Architectural Design: ACS EProcurement Lite Enhancement

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Architectural Design ACS E-Procurement Lite
Enhancement
Steven Crimmins ACS Business Analyst steven.crimmi
ns_at_acs-inc.com
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North Carolina E-Procurement (NCEP)

• State-wide initiative
• Consistent with Governor Easleys vision of One
  North Carolina for vendors to do business with
  the State
• Initial implementation with NCAS (October 22,
  2001)
• As of January 2003, over 800 Million in spend
  through the system over 20,000 registered
  vendors, and over 450 catalogs loaded
• Electronic access to State Term Contracts
• Significant enhancements made since initial
  implementation including improved search
  capabilities and system performance
• How to leverage current E-Procurement
  architecture with Colleague
• With the Colleague implementation, E-Procurement
  will now be interfaced to multiple systems with
  more implementations planned

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NCEP Transactions

• Inbound Transactions (NCEP to CC)
• Vendor Updates
• Requisitions
• Outbound Transactions (CC to NCEP)
• Purchase Orders
• Invoices
• XML Documents/Messages
• ASCII text
• gXML Government XML, project-specific
• Uses XML Schema Definition (XSD)

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NCEP Infrastructure

• Integration Hub
• Routes transactions from publisher to subscriber
• NCEP Post Office for XML messages
• Integration Client
• Interface to NCEP internal systems
• Interface to multiple ERP systems
• Colleague 59 CCs
• Sunpac, ISIS 114 LEAs

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NCEP Infrastructure
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NCEP Integration Client

• Written in Java
• Validates XML documents
• Communicates status directly with Integration Hub
• Only one Integration Client per college
• Uses SSL for security
• Port 443 (HTTPS) at startup
• Port 50000 for ongoing communication
• Uses digital certificates for authentication
• Specific to E-Procurement

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NCEP Integration Client Characteristics

• Inbound Transactions
• Writes transactions to Inboxes
• Sends confirmation of receipt to Integration Hub
  after transaction is processed
• Outbound Transactions
• Monitors Outboxes on a scheduled basis (every n
  minutes, etc.), which is configurable
• Receives confirmation of receipt from Integration
  Hub
• Deletes processed transactions from Outboxes

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ACS Java Applications

• ACS EPL Java Middleware
• Runs on the same machine as the Accenture Entity
  Integration Client
• Java 1.4.1 Environment
• Runs as a NT Service or UNIX Daemon
• Log4j for user controllable logging
• Secure Socket Connections to ACS Java Colleague
  Application
• ACS Java Colleague Application
• Runs on the Colleague Server
• Populates Staging Tables with Vendor and
  Requisitions
• Runs as a UNIX Daemon
• Log4j for user controllable logging

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Envision Data Exchange (EDX)

• Automated Data Level Triggers
• React to data changes from a given state to a new
  state
• XML Based Solution
• Uses industry standards
• Java, for platform-independence
• XML, for data format-independence
• HTTPS for security

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EPL Combined Architecture Inbound Transactions
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EPL Combined Architecture Outbound Transactions
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ACS EPL Middleware ApplicationInbound
Transactions

• Monitors all Inboxes (directories) for
  transactions (files)
• Configurable interval for checking inboxes
• Forwards all transactions to ACS Java Colleague
  Application
• Deletes a transaction from Inbox after
  confirmation of receipt by ACS Java Colleague
  Application

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ACS EPL Middleware ApplicationOutbound
Transactions

• Receives transactions from EDX Broker over secure
  socket
• Writes transactions (files) to Outboxes
  (directories)
• Acknowledges successful writes to EDX Broker

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ACS EPL Middleware Service Design Considerations

• Written in Java for portability
• Runs as a system service for reliability
• Windows service
• UNIX daemon
• Minimal recovery considerations
• Inboxes/Outboxes act as queues for transactions
• Provides for scalability
• Integration client and Web server can be
  separated, if needed or desired

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ACS Java Colleague ApplicationDesign
Considerations

• Written in Java for consistency
• Runs as a system service for reliability
• UNIX daemon
• UNIObjects Interface to Colleague Staging Tables
• External interface for Java to Colleague tables
  and processes

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Entity Integration Client Hardware Requirements

• Can be same server running WebAdvisor
• NCEP Integration Client
• Application disk space 40 MB
• Message queue and log space 60 MB
• 2Kb messages, 20K queued messages, 10K logged
• 96 MB RAM

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DMI Server Requirements

• Same as Colleague Server
• DMI 2.2
• DMI Intermediate Certificate and Utility
• Not same as certificate for SEVIS
• Java Runtime Engine (JRE) 1.3.1
• http//java.sun.com/j2se/downloads.html
• Approved platform for DMI Listener
• Sun Solaris 2.7 or 2.8 (SunOS 5.7 or 5.8)
• UniData 5.1.36 or higher
• Includes UniObjects for Java

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Administrative Client Requirements

• SA Valet 1.02
• Java Runtime Engine 1.3.1 or higher
• Connectivity to web server
• Connectivity to DMI server

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Other Requirements

• Digital Certificates needed
• Entity Integration Client/Web server
• Also needed for e-commerce
• DMI server
• Also needed for other interfaces
• Integration Client
• Free!
• DNS names needed for certificates
• Entity Integration Client/Web server (WebAdvisor)
• DMI server (Colleague)

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EPL Enhancement Plan

• Currently in development/unit test
• Enters ACS Internal Quality Assurance mid-April
• End of May - End to End testing
• 2nd Week June - User Acceptance Testing
• End of June - Pilot College Testing (Wayne CC)
• Begin of July Pilot College Testing (2nd CC)
• End of July Pilot Testing Conclusion

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EPL Challenges

• Workflow Issues
• De-integrating Colleague purchasing functions
• E-Procurement as well as standard Colleague
  Purchase Orders and Blanket Purchase Orders
• Will be addressed by enhancement
• Part of training
• New Technology
• Web-based
• XML transactions
• EDX
• Machine-to-machine processing

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Questions?Thank You!