Giant Eagle

An easy transition to in-house AS2 helps cut the bottom line for this successful supermarket chain

With a business dependent upon quick turn around times, Giant Eagle turned to Cleo for a solution that would give them functionality, speed, and security.

The Challenge

Giant Eagle utilized a third party for all AS2 supplier communications. With a high volume of large EDI batch files, the expense of a hosted service led Giant Eagle to look for a product that would eliminate third party AS2 kilo-character charges as well as AS2 management and support costs. By doing so, they hoped to reduce costs and dependency by eliminating the ongoing requirement to pay vendors for various consulting services related to both AS2 and EDI. This would also eliminate latency resulting from third party management and provide for a faster process with more direct control.

However, Giant Eagle did not have additional staff to dedicate to an in-house solution. They needed a product that was easy enough for existing staff to manage with an already full workload. Specifically, it needed to be easy to add new trading partners and provide for quick diagnostics. Security was also a factor, Giant Eagle required high-availability with failover and redundancy. With a large volume of data, the solution needed to be capable of handling a large throughput.

There were several specific requirements as well. Giant Eagle required an AS2 solution that seamlessly integrated with Gentran UNIX V6.0.2 without duplicating existing functionality. They needed an AS2 solution that would integrate into existing homegrown script and an end-to-end audit & control tracking system, removing the third-party hand-off.

The Solution

Giant Eagle chose Cleo’s VLTrader solution based on its high performance, reliability, flexibility, and extensive protocol support. The solution met all of their requirements in terms of integration and functionality. In addition, Giant Eagle was able to eliminate a redundant software package thereby reducing associated costs and adding value to the Cleo solution.

VLProxy, included with VLTrader, allows for automatic failover and provided tightened security, meeting their security requirements. VLTrader, along with VLProxy, was installed, configured and files were being exchanged all within the same day. Giant Eagle was able to utilize existing back-end translation applications and scripts without re-writing them. VLTrader remains a separate communications piece and does not overtake other business applications, thus allowing Giant Eagle to maintain their prior investments.

EDI functional acknowledgment matching and customized EDI transaction reporting are critical features for Giant Eagle. Functional acknowledgement matching guarantees that orders get processed and shipped on time by identifying missing EDI functional acknowledgements from vendors. The transaction reporting tracks all EDI transaction information by customizing reference number search criteria.

Giant Eagle staff found the functional acknowledgment and reference number logging features to be particularly helpful. They are able to review or lookup information and about a particular EDI document, easily and quickly in one place.

Giant Eagle is planning a phased approach to upgrading the entire EDI process. Based on immediate ROI, they chose to start with AS2. The Cleo solution can be expanded to meet their future needs. Giant Eagle utilizes an unlimited trading partner license that will allow them to grow the use of the product at no incremental cost. In addition to adding more trading partners, they can add the use of other protocols such as FTPS, HTTPS and ebXML, to completely streamline their communications channel.

Cleo Communications helps companies of all sizes communicate securely and reliably. Whether it’s a transition to in-house AS2, an initial investment in secure communications, or a complete company-wide managed file transfer strategy, Cleo can help you get started today.

To learn more about how Cleo can help your organization, contact us today.