Product Description
Cases and References
Manycom Message can be used in so many
different ways, that it is difficult to mention any 'typical'
way. Anyway, some examples follow.
Messaging
You can just enter manually a text message
with the text editor from the keyboard, and send it out as
various message types such as fax, SMS/GSM text or Internet
email.
You can also send messages directly from
the applications. Several Manycom's customers send tens or
hundreds of faxes, email, telexes, ePost, and EDI messages
per day automatically from their operative applications. The
messages are typically invoices, orders, order confirmations,
etc.
The applications often generate the body
text of the message and the sender and receiver information
attached to the message. This means that creation of the message
and the related control information can be completely automatic.
Sometimes the end users first modify and customize the created
body text or the sender and receiver information before the
application calls MCM and requests to send the message out.
The sending request is performed by the application by calling
the relevant Manycom API command (a CL command). Alternatively,
Manycom can poll the configured libraries, directories and
spool files to identify and send the message out.
Manycom's conversion programs take care
of automatic conversions to the desired message formats, and
in the background take care of the actual sending so that
the users or user applications do not need to wait for the
ending of the conversions and message transmission.
Several companies have automated the
receiving of the messages so that starting of the back-end
post-processes also takes place automatically. The messages
are identified based on the names or subjects of the message
file, or on the contents of the messages. Manycom can search
for the specified character string inside the message. After
the identification, Manycom performs the conversion from the
specific message format to AS/400 data file format automatically.
Additionally, the proper user application
is started or notified to start to process the received message
in a database file. If the received message is an order, the
order confirmation message is often generated automatically
by the application, which calls MCM API requesting it to send
the confirmation message to the original sender.
GSM text messages are restricted to
160 characters per message, and they can be delivered to the
receiver's mobile phone typically in 10 to 30 seconds. Manycom's
customers use the GSM text messages directly from the applications
or from the keyboard for instance to send serviceman calls
to guide them to the next customer, to inform the truck drivers
of the next address to go, or to inform the system operators
during the evenings or weekends of the problem situations
in the AS/400 system.
Manycom's customers have also implemented
solutions, where mobile phone users ask information from the
operative applications and databases by sending and receiving
GSM text messages. Salesmen can ask, for instance, the saldo
information of the products from their mobile phones.
File Transfer
The 'standard' file transfer application
today is FTP, which is based on TCP/IP protocols. FTP is a
client/server application, so that during a specific FTP connection,
the other system must operate as a client, and the other must
operate as a server. All computer systems can communicate
with FTP today in client, server, or both roles depending
on the used software.
MCM includes modules for both automated
FTP client and FTP server operations. The modules are built
over the FTP client and FTP server features provided by IBM
in the OS/400 operating system.
There are several differences in various
implementations of the FTP servers and FTP clients in different
platforms. Different file naming conventions in various database
systems increase the difficulties when implementation automated
file transfer solutions. However, the flexible transfer job
structure with the Manycom script file system can handle these
differences. Manycom can also take care of the renaming and
deleting files in the remote and local systems, if needed.
Actually, all FTP client operations (subcommands) can be included
in the scripts.
Manycom's customers use the FTP solutions
to automatically send and receive files from and to their
operative applications and databases. Manycom has been used
to communicate with FTP with practically all systems such
as Windows, UNIX, AIX, IBM hosts, AS/400 and so on.
The files to send or receive are typically
in in-house format or in the standard EDI (Edifact, X.12 or
XML) format. MCM's conversion programs are capable of making
automatically the desired data and file format conversions.
MCM is often used to automatically notify
or start the applications in the local and remote systems
to process the sent or received files. Typically, these files
consist of invoices, orders, order confirmations etc.
Test it!
You can use MCM for so many different
uses that you have to see it. A test version with a test license
number is freely available via Try &
Buy.
|
