Software for Intelligent Messaging
SWIM (Soft Ware for Intelligent Messaging) provides Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). It sends and receives messages in standard formats such as the United Nations' EDIFACT, ANSI X.12, XML and proprietary formats. SWIM translates the received messages, encapsulates the information into an object, and passes it to an EDI interface module. The EDI interface module performs the application-specific validations and hands over data to the respective application – MACH, CALM, WARM.
Repository
SWIM has a pre-defined 'repository' of standard EDIFACT, NIC, X12 and XML messages of shipping practices/domains. It supports messages present in the repository.
Summary of Features
- Protocols or Communication modes: FTP, FTP/s, HTTP, HTTP/s, Email
- Centralized operation of different communication methods
- Transmission of documents using Web Services
- Support of all EDI standards, including X12 and EDIFACT
- Support of non-EDI data like XML and pre-defined flat files
- Automatic generation of acknowledgments from inbound transmissions
- Tracking of functional acknowledgments by cross-referencing into envelope control numbers and date-time stamp of acknowledgment
- Trading Partners Management
- Automated email notification to administrator and trading partners about document (message) processing status
- Syntax error notification for inbound transmissions
- Easy syntax error correction
- Reliable delivery using message broker
- Partner or Document specific control number generation
- Sophisticated Management of schedulers to pick documents from message store and extract data from Business Application like o
- Relative periodic schedule like every 10 seconds/minutes/hours etc.
- Absolute periodic schedule like at 10:00 pm (every day or any day of week)
- Calendar schedule like on 31/12/2002 11:59 pm
- Visual Management of various configured processes by Administrator
- Detailed reporting on in-bound and out-bound transmissions
- View or Edit of EDI documents
- Independent logs of communication and processing details for troubleshooting
- Archival and Backup Management of inbound and outbound documents
Communication Mode
The SWIM engine can send\receive messages using following communication modes:
- Email: As an email attachment or as an in-line body text of an email message
- FTP\s: From and to a remote machine by a remote log-in to another machine
- Http/s: XML embedded in SOAP over http/https
Schedules
Automated message checking: The administrator of the engine can set up the periodicity with which the engine should check for input messages.
The different types of schedules supported:
- Relative periodic schedule: Every 10 seconds / minutes / hours
- Absolute periodic schedule: At 10:00 pm (everyday or any weekday)
- Calendar schedule: For example : On 31/12/2007, 11:59 pm,
Message Conversion
Whenever SWIM receives a message from the repository, it performs validations such as, whether the sender is a valid partner or not, whether this particular message can be sent or not, whether the message is well formed (adhering to rules defined by the format of the message), etc. Once the message is validated, the data is extracted and encapsulated into an object, and the object is given to the application program written to process/handle the data.
Scalability
A SWIM process will be created to process a message. Additional processes will be created if there are a number of messages to be handled. The number of processes created at any point of time will be equivalent to the number of messages being processed. This concurrent processing of messages will enable a very high throughput from the system. All the processes can be controlled from the 'process administration' screen.
Error Correction
A user-friendly GUI tool facilitates correction of syntax errors present in the message. Once the errors are corrected, the message will be processed automatically.
Message Archive
The administrator of SWIM can set up a policy to archive data files, error files, incoming files, outgoing files, etc. The policy can be set either for a particular partner or all partners.
Logging
SWIM has an excellent logging facility. The log files are generated on a per-day basis. The logs can be used to find out what was/is going on in the SWIM system at any point of time. This is very useful, since most of the processing takes place in the background.
Platform-independence
SWIM is platform-independent and runs on any Unix/Windows operating system.
General Purpose Tasks
Besides sending and receiving messages, it can also schedule and run other — non-EDI — general purpose tasks on a periodic basis. The SWIM administrator can configure such tasks.
Technical Architecture
Hardware and Software Technologies
| Operating systems | Solaris, Linux, AIX, HP-UX, Windows 2003 / XP |
| Hardware Systems | IBM , HP, Sun SPARC, Dell |
| DBMS | Oracle |
| Application Software/Frond End | Java Swing |
| Programming Languages | J2SDK 1.5.0 |
| Security Features | Message authentication and data encryption |
Unique Benefits
- Aids in decision making
- Data error reduction
- Enhances customer service
- Value-added services
- Highly secure system
- Easy to use
- Improves operations control
- Increases personnel productivity and manpower utilisation
- Streamlines operational processes
Experience
CMC developed the SWIM software based on its extensive experience in implementing state-of-the-art container and cargo EDI messages. As part of its MACH, CALM software implementations:
- CMC implemented an NIC messages-based SWIM application at Adani Port, India,
- Inhouse, XML, EDIFACT and X12 messages-based SWIM application at ForthPorts (Community System),
- WWL (Shipping Line/Booking System), Penang Port and Port of Lirquen.
CMC implemented web-service interface with MCA (Maritime Coastguard Agency) CERS (Consolidated European Union Reporting System) at Forth Ports.
For further information please contact : info@cmcltd.com or call us on +91-22-6781 1000 / 01 / 02