The Customer is King

Customer Communities

OmPrompt helps Agile Enterprises build fully Connected Supply Chain Communities quickly and at low cost. The flexibility which comes from having the full range of format options, structured and unstructured message types, business process support, management support and assistance as well as full Monitoring and Alerting capability is only available from OmPrompt.

It is this much needed flexibility that enables agile enterprises to build communities quickly with their Customers. There are very few enterprises that possess the opportunity to dictate to their Customers the format to be used when exchanging messages. In virtually all instances the choice of format support rests entirely with the Customer.

Enterprises therefore face a significant challenge to manage an efficient Order Management process as well as seeking to ensure that the complete order-to-cash process is optimised. Orders and all message types are received in a large variety of different formats. Multiple EDI message standards, multiple XML messages, multiple spreadsheet, Word document, or PDF formats, as well as multiple fax formats all arrive as messages alongside the more structured approach of web ordering and messaging. The OmPrompt Messaging Platform has been designed to meet this challenge head on. It provides a unique solution to the problem.

Customer Communities

Customer Communities

Formats

The OmPrompt Messaging Platform has the flexibility in terms of format options to provide support for any and all formats with which customers elect to send their messages. There is no need for the maintenance of an internal specialist EDI capability or teams of people undertaking the task of manual rekeying.

Building a Customer Community with OmPrompt can be achieved very quickly and with a typical Return on Investment (RoI) of six months or less. Whether the Customer is large or small, local or geographically distant, a full range of efficient connectivity options are available with OmPrompt.

The first thing to do is to analyse the various formats with which Customers are submitting their messages (Purchase Orders in the first instance). Where common formats exist then savings can be made when establishing the connectivity support. The Customers will continue to send what they have and the Enterprise will receive what it needs once all the various formats have been accommodated via the OmPrompt Messaging Platform.

Where EDI connectivity is a requirement this is rapidly accommodated regardless of the EDI standard being used. Where faxes are sent these are automatically turned to an EDI message removing the need for any manual rekeying of messages. A fully automated Customer Community can be delivered in a very aggressive timeframe.

Messages

The OmPrompt Messaging Platform supports all structured and unstructured message types to establish a Customer Community rapidly and at low cost.

The formats decided, the extent of the Supply Chain messaging that the Enterprise wishes to exchange must be considered and brought into the design of the target OmPrompt Enabled Community.

In some communities the message flows are limited to a one way flow of a single message; an order for example. In others the messaging flows can be a lot more complex and interactive encompassing the entire order-to-cash process including order acknowledgements, ASNs, PODs, invoices and payments etc.

Business Processes

The OmPrompt Messaging Platform fully encompasses the incorporation of Business Logic and Workflow Management so that all required business processes can be fully supported. Significant efficiency savings can be made as a result of the automation of business processes.

In the case of Order Management processes Business Logic is often introduced to ensure greater efficiency and automation as well as improving perfect order percentages. Checking the availability of Customer credit levels and entitlement, transforming Customer product codes to the equivalent code, ensuring that ship-to addresses are correctly referenced are all examples of the sorts of Business Logic normally incorporated when establishing and managing Customer Communities.

One Enterprise Interface

The OmPrompt Messaging Platform manages the multiple formats, messages and business processes connecting the Customer Community with a single point of integration.

Only one connection or integration point is required to the Enterprise at the centre of the Community; this significantly drives down the set-up cost and ongoing maintenance associated with multiple direct connections to each Community member. Any change to the Enterprise system that connects to the Community, such as a system replacement or a system upgrade, can be very efficiently managed as a result of the OmPrompt architecture.

Community Management

The OmPrompt Messaging Platform is non-invasive to members of the Customer Community. The messages which Customers send are not changed in any way. "Customers simply send what they have and Agile Enterprises receive what they need."

Customers continue to send the message they have always sent, it is redirected to OmPrompt and then returned within fifteen minutes to the recipient in a fully compliant format.

The relationship between an Enterprise and its Customer Community does not need to change in any way. The work that OmPrompt does is fully accessible to the Customer Team at the Enterprise managing the Community via the Web Portal which acts as a window into the OmPrompt Messaging Platform.

KPI Monitoring and Alerts

The OmPrompt Messaging Platform enables the introduction of Monitoring and Alerts within a connected Customer Community and forms the basis of complete Supply Chain Visibility, Business Activity Monitoring (BAM), Supply Chain Collaboration and Event Management.

Once the Community is connected, the messages are flowing and the business processes are fully integrated, it is possible to implement a series of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to monitor the Community and track performance of target metrics. Such monitoring can show aggregate performance for the whole Community as well as individual performance for specific members or a specific member of the Community. Examples of such KPIs are:

  • Perfect Order %

  • Order-to-Cash

  • Order Error %

In addition to the monitoring of KPIs it is possible to introduce Alerts either at an aggregate or individual level in order to initiate a required interjection when a KPI has not been reached or is not being maintained. These Alerts can either be web based or email based or a combination of the two.

Benefits summary

  • Customer Communities on-boarded rapidly at low cost

  • Complete connectivity flexibility from existing structured EDI to unstructured message formats

  • Full support of business process, logic, rules and workflow management

  • Single point of Integration to/from Enterprises

  • 100% connectivity with 100% of the target Customer Community allowing the removal of manual rekeying

  • Fully monitored KPIs and associated Alerts at aggregate or individual level


Overview - Communities overview

Customers - Customer communities

3rd Parties - 3rd Party communities

Suppliers - Supplier communities