IBM ITXA Enveloping, De-Enveloping, and Transformation: What are they?
Data transformation is complicated. Your solution doesn’t have to be.
IBM ITXA
IBM Transformation Extender Advanced (ITXA) is IBM’s most versatile processing engine to date. ITXA is modular and scalable giving companies unprecedented scalability with robust document processing power. Companies with ITXA exchange massive amounts of files of any size with impressive speed and ease.
The enveloping feature of ITXA is one of the ways ITXA stands out from competing document processing and transformation solutions.
DYNAMIC ENVELOPING
The dynamic enveloping feature of IBM ITXA allows you to use one set of envelopes per transaction set for all outbound EDI documents.
For example, you are a retailer with several trading partners that require EDI for all purchase and invoicing documents exchanged. Rather than having separate outgoing processes for each trading partner, you are able to send 810 invoices to all of your trading partners with one set of generic envelopes. Simply indicate which trading partner the invoice is going to and ITXA pulls the trading partner information and packages the invoice.
IBM ITXA also integrates with legacy systems, like Sterling Gentran, meaning you may leverage existing maps and trading partner setups.
ENVELOPING
IBM ITXA makes sending EDI compliant documents from your ERP intuitive and efficient. The ITXA enveloping node utilizes a standard-specific envelope for each transaction set. ITXA is seamlessly integrated with Sterling B2B Integrator, Focused Ecommerce Etracks, and other middleware and ERP systems. For example, Sterling B2B Integrator works as a controller for ITXA. Simply send documents from the ERP to your trading partners and ITXA envelopes the documents specific to the trading partners and prepares the documents for transformation.
While ITXA’s automated functionality makes it seem simple, the enveloping node is advanced and manages complex document processing tasks. The node is able to envelope single documents, batches of documents, and pieces of batches of documents making it ideal for both simple and complicated document processing needs.
DE-ENVELOPING
Similar to the enveloping node, the de-enveloping node in IBM ITXA both single and batched transactions. With batches of data, the de-enveloping node de-envelopes each transaction separately. Moreover, the de-enveloping node generates acknowledgments for each transaction, identifies errors within incoming data, and looks for failures during processing. The de-enveloped transactions are then ready for transformation.
TRANSFORMATION
Data transformation is how the data being electronically exchanged transforms to the appropriate data format of the system (or systems) accepting the data. IBM developed ITXA to manage both simple and complex data transformations. ITXA utilizes data maps to indicate how data is transformed and where the data is to go. Maps also allow ITXA to validate data formats ensuring compliance in regulated environments.
