Time Warner's Cost-Effective Migration to GIS
A GIS/Sterling Integrator Success Story

THE COMPANY:

Time Warner Book Group is part of Time Warner's $5.5 billion publishing group Time Inc. TWBG consists of Warner Books and Little, Brown and Company and is home to many best-selling authors, including James Partterson, Nicholas Sparks and David Baldacci.

THE CHALLENGE :

Efficient B2B systems integration is vital at Time Warner Book Group. Eighty percent of orders arrive by EDI, and customers place increasing emphasis on E-Commerce.
To further their integration efforts, and as longtime users of Sterling Commerce’s Gentran:NT, TWBG chose to migrate to Sterling’s Gentran Integration Suite (GIS)/Sterling Integrator 3.1.
Then, faced with a lengthy migration, TWBG decided to utilize outside resources. Reviewing their mature EDI environment, Ed Bourgeois, Senior Manager E-Commerce & Fulfillment, set out to select an experienced integration partner with demonstrated expertise, who could build a solid foundation for both the migration and also future projects.

THE SOLUTION:

Bourgeois’ demanding requirement list included migrating hundreds of trading partners, setting up multiple communication protocols and methodologies, plus the growing need to integrate E-Commerce retail techniques, such as the exchange of XML documents.
He chose the seasoned team at Oxford Consulting Group.
Working closely with Bourgeois, Oxford immediately conducted a technical design and planning review to prioritize requirements.

THE PROCESS:

During the review, four main EDI trading partner types were identified. Highest volume traffic at TWBG comes from trading partners using the ANSI X12 format and ICC.NET, a traditional Value Added Network. This group of 55 customers includes some of the world’s largest book retailers, such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Borders.
A second group of TWBG customers uses the PUBNET network, where a single order may have up to 3,500 ship-to-addresses, and trading partners can connect by both direct-dial and in batch. Approximately 300 PUBNET bookstores connect to TWBG using direct-dial.
EDI is of critical importance at TWBG and transaction volume is high. Up to 12,000 Purchase Orders are received daily. Outbound Invoice traffic can reach 22,000 transactions per day.
After reviewing customers and transactions, Oxford included four key transactions in the strategic migration plan: Inbound Purchase Orders and Purchase Order Acknowledgements; and Outbound Advance Ship Notices and Invoices.
Oxford’s design plan also included a review of the many pre- and postprocessing routines developed within TWBG’s Gentran installation. Using honed GIS/Sterling Integrator techniques, Oxford seamlessly integrated each process into GIS/Sterling Integrator. Product catalogs in XML format are increasingly exchanged within the publishing industry, yet had been problematic for TWBG within Gentran. With their expert knowledge, Oxford rapidly integrated the non-EDI documents into GIS/Sterling Integrator.
After developing and initiating a comprehensive plan, Oxford carefully coordinated the knowledge transfer to TWBG. The final phase of Oxford’s project was spent on education, review, and complete end-to-end testing.

THE RESULTS:

“Oxford took the time to plan things out, and did a great job on the project planning,” said Bourgeois. “I have no reservations whatsoever as to Oxford’s talents and abilities.”
Using professional planning and technical skills, streamlined architecture and audit controls, Oxford created a foundation that met project goals and enabled TWBG to smoothly move their migration forward.
Oxford’s knowledge transfer and training also produced results. “My team has a good understanding of the product and the methodology employed to implement the solution,” commented Bourgeois. “They were very comfortable with the hand-off at the end of the project. It’s been a very positive experience.”

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