BMW

One of BMW's major suppliers is engaged in the research, development, design, manufacture, and distribution of automobile lamp products. The company primarily provides automobile head lamps, tail lamp sets, fog lamps, brake lamps, and steering lamps, among others. Its products are applied in various automobiles, including JETTA III, COROLLA EX, TIGUAN, BORA GP, PASSAT, AUDI A6, and EXCELLE, among others.

As a component supplier for BMW, they required integration of electronic order processing and fulfillment processing with BMW's EDI system. They chose RSSBus Connect to implement a simple SCM EDI process that could be easily managed through Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. RSSBus Connect enabled them to leverage their current IT assets to bypass the time and expense involved with implementing a full-blown ERP system or processing through a third-party provider.

Integration with BMW

This core BMW supplier uses RSSBus Connect for secure file transfer (via OFTP), EDI messaging, and spreadsheet integration. The following diagram provides a high-level overview of how RSSBus Connect is used for processing:

Secure File Transfer

BWM requires that suppliers communicate via OFTP2, the most widely used protocol for the exchange of mission-critical automotive data. The RSSBus Connect OFTP port is configured to securely send and receive documents directly with BMW's EDI system.

EDI Messaging

For order processing and fulfillment BMW requires suppliers to communicate through a number of standard EDI messages. To do this, the auto lamp supplier uses the ANSI X12 port of RSSBus Connect to transform data between spreadsheet values and EDI standards, including:

• 830 (DELFOR - Planning Schedule/Material Release)
• 856 (DESADV - Advanced Shipping Notices)

RSSBus Connect provides the BMW supplier with an easy way to pipe EDIFACT messages to Microsoft Excel. Excel templates are used to transform EDI messages into human-readable Excel documents. In addition, EDI message data is flattened and pushed into Excel-based reports.

To communicate updates to BMW, the supplier manages an Excel spreadsheet with product information. RSSBus Connect monitors the Excel files for changes with updates triggering RSSBus Connect to convert this data to EDIFACT and pass the EDI documents to BMW through the included OFTP port.

They selected KA Software, one of the RSSBus featured technology partners, to assist with mapping, translation, and OFTP configuration. Working with KA Software allowed them to rapidly accelerate their integration with BMW and provided them with a local resource for future expansion.

The Result

The auto lamp supplier uses the secure MFT features of RSSBus Connect, along with the powerful mapping, translation, and transformation capabilities, to rapidly enable secure and reliable B2B messaging with BMW.

Using RSSBus Connect, they quickly fused their ad-hoc product management processes with BMW's EDI systems and transformed their existing Excel spreadsheets into an interface for direct, bidirectional communication with BMW — without in-house development or third-party management.