Quadrant’s IntelliChief Gets Integration Hooks to JDA’s MMS

June 2, 2009 Alex Woodie

Retailers that rely on JDA Software Group‘s i OS-based Merchandise Management System (MMS) will have an easier time integrating the application with Quadrant Software‘s IntelliChief content management system and working to eliminate paper-based processes as a result of integration work between JDA and Quadrant, the companies announced last week.

After working together on several IntelliChief implementations at MMS shops, JDA and Quadrant decided to form a strategic alliance, says Gary Langton, CEO and co-founder of Quadrant Software, which is based in Tampa, Florida. “It only made sense for the two companies to join forces and formalize that relationship to deliver a tightly integrated document handling solution for the benefit of our mutual customers,” Langton says in a press release. “We are thrilled to be selected as a best-of-breed solution provider by JDA.”

The strategic alliance resulted in new integration points that eliminate much of the manual configuration needed to point MMS output to the Quadrant products, which includes IntelliChief as well as the FastFax faxing system and the Formtastic electronic forms and laser check generation software.

Customers running MMS versions 7.5 can take advantage of the integration and begin eliminating paper from their business processes, in favor of PDF-based purchase orders, order acknowledgements, invoices and other documents that can be captured, routed, e-mailed, stored, and displayed in bits and bytes instead of using ink and pulp. Customers running older versions of MMS can be retro-fitted for IntelliChief, Quadrant says.

The end result is saving money and helping the environment, says Chris Koziol, JDA’s chief operating officer. “For retailers, cost savings are all that can be done to weather the current economic crisis,” Koziol says in a press release. “Our integration with Quadrant Software’s electronic document management solution now gives every JDA MMS user the tools to ‘go green’ by eliminating paper usage, as well as have a positive impact on their bottom lines.”

Many of the country’s largest chains of stores rely on JDA’s MMS to automate replenishment activities and other business processes that are specific to the retail industry. In 2006, JDA officials pegged the number of MMS customers somewhere between 300 and 400. JDA has since embarked upon a multi-year plan to migrate MMS customers to its new .NET-based JDA Enterprise Architecture, which has likely chipped away at this installed base (not to mention the failures of Mervyn’s and Circuit City, two big MMS customers). But JDA has pledged to continue supporting the RPG version of the MMS application, as well as the System i as a database server, as part of its “investment protection program.”

With the System i server continuing to play a role in JDA MMS shops for the foreseeable future, it makes sense for them to optimize System i business processes as conditions warrant. One of the most effective ways that IT shops can drive efficiency is moving away from paper-based processes in favor of electronic document management. This is exactly what the Windows-based IntelliChief suite was designed to do.

IntelliChief is composed of six core modules, including ScanChief, PortalChief, WorkflowChief, ViewChief, StorageChief, and Quadrant’s Formtastic software, and also works with Quadrant’s i OS output management software, Formtastic and FastFax. Pricing for the suite starts at around $50,000. See www.quadrantsoftware.com and www.jda.com for more information.