Xtend E-Commerce

Overview


To be successful at e-business, companies need to have more than just operational websites. They need the ability to extend their internal business applications to their websites so customers and suppliers can access and use them like any employee would. But until now, creating and connecting to e-business websites has been a goal that few companies have achieved easily. Either the development and integration toolsets were so complex that they required a deep level of technical expertise or so simple that they offered little flexibility for tailoring the site to the needs of the business.

Sage Xtend offers a compelling alternative to companies who need to connect their web storefront to their backoffice and don't want to be forced to choose between simplistic off-the-shelf packages with limited customization capabilities and complex toolkits.

It is a suite of tools that facilitates the connection of your business software applications to dynamic company websites, without the need for heavy programming or custom development, but with built-in customization tools for creating dynamic, personalized websites.

The result is a personalized, highly secure e-business solution that gives companies tremendous autonomy in the way they design and manage their websites, and in how they interact with business partners.

With Sage Xtend, companies do not need to compromise between ease-of-use and complexity, and its open architecture and conformance to industry standards allows companies to evolve as business needs change. Sage Xtend provides an easy yet efficient way to connect with customers and suppliers for collaborative commerce. It is a true e-business enabler; one that can help you break down functional silos and implement more customer-focused business processes.

ERP Integration

Sage Xtend facilitates ease in conducting business and helps companies improve cycle times, reduce clerical errors and ultimately increase business levels.

Requests coming from the website can flow seamlessly through to Sage ERP X3 backoffice functions according to pre-defined business rules. By streamlining the order acceptance process, orders can be fulfilled quickly and with fewer errors, resulting in more satisfied, loyal customers and more opportunities for repeat business.

Sell-side functionality can be easily set up to automatically apply business rules like credit checking, inventory allocation and promotional pricing − based on order type and/or customer type − for orders coming through the website.

Companies also have the flexibility to incrementally add other e-business capabilities over time, such as buy-side functions for RFQ's and purchasing.

By effectively integrating a front-end e-business system for sales, purchasing and CRM with a complete backoffice application encompassing manufacturing, distribution and accounting, businesses can have a unified view of information and ideally position themselves to better service customers and to create solid relationships with suppliers.

Technology Attributes

Client Database Management
  • Document management,
  • E-mail,
  • Data (documents, forms, etc.),
  • Programs (LotusScript, Java, C, etc.),
  • Search.
Web Server File Management
  • HTTP server,
  • Management of Lotus Notes databases,
  • Full text indexing,
  • Security management,
  • Replication,
  • Support for multiple operating systems (Unix, Windows, Linux, etc.),
  • Standards compliance (SMTP, LDAP, POP3, IMAP4, etc.).
Site Development
  • Web design using Macromedia Dreamweaver (software to be acquired seperatly)
  • Technical Entities: Repository, Agents,
  • Common Entities: Pages, Sessions, Categories,
  • Use of alias to access Web pages.
Order Administration & Security Tools
  • Use of Binary Large Objects for transforming static pages into rich dynamic pages to save administrative updating time (catalogs, news pages, FAQ’s, etc.),
  • "Tokens" are integrated into HTML pages for creating synchronous dynamic websites,
  • Security profiles, access control, authentication.
Industry Standards
  • Web Services-compliant − provides an open environment for real-time data interchange between Sage ERP X3 Systems (Distribution, Discrete, Process) and the website, as well as with other software systems and development languages.
Multi-National
  • Adaptable to different currencies, languages, legislations.
Multi-Tier Architecture
  • Web Server,
  • Sage ERP X3 Server,
  • Data Server,
  • Servlet Server.