Overview
Infor Automotive Exchange is the automotive demand management solution for automotive suppliers. It extends and complements traditional ERP business processes, supports standard automotive business practices, and supports trading partner variations of standard business practices.
Infor Automotive Exchange includes these functional areas:
Infor Automotive Exchange runs under Infor Ming.le or Infor OS Portal. The application uses the ION Messaging Service (IMS) to work together with an ERP system and other applications that are connected to Infor ION.
Transformation
is the universal message transformation engine of Automotive Exchange.
enables you to manage and monitor the automatic EDI communication with your customers and trading partners according to the requirements of their business processes. If required, messages can be imported, edited, and adjusted manually.
transforms
messages that contain structured data from one format into another format.
Structured data are BOD messages, EDI messages, or files of special formats such as
XML and other structured data formats.
You can set up rules for the transformation of data and messages for
specific trading partners and business processes. The core transformation is based
on and controlled by XSLT style sheets. An XSLT style sheet is defined for a message type, a
message standard, and a trading partner.
Release Management
is the planning application for customer release orders in Automotive Exchange.
enables you to manage and monitor the automatic release orders of your customers and trading partners according to the requirements of their business processes.
Incoming customer release orders, typically planning schedules, shipment
schedules, and sequence schedules are transformed into ShipmentSchedule, PlanningSchedule,
and SequenceSchedule BODs by . passes these BOD
messages to .
Imported contracts from the connected ERP system are the basis for the processing of release orders. The new requirements are processed according to the rules that you can set up for specific trading partners and business processes.
creates a new single plan for the requirements of the imported message type. validates and prepares the new single plan according to the configured trading partner-specific rules and calculates the in-transit quantities. The requirements of the new single plan are consolidated with existing requirements of the same message type. then combines the requirements of different message types to a new combined plan and calculates the new net quantity.
Planned and firm requirements of the combined plan are then published
in PlanningSchedule, ShipmentSchedule and SequenceSchedule
BODs to the connected ERP System.
Shipments and inventory consumption are imported from the ERP system. They are used to update plans, in-transit quantity and CUMs. A new version of the combined plan is created and published.
Shipping
is the automotive solution for shipping and foreign trade. This functional area in Automotive Exchange covers the comprehensive requirements in automotive export, shipping, and carrier business, but is not limited to automotive use.
imports shipper, shipment information and commercial and proforma invoice information from the ERP system. The imported information is shown in the area and processed according to the configured workflow. As one step of the workflow the information is used to print documents and labels, for example, barcode labels, waybills, and advance ship notices. If required, you can edit shipments, warehouse containers, packaging instructions, and the packaging of shipments. Missing information can be added manually.
exports the processed data to . There, it is transformed into the trading partner's preferred EDI format and transferred to the connected OEM system.
Printing
The Printing Service is responsible for the handling of print requests from all services of the application. The Printing Service uses AWS SQS and ION API to communicate with an Infor provided On-Premises Print Agent. The On-Premises Print Agent passes the print requests and print resources to InterFormNG at the customer's site.
Under , you can manage the print requests of the application services. You can view the configuration of the On-Premises Print Agent and manage custom print templates, custom print dispatchers, custom print translations, and custom print resources zip files.
ION Connector
The ION Connector Service controls a single connection to ION. The ION Connector Service uses the ION Messaging Service (IMS) to send and receive BOD messages to and from other applications that are connected to ION.
Under , you can view the BOD communication with other applications. You can test and reprocess inbound and outbound BODs.
Global
Under , application-wide, non-tenant specific configuration data can be accessed. This application-level data that is not tied to any particular tenant is stored in a separate database and cannot be modified by tenant users. The data is controlled by the Global Data Service.
The Global Data Service interfaces with the Infor CloudSuite Portal (CSP), when new tenants are provisioned, driving the initialization process for new tenants.
The menu includes configuration data that is managed by Infor:
- Tenant configuration data
- Infor standard style sheets for the message transformation
- Infor standard print templates and dispatchers
- Global application properties
- Global code lists and codes that are maintained by Infor
Tenant users with assigned roles have read-only access to the standard style sheets, print templates, and dispatchers and can view and export the data. The standard content can be used to create custom versions.
The tenant-specific code lists, codes, style sheets, print templates, and dispatchers are stored in the tenant database. The data can be accessed under , , and , and can be modified by tenant users.
Master Data
Automotive Exchange offers administrative functions to manage additional data and master data that are used by the functional areas , , and .
Additional data is stored in code lists and codes. These code lists and codes are exclusively used by Automotive Exchange. This information is not contained in BOD messages that are processed by Automotive Exchange and is not provided by an ERP system.
Usually, master data is automatically imported from an ERP system. Sometimes, special master data cannot be provided by the ERP system. This information can be stored and managed under . You can add, for example, the preferential trade agreement, the preference criterion, the commodity code, and the customs procedure to the item master. The information is used by the area to process and print export-related documents.
You can also use the master data management as a stand-alone solution. For example: For packaging material that cannot be imported from the ERP system, you can create and manage your own item master data.
Communications
The application's communication is controlled by a separate service. The Communication Service handles the message identification and routing to and from other application services. The service receives inbound messages from trading partners and sends outbound messages to trading partners through a communication provider service.
The Communication Service supports two types of communication providers:
- A cloud-based Communication Service Provider that is managed by Infor: The Communication Service Provider establishes and manages all the point-to-point connections with trading partners.
- An on-premises communication provider that is managed by the customer: With this communication provider, an On-Premises Communication Agent interfaces with the Communication Service in the Infor Cloud. The actual communication with trading partners is managed by the customer.
Automotive Exchange uses ION API to communicate with the communication clients that reside in the on-premises infrastructure.
Under , you can view configuration data for a Communication Service Provider and configuration data required to use an On-Premises Communication Agent.
Alerts
Alerting in the application is controlled by a separate service. The Alert Service uses IMS for sending alerts to the ION Pulse Engine. The user receives the alert message in Infor Ming.le or Infor OS Portal.
The Alert Service enables the configuration of an alert destination. The default destination of an alert can be modified, if required. The destination of an alert is defined as an Infor Ming.le or Infor OS Portal Distribution Group. In consequence, the alert can be sent to users who are members of the Infor Ming.le or Infor OS Portal Distribution Group. The alert message can be displayed in the supported languages. The appropriate alert message is selected based on the user’s language.
Under , you can view and check the alerts that have been raised by the application. You can manage alert configurations.