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| Escape Sales
Force Automation Software System: Installation
Options |
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| 1. INTRODUCTION |
| The Escape system consists of a set of Core Components (Base Unit, Master Database, and the System Administrator’s Unit) and a number of Ordering Units: |
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Field Units, used by field
sales representatives, and capable of “off-line” operation. |
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WebRep applications, used “on-line” by
field sales representatives and/or by in-house
personnel who both enter orders and manage orders
entered by other applications. |
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Business-to-Business (B2B) web site,
at which customers enter orders directly. |
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In-House Units used by in-house personnel
to enter orders and to manage orders entered
by other applications. |
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| A mix of Ordering Units can be employed. |
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| The Core Components can be installed
in one of two basic configurations: “installed” or “hosted”: |
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In the “installed” configuration,
the Core Components are physically located at
your facility, which means that you must procure,
install, and maintain the Escape Core System “run-time
environment” (hardware, SQL Server database
management system, and other support software
components required by the Core Components),
and purchase software licenses for the Escape
applications that you wish to use. |
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In the “hosted” configuration,
the Core Components are installed on the run-time
environment provided at the Escape hosting facility,
and there no need to purchase the Escape software
licenses. In this configuration, Indra provides,
operates and maintains the required Core System
run-time environment and the Escape software
modules. You pay a use fee for every Escape application
that you use. A Data Transfer Unit (DTU) is installed
at your facility to effect the transfer of data
between the Escape system and your Business System. |
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Business-to-Business (B2B)
web site, at which customers enter orders directly. |
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In-House Units used by in-house
personnel to enter orders and to manage orders
entered by other applications. |
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| NOTE: There is no difference in the functionality of any of the Escape components due to the installation configuration (“installed” or “hosted”). The only difference between the two is the physical location of the Escape Core Components. |
| 2.
DATA TRANSFER BETWEEN ESCAPE AND YOUR BUSINESS SYSTEM |
| At a minimum the Escape
system must be provided with a customer list from
your organization, and a catalog must be provided
(the catalog can be either manually entered or imported
directly from your Business System). This data will
be entered into the Escape Master Database and transferred
to the Ordering Units (as appropriate). Orders composed
on the Ordering Units are transferred back to the
Escape Master Database, where they can be reviewed
at one or more In-House Units, and either printed
for manual entry into your Business System, or transferred
electronicaly directly into your Business System. |
| Optionally,
you can provide additional data to the Escape system
to further enhance its value to your organization,
including: |
| You can also transfer orders directly
from the Escape system to your Business System by
electronic means. A summary of all types of data
that can be accepted by the Escape system is summarized
below: |
| Customer List |
Y |
A list of all customers who are to be assigned
to Escape Ordering Units. Both bill-to and ship-to
locations are required (multiple ship-to locations
for a single bill-to address are allowed). Optionally,
the territory assignment of each customer can
be included. |
| Catalog(s) |
Y |
Catalogs can be either manually entered (using
the Escape Catalog Editor), or created from product
data exported by your Business System (e.g.,
the line list or style master), and formatted
into an Escape catalog by the Catalog Autoloader
function of the Base Unit. |
| Product Availability |
N |
Current stock and future manufacturing runs,
so that the individual composing the order will
be informed of the quantities of goods available
at the desired order ship date. |
| Product Bookings |
N |
Total number of each item that has been ordered – through
any means – since a specified date. |
| Order Status |
N |
Status of each order. Optionally, documents
such as detailed (item by item) status, copies
of invoices, shipping information, etc. can be
attached to orders. |
| Embellishment Art |
N |
Includes both data (identifier, applicable
customer, name, price, etc.) and an image for
each embellishment art item. This information
will be presented during the order composition
process to facilitate the choice of embellishment
art. |
| Non-Escape Orders |
N |
Orders entered into the Business System by
means other than the Escape system (e.g., EDI,
direct manual entry) can be imported into Escape
and then transferred to appropriate sales representatives.
Supporting documents can be affixed to these
orders (see “Order Status”, above). |
| B2B Web Site Images |
N |
Images to enhance the presentation of your
catalogs on the Escape B2B application. Informative
web pages can also be included, to allow you
to build a “complete” web site that
also provides the B2B ordering capability. |
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| Excluding the case of manually
entered catalogs, input data must be gathered and
formatted at your facility and transferred to the
Escape hosting facility for input into your Master
Database. A file is developed for each type of data,
which can be provided in either “conforming” or “non-conforming” formats,
as follows: |
| Conforming: |
The file is prepared in accordance with the
Escape interface specification |
| Non-Conforming: |
The file containing the required data is prepared
in a format defined by your organization. The
only requirement is that the data required by
the Escape system be included somewhere in the
file (product data used to automatically develop
Escape catalogs is always transferred as a non-conforming
file). |
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| When data is transferred in a non-conforming
format, an ad hoc conversion routine must be prepared |
| Transfer of data between your Business
System and the Escape system is accomplished by an
asynchronous file transfer process, in which the
transmitting system creates a file containing the
data to be transferred, and places that file in a
pre-determined directory on your internal network.
The receiving system then retrieves the file and
imports the data. |
| 2.1 File Transfer – “Installed” Configuration |
| In the “installed” configuration,
files are exchanged between your Business System
and the Escape system via your internal network.
One or more folders are designated as the “drop-off” points
for the data files, and both your Business System
and the Escape system read and write files on those
folders. The Escape Base Unit extracts order data
from the Escape Master Database, formats the data,
creates a file, and places that data into the designated
folders (see below): |
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| 2.2 File Transfer – “Hosted
Configuration” |
| In the “hosted” configuration,
the Escape Base Unit is located at Indra’s
secure hosting facility. In this case, a Data Transfer
Unit (DTU) is installed at your facility. Your Business
System transfers files to and from commonly accessible
folders, as was the case in the “installed” configuration.
However, on the Escape side, files are read and written
to these folders by the DTU (see below): |
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| So there you have it: generate
catalogs automatically from the ERP database, check
the data, update the catalog when the ERP data changes,
and provide pricing flexibility. You’ll reap
great rewards and both your sales force and your
customers will love you for it. |
| The DTU has the following capabilities: |
| Configuration |
The location of the source files
is specified. |
| Scheduling |
The DTU can be configured to automatically
poll for the existence of new (i.e., not previously
imported) source data files, and transfer such
files if they exist. The schedule (times or interval)
for automatic file transfer is specified at the
DTU. |
| File Checking |
The source data files can be checked for compliance
with the Escape specification. |
| Data Transfer |
Data is transferred to the Escape hosting facility
on the specified schedule (data transfer can
always be invoked manually). |
| Logging |
All activities are logged, and the logs are
available for inspection. |
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| Thus, the DTU will periodically transfer source
data files to the Escape hosting facility, where
they will be reformatted to conform to Escape input
file requirements (if required), and the data will
be imported into the Escape Master Database. |
| 2.3 Export of Orders from Escape |
| You can choose one of the existing Escape order
export formats (e.g., EDI 850) for the transfer of
orders from the Escape system to your Business System.
Alternatively, orders can be formatted at the Escape
hosting facility in a format specified by your staff. |
| In the “installed” configuration, the
Escape Base Unit places the orders directly in the
designated data transfer folder, awaiting importation
by your Business System. In the “hosted” configuration,
the DTU operates essentially “in reverse”,
transferring a file from the Escape secure hosting
facility to the data transfer folder at your facility. |
| 3 IMAGE TRANSFER |
| 3.1 Embellishment Art Data |
| Embellishment art data can be transferred
to the Escape hosting facility for importation into
the
Master Database. If you plan to provide images of
the currently available embellishment art patterns,
the name of each image must be included in the embellishment
art source file. We will provide a file conversion
utility for use in creating images from embroidery “stitch” files,
if you do not currently have image files for embroidery
patterns. The images must also be transferred to
the Escape hosting facility. |
| 3.2 Web Page Image Transfer |
| The file names of images or HTML pages prepared
to enhance an Escape catalog are included in the
embellishment art and catalog source data. These
images must be placed in designated directories so
that they can be transferred to the Escape hosting
facility. |
