.
Trombly is a freelance writer in Belchertown, Mass. You can contact her at maria@trombly.com.

Print this Story

Send Us Feedback

E-mail this Story

Digg this Story

Slashdot this Story

Corporate Express Inc. Mennonite Mutual Aid Association Piecing It All Together

"Today's US college business professors, hopefully, aren't all like the one who is teaching a Florida university's business major. Maybe..." Read more... "For the first time in 30 years, there were no public offerings from a venture backed company. Look for more..." Read more... Read more Management posts or See all Blogs

Microsoft promises four patches next week Google gives away home-cooked Web application security scanner Storm botnet stages Fourth of July attacks More top stories...

Microsoft trumpets security additions in upcoming IE8 Apple cuts price of high-end SSD MacBook Air by $500 Ultrathin showdown: Apple MacBook Air vs. Lenovo ThinkPad X300 vs. Toshiba Portege R500

This old laptop: Revitalizing an aging notebook on the cheap All it takes is a couple hours and about $125 to breathe new life into an old laptop. Here's how. Bill Gates moves on Is Microsoft's Golden Age over? What are Gates' most memorable quotes? Find out in Computerworld's complete coverage of the end of the Bill Gates era at Microsoft. Five things you should never tell your boss There are some things your CIO definitely doesn't want to hear. Also don't miss the flipside, Five things you should always tell your boss. Hands-On: Firefox 3 fixes what's broke and keeps what's right With its latest version, Mozilla's browser continues to raise the bar for what Web browsers should be. Windows Vista A to Z Reviews, analyses, how-tos, visual tours, hot issues and predictions about Microsoft's new OS. More Continuing Coverage After 9/11: Homeland SecurityAsk a Premier 100 IT LeaderBlackBerry Legal BattleData Security BreachesElectronic VotingFirefoxH-1B VisasHP's Boardroom ScandalHandheld DevicesHurricane Katrina AftermathMicrosoft Legal IssuesMicrosoft's VistaOpen SourceRFID TechnologySCO's Linux FightSarbanes-Oxley ActSpamVoice Over IPWi-FiWindows Meta File VulnerabilityWindows XP Service Pack 3 IT Careers 2010 Four years from now, the IT field will be a vastly different place. Will you be ready? More Special Reports Premier 100 IT Leaders 2007 Best in Class2006 Computerworld Horizon Awards2006 Premier 100 IT Leaders2006 Salary Survey2007 Best Places to Work in IT2007 IT Forecast2007 Premier 100 IT Leaders40 Years of ComputerworldASPs, Take TwoBest Places to Work in IT 2003Best Places to Work in IT 2004Best Places to Work in IT 2005Best Places to Work in IT 2006Business Intelligence Home RunsBusiness Intelligence: Smarter BIBusiness Intelligence: The Future of BICRM Goes VerticalCRM: Sober CRMCareer Planning Guide 2005Careers: IT Profession 2010Computerworld Horizon Awards 2005Data Management: Mining for GemsData Management: Taming Data ChaosDevelopment: Hard-Workin' Web SitesDevelopment: New Tools New ChoicesDevelopment: The New World of Application DevelopmentDevelopment: The Web Services TsunamiDevelopment: Web Services HurdlesDisaster Recovery: Preparing for the WorstE-commerce Grows UpE-mail/Groupware: Big DecisionsFaces of Mobile ITForecast 2006Global MobileHardware: Multiple Cores, Multiple ChallengesHardware: On-Demand Un-HypedHardware: The Shape of Things to ComeHorizon Awards: 10 Cool Cutting Edge TechnologiesIT Management: Guide to Managing VendorsIT Management: Navigating Global ITIT Management: Recovery AheadIT Management: The Future of ITIT Management: The Resourceful Project ManagerInnovative Technology Awards 2004Management: Reinventing ITMicrosoft in TransitionMobile/Wireless Leaders and LaggardsMobile/Wireless: The Untethered WorkerMobile/Wireless: Tiny Gadgets, Huge CostsNetwork Management: Taking ControlNetworking: Turbulence Ahead!Networking: VoIP Goes MainstreamOperating Systems: In the Slow LaneOperating Systems: Linux Goes GlobalOperating Systems: Should You Nix Unix?Outsourcing: Offshore Buyer's GuideOutsourcing: Outsourcing DangersPremier 100 IT Leaders 2004 Best in ClassPremier 100 IT Leaders 2005 Best in ClassROI: Do the Math!Salary Survey 2003Salary Survey 2004Salary Survey 2005Security Action PlanSecurity: Compliance HeadachesSecurity: Proactive SecuritySecurity: Risk and RewardSecurity: Tips From Security ProsSouped-up SecurityStorage: Battling ComplexityStorage: Cheap & Secure Data StoresStorage: Stretching Your Storage DollarsStorage: The Lean Storage MachineStorage: The New Rules of StorageStorage: The Ultimate Backup GuideSupply Chain: Missing LinksSupply Chain: RFID Reality CheckThe Business of SecurityWeb 2.0 SecurityWireless: Wireless At Work All Zones Application Performance Zone Business Continuity Zone Data Center Management Zone Enterprise-Class Security Zone The File Data Management Zone Grid Computing on Windows Zone Security Management Zone ITIL Best Practices Zone The SAS Zone Storage Virtualization Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone See your link here

Does collaboration drive business success? Get this white paper now! (Source: Microsoft Office Live Meeting) Collaboration occurs at the intersection of an enterprise's technology and culture. Discover how these two critical factors affect the quality of collaboration in Meetings Around the World: The Impact of Collaboration on Business Performance. You'll learn why enterprises need to work collaboratively - and examine how collaboration impacts business success. Download this white paper  A Leader in Healthcare IT: Marshfield Clinic Case Study A Leader in Healthcare IT: Marshfield Clinic Case Study View this webcast now! Go to the webcast  Managing For Agility Get the full Computerworld report for a limited time, compliments of Computerworld and IBM. Today's corporations need to bend without breaking. Agile IT operations can deliver products and services promptly, and then they can update and improve and reconfigure those resources as need be. But only good management practices will keep it all working together. In this Executive Briefing, we'll look at best practices for providing and managing IT in an on-demand world. Download this executive briefing  White Papers Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Deploying Virtualized NetWare on Linux Whitepaper Toward More Flexible, Next-Generation Collaboration Solutions Driving Business Success Through Workgroup Choice and Flexibility View more whitepapers

• Corporate Express Inc.
• Mennonite Mutual Aid Association
• Piecing It All Together

• Microsoft promises four patches next week
• Google gives away home-cooked Web application security scanner
• Storm botnet stages Fourth of July attacks
• More top stories 

Enhancing Business Mobility with Convertible PCs For years Pen enabled computing devices have enjoyed great success and acceptance in highly vertical industries like delivery services, auditing and POS. The primary limitations of early pen computing devices, which were the hurdles to early mainstream adoption, were the power limitations of the devices, no stable OS environment for application development, and the lack of a keyboard for traditional input. Now, with the availability of Windows XP Tablet PC edition and Vista, which are both Pen Enabled operating systems, the flexibility afforded by dual function convertible notebooks and a host of 3rd party applications, Pen Computing has expanded into areas like healthcare, insurance, education, retail, and sales force automation. What used to be strictly vertical has now caught on as a preferred alternative to standard notebooks. Is now the right time for you to consider pen computing? Tune in to find out what these amazing mobile devices can do to simplify tasks, expand the utility of a traditional notebook, and increase the ROI of traditional notebook computing. Listen to this podcast now

Intercept Spam & Viruses With MessageLabs MessageLabs is offering a complimentary 30 day trial of its managed Anti-virus and Anti-spam security solutions. MessageLabs guarantees complete protection against all know and unknown email threats. By providing 24 hour support, your business can increase productivity and decrease risk. Register for a complimentary trial and receive a free datasheet. Download this white paper now!