MAS 200 and WMS integration

[aloona]

Hi ,

We have MAS200 and are looking into integrating a WMS to it. Being that MAS has poor communication with outside systems we are currently confused. We are running on V4.05 and have customized a bit. We use VI for some tasks, however, I feel an integration with use of VI is asking for trouble. Our reseller is advising custom coding to integrate, but that is expensive and makes it harder to upgrade the next time around. Any advice?

 

[BigLouie]

I feel an integration with use of VI is asking for trouble." - Why would you say such a thing?

You should upgrade to MAS200 v4.20. Most of the important modules such as AP, AR and SO will be on the 4.0 standard which means you can use the business object interface and VB code to integrate just about any outside package with MAS.

 

[aloona]

Hi BigLouie,

Thanks for your response. Here is my situation. We have done quite a few customizations in MAS 4.05. Switching to 4.2 will be costly for us. I wanted to hold off an upgrade until at
least purchase order and inventory are on the new standard. As far as VI, the problem with it is that whole table files need to be sent to the WMS. It cannot send the changes in the file. So if we change an item on a sales order, it the wms won't know about it right away until possibly our next vi export of sales orders, at which time it may already have shipped. Regarding the business objects, my developer hasn't given me detailed answers as to what can be done with it.
I read a few posts about in-sync. Would this be a good solution or do you have any other suggestion?

 

[DC505]

If you just need to export then using ODBC and a VB program to sync between your WMS and Mas 90 might be a way to go. BOI is great in that it lets you write back in far easier then previously where you needed someone with access to the Mas 90 code to write for you. In-Sync is more for web integration though in theory there is nothing stopping it from integrating with any database. For an example of what I am doing:

Running Mas 90 v4.2
-2 Websites, both running web services (one in .Net and one in PHP)
-Windows Service queries the web services and pulls the data down for the new orders and updates the order status.
-Windows Service parses the XML returned and writes the new order into Mas 90.
-The order is sent to our warehouse printer with the barcodes printed and our warehouse personnel scan the reference number into FedEx Ship Manager which pulls the information from an ODBC connection to Mas 90.
-When order is shipped another Windows Service queries the FedEx database and writes the updated order status into Mas 90, creating an Invoice and adding the tracking numbers.

If we had to pay to do all this it would have cost a ridiculous amount of money so I just decided to do it myself. If you have a programmer working for you then I would utilise him to help. I would be more than happy to send over some example code and a class document on Mas 90 BOI. Of course this would require you to upgrade to Mas 90 v4.2. If you are holding out for VI and I/M to be upgraded to the BOI object model, I would not hold your breath. Last I heard v4.3 isn't going to be updating any modules to the new backend but they are holding off until the next version. BigLouie will probably know better than I but you might just have to do the upgrades. By the way the upgrade to 4.2 should be a free upgrade.

-Adam

 

[aloona]

Thanks Adam,

We are current on subscription, so the actual upgrade is free. The problem is that we did some custom mods to MAS200, and that is the problem. My developer says that the new BOI platform requires a complete rewrite of a good deal of mods that we have done. In retrospect I made a mistake by playing with MAS code.
I am impressed with your ideas of web integration. I do not have programmers on staff, but of course the wms people do. I think they would be interested in examples of code that you used for use in my project.
Thanks!