40 Implementing WebSphere BI Express for Item Synchronization
5.1 Scenario overview
This scenario presents a fictitious supplier that is thinking of starting out with
UCCnet. Its long-term goal is to register all of its catalogue items with UCCnet for
synchronization with its retail trading partners.
The supplier has decided to register its catalog items (that is, the products it
manufactures and markets) with UCCnet to reduce cost and minimize the time
required to bring products to market. The result of this is to make the products
more attractive and more accessible to other potential retailers and to give it an
edge over the many other small businesses in the market space in which they
compete.
The supplier has decided to use the WebSphere Business Integration Express
for Item Synchronization because it meets its needs as a smaller business by
providing the function it requires out of the box. The team producing this redbook
will build a simple solution that shows the basic configuration and tailoring of the
product, complete with unit testing that will enable the supplier to make actual
connection to UCCnet easier at a later date should they decide to go down this
path.
Figure 5-1 on page 41, Figure 5-2 on page 42, and Figure 5-3 on page 43
illustrate the expected data flow between the supplier, UCCnet, and the retailer.
The configuration and unit testing for the supplier will be described in the
following chapters.
Figure 5-1 on page 41 illustrates catalog item registration.