lementation or for the integration of EDI into a comprehensive portfolio of existing software.”7“Design and development of computer software is an expensive and time-consuming process. The ready availability of commercial third-party packages or VAN’s will dictate against the internal development of in-house translation packages, since the annual cost of software licensing for third-party software will be less than the cost of developing and maintaining packages internally. The time required for internal software development will extend the valuable time it will take to deploy an EDI package.”4There may be other reasons for developing a translation package internally. “If The Kroger Company owned or controlled its distribution like it controls its retail outlets; it could be cost effective to create a customized EDI package tailored specifically to the company's distribution needs. The major drawback to such an approach is that performance of new transaction types will require additional development not only within the internal systems, but also within the EDI translation software.”7With the continuing growth of EDI has also come the growth of a comprehensive library of EDI translation software packages with price tags that range from very inexpensive to significant. The extent of these packages ranges from modest PC-based translator packages to large-scale systems for proprietary minicomputers and mainframes, complete with firm communications features, and job and transmission scheduling capability. Basically a package can be found for just about every budget.Third-party translation packages offer several advantages over in-house development, which are: comprehensive standards coverage, cost effectiveness, and reduced maintenanceBefore the widespread availability and acceptance of PC's and UNIX workstations, companies were pretty much bound by their existing restrictive hardware base. This dictated t...
