Mainframe computer IBM i-Series sent into retirement with the help of AX and BizTalk

For 25 years, the Erwin Müller Group has worked with custom solutions based on the mainframe system "IBM i-Series". "In perspective, the system had arrived at the end of its life cycle. It was no longer easy to meet new challenges, such as growing internationalisation or increasing system integration", recalls Christian Bacher, IT Division Manager at Erwin Müller Mail Order Solutions GmbH. As the project durations were getting longer and longer, keeping things as they were was not an option. In 2012 the mail-order company decided on a software change to Microsoft Dynamics AX and integration via Microsoft BizTalk Server.

Solution

"Our goal was to stay as close to our standard as possible and only to made individual adjustments when it seemed economically viable", explains

• The article master was completely rebuilt, for example. Clearly organised, freely configurable article variants took the place of rigid tables.
• The customer data of all clients were consolidated in a new global address book. Today, each company of the E.M. Group can view all sales and the entire contact history for every customer – even if they concern other business units.
• Existing data such as balances, master data or open items were cleaned and adopted in Dynamics AX. The company only had to start anew with the order history due to the modified article structures.

Adjacent systems – e.g. for inventory management, web shops, business intelligence and material planning – are uniformly connected by means of the integration platform Microsoft BizTalk Server.

Advantages for Erwin Müller Mail Order Solutions

• More efficient processes
• Greater transparency
• Ideally prepared for changing market requirements and additional growth