I am working on an internal proposal and am looking for some feedback from my
peers who are on either side of this topic.
I am working on an EDI software migration, and I selected the software we went
with (Liaison ECS/Delta) for several reasons. One of the reasons I chose it
(and one of the points I made in getting it approved) is that I can potentially
save money by performing more direct-connections with a few of my higher-volume
trading partners and avoid the VAN costs of data transmissions.
My old software was limited to simple FTP connections. My new software is
capable of just about any communication protocol that can be used by EDI.
I have been speaking with one of my Network Administrators about getting our
systems set up for AS2 (of which he and most of my Operations team have never
heard). Since this protocol is a "push" behavior, they are very against
it--even if going through a designated web server in our DMZ--from a security
perspective.
I can still accomplish some of my promised cost savings if I perform some
direct-connections to higher-volume trading partners via S/FTP instead of AS2,
but that could require at least one of us to host the FTP server and possibly
allow the other to "push" documents to us. This seems much more doable if both
partners can simply "pull" documents at their own leisure and keep the new
processes within the scope of my current security policies.
I have been trying to find a good business reason why AS2 is better than S/FTP.
Basically, is it worth me trying to get my company to adjust their policies
and possibly hardware, and invest their time to establish an environment that
is compatible with AS2 in order to save me money, or are there any reasons I
can't use my existing FTP abilities to accomplish this? I understand that
EDIINT recommends AS2 for EDI traffic, but I haven't seen a discussion against
S/FTP as it pertains to EDI.
My current FTP connection to my VAN uses encryption in both directions, so the
transmissions are secure and ensured. I have been told that while an MDN
confirms receipt of a transmitted file, an X12 997 (Functional Acknowledgement)
is still necessary to communicate that the transmitted file was functionally
correct and not just simply received. So, using the "immediate acknowledgement
of transmission success via MDN on AS2" argument is MOOT.
Thoughts? Feedback?
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