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Achieving Peak Performance
Four Key Pillars Helping CG Firms Cut Costs While Sharpening Service Capabilities
October 2006

The products that consumer goods manufacturers produce may be as different as cans of soup are from high-end home entertainment systems. But despite their differences, virtually all CG companies face the same fundamental challenges: meet­ing the demands of both their retailer cus­tomers and the fast-changing, hard-to-read desires of global consumers. And while CG manufacturers are meeting these basic imperatives, they must simultaneously keep their own costs in check while deal­ing with government regulations, global sourcing and supply issues, and the near-constant call for faster, more efficient prod­uct replenishment. Microsoft’s Peak Performance Initiative (PPI) offers business solutions for best results.

BizTalk/EDI Performance Metrics
Large Retail Enterprise Results
September 2006

This document will serve as a guide to large enterprises that require electronic connectivity with a large community of trading partners, both large and small. More specifically this document addresses sizing large-scale EDI implementations based on BizTalk Server 2006. Tests emulating the true load of an enterprise EDI solution were executed on a Proof of Concept (POC) solution designed to emulate the true requirements of an enterprise retailer trading with multiple partners via EDI X12 transactions.

Synchronization – The Next Generation of Business Partnering
August 2006

A new study, conducted by Accenture and sponsored by Wegmans, FMI, GMA and 1SYNC™, delivers real business case data that shows actual benefits of Global Data Synchronization (GDS) for Wegmans and its suppliers. The following 1SYNC customers participated in the study: The Coca-Cola Company, General Mills, The Hershey Company, The J.M. Smucker Company, PepsiCo, Nestle, The Procter & Gamble Company, Wegmans Food Markets.

BizTalk RFID: Making RFID Deployments Easy, Simple and Economical
June 2006

This white paper describes a new approach to RFID with the potential to break through most technical and business barriers that so far have prevented the technology from reaching a critical mass worldwide. It outlines and describes a new infrastructure, based on Microsoft technologies, that includes each of the building blocks developers need to build successful, plug-and-play vertical applications, faster and more efficiently than ever before. This document is written for IT and operational professionals and managers at companies with either an interest, or need, for RFID. In addition, it is intended to help system integrators, VARs and independent software vendors understand how they can use the Microsoft platform to better serve their customers.

Gaining Supply Chain Efficiency Through Global Data Synchronization
May 2006

This article examines how the trading of item data and the ordering of trade items in the supply chain can be made more efficient by integrating processes and systems, and by leveraging standards. With the introduction of technologies such as RFID, new and existing business processes must be revamped, or even recreated, in order to take advantage of the benefits offered.

Supply Chain Management
Business Overview for Retail
March 2006

Already highly complex, the supply chain of the future is going to look even more so as it copes with serving a greater variety of buying channels (store, internet, kiosk, telephone, mail order, TV, PC), delivering to more outlets (differing store formats, order and collection options, homes, pickup points) in potentially more countries, while managing more products from a greater number of sourcing locations.

Global Data Synchronization (GDS) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
The Foundation for Collaborative Commerce
March 2006

By leveraging the power of the Microsoft Windows Server System and in particular BizTalk Server and the Microsoft RFID Infrastructure, Cactus Commerce is able to provide solutions which support the complete lifecycle of product data. From new product introductions, promotions, shipping and returns, the GDS infrastructure leverages the Microsoft RFID Infrastructure by associating clean, synchronized product data to context-based EPC/RFID event data received from various points in the supply chain.

Multi-Channel Retail Benchmark Report – AberdeenGroup
Where Is the True Multi-Channel Retailer?
December 2005

Even those retailers who are achieving best-in-class sales performance have a long way to go in adopting multi-channel best practices. While some may be successful “bruting” their way to multi-channel effectiveness on today’s relatively small scales, as cross-channel buying and delivery increases as a percentage of total sales, more and more money and productivity will be squeezed from their enterprises. Worse, they could find themselves with dissatisfied, disappearing customers, and effecting their top line sales growth as well.

Introduction to BizTalk Server for those Familiar with SeeBeyond
Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004
December 2005

In order to properly understand an application like BizTalk Server, it is important to not only know the feature list but to understand how these features address typical problems in your industry. Regardless of your role within your organization, you will see the value that BizTalk Server can provide and be able to determine how BizTalk Server can benefit your organization.

SeeBeyond WebSphere MQ to BizTalk Conversion
BizTalk Server is a Proven Alternative to SeeBeyond
December 2005

Microsoft has raised the bar for enterprise integration software in the industry with the introduction of BizTalk Server. Contoso, a fictitious organization that is based on a real organization, currently uses SeeBeyond for enterprise application integration and trading partner integration.

Global Data Synchronization (GDS) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
Business Benefits
December 2005

With the emergence of Global Data Synchronization (GDS), many have been quick to point out the links between it and RFID. A.T. Kearney states that “…without data synchronization between trading partners, the future in RFID will result in vast amounts of data being captured and exchanged – much of it wrong”. What does this mean for organizations trying to implement RFID standards without taking GDS into consideration? And what impacts will it have on the global supply chain?

Trading Partner Integration
An Executive’s Guide to Understanding the Strategic Value of TPI
August 2005

Global market demands are dramatically changing the way organizations conduct their day-to-day business. Manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of all sizes are beginning to look for ways in which they can improve their supply chain integration to reduce their time to market, increase reliability and agility, and gain a competitive advantage over the other players in the global marketplace. The nature of e-business is changing rapidly because of the global rush towards electronic business integration. Consequently, companies today are at different stages of implementing Trading Partner Integration (TPI) connections and their supporting infrastructures. Organizations now understand that they must manage their businesses internally as well as establish connectivity to external parties (such as trading partners, customers, suppliers, etc.) to avoid being left behind.

Global Data Synchronization
The retail industry is on the verge of a breakthrough…
October 2004

Standards are critical for business collaboration and a new generation, under the banner of Global Data Synchronisation (GDS), is enabling retailers and suppliers of all sizes to drive costs out of the supply chain.

GDS is the backbone for enterprise collaboration and the foundation for applications like Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and traceability. As a result, data synchronisation is the essential first step on the path to electronic collaboration.