Euroute is a transport company delivering goods all over Europe. The company's need for an e-solution became imminent when Volvo, a major customer, required that all suppliers send their invoices to Volvo electronically. Euroute used this opportunity to build an e-platform that will be used for creating many new services, such as e-booking and e-invoicing. The solution will give Euroute customers accurate and instant answers to all their requests for Euroute transportation services.

A flagship solution for all e-traffic
The e-platform is a core system through which many customer services can be offered. Apart from the Volvo e-invoicing, Euroute recognizes many areas of application for the e-platform. Euroute's primary objective is to introduce
1. e-booking to its 10 major customers the current year
2. e-invoicing to other customers apart from Volvo
3. suppliers' e-invoicing to Euroute
4. Euroute's own message standard, which will be enclosed in every submitted tender from Euroute, in order to promote a shared standard that will facilitate message exchange for all customers. Specific customer message standards will also be accepted.

Implemented in 3 days
The whole solution was up and running in three days, thus enabling Euroute to quickly respond to new customer demands and to develop new customer services. "We are currently developing an e-booking service. We also plan services such as e-invoicing and status requests concerning specific shipments etc." says Peter Gustafsson, DBA, Euroute.

Technical facts
Euroute wanted to be able to use the e-platform to communicate with all customers and partners and to develop various new electronic services. The company faced the choice of developing their own solution based on Odex, or to buy a separate, robust solution. "The choice fell on the xTrade Business Communications Suite because it was cost-efficient and because Xware understood our exact needs and responded to all arising questions quickly and adequately", says Euroute IT Manager Peter Åberg.

The whole e-solution was implemented in three days. It is built on Oracle Advanced Queuing technology connected to an xTrade
Communications Gateway.

The picture below describes the Volvo e-invoicing solution:

1. The Oracle flat file format is mapped inside Oracle to EDIFACT. Oracle puts the invoices that are ready for sending in an Out Queue using Oracle Advanced Queuing.
2. The client application polls the AQ queue for new messages/files.
3. The client application puts the messages in xTrade Communications Gateway's queue for outgoing messages.
4. xTrade Communications Gateway handles the sending of the messages over OFTP using X.25. xTrade Communications Gateway also delivers notifications to the client application.

Read more about Euroute's services at www.euroute.se