ECHIA / EDI Platform

ECHIA is an AWS-hosted EDI integration platform built and maintained by Envisage. It acts as the primary inbound gateway for EDI purchase orders, processing them through a series of validation and mapping stages before posting to Microsoft Dynamics GP via eConnect.

Platform Type

AWS-hosted EDI and order integration platform (SaaS — external to Aidacare infrastructure)

Primary Inbound Channel

SFTP (file-based EDI) and/or REST API — customers transmit purchase order files or API calls to ECHIA endpoints

EDI Processing

ECHIA parses inbound EDI files (XML/CSV), validates structure, resolves customer and item mappings, and applies pricing rules before creating GP transactions

GP Integration Method

eConnect — Aidacare's GP eConnect service bridges ECHIA and Microsoft Dynamics GP; transactions are posted to GP via eConnect APIs

Pricing Integration

OmniPrice — GP-native pricing engine. ECHIA calls OmniPrice to validate contract pricing on each order before committing to GP

Exception Notification

SMTP email — ECHIA sends exception notifications for failed/unresolvable orders to the relevant team (Customer Service or operations)

Monitoring

AWS CloudWatch — application and infrastructure logs. eConnect service logs reviewed for GP-side integration failures

Infrastructure Owner

Envisage (external vendor) — AWS EC2, RDS, and supporting infrastructure managed by Envisage. Aidacare has limited direct access

ECHIA integration architecture — EDI inbound, ECHIA platform (AWS), eConnect, Microsoft Dynamics GP

The path from ECHIA to a posted GP order travels through eConnect — a Microsoft-provided integration service that translates eConnect API calls into GP database transactions. Failures can occur at each boundary.

ECHIA application — integration screen

ECHIA portal — order processing workflow (app screen used to see and resolve order errors)

For fully integrated customers, the entire journey from EDI file receipt to GP order creation and invoice delivery is automated — no human intervention is required under normal operating conditions.

ECHIA portal — order processing and exception management screen

Assisted customers such as BUPA do not use the fully automated ECHIA-to-GP pipeline. Orders arrive via ECHIA-generated email and require Customer Service involvement before reaching GP.

Integration Method

eConnect — Microsoft-provided GP integration service; ECHIA calls eConnect APIs to create SOP quotes/orders directly in GP's SQL database

Transaction Types

Sales Order Processing (SOP) — GP quotes and sales orders created by eConnect on behalf of ECHIA

Service Dependency

The eConnect Windows service must be running on the GP application server. If stopped or unresponsive, GP orders will not be created even if ECHIA processing succeeds

Payload Format

eConnect-compatible XML payload constructed by ECHIA from validated order data

Error Handling

eConnect returns structured error responses on failure (GP validation errors, SQL errors, inactive records). ECHIA logs these and places orders in exception state for review

Common Failure Causes

eConnect service stopped; GP SQL connectivity lost; inactive GP customer or item record; SQL deadlocks under concurrent load; malformed payload data

Monitoring

eConnect service logs and GP event logs — review these when GP orders are not appearing despite ECHIA reporting success

Integration Role

OmniPrice is queried by ECHIA during order processing to validate that each order line's price matches the customer's contract pricing configuration in GP

Integration Type

API/database call — ECHIA queries OmniPrice service to retrieve contract price for the customer/item combination

Failure Behaviour

If OmniPrice is unavailable or returns an error, ECHIA triggers a pricing validation exception. Orders may be held pending manual pricing review

Common Issues

OmniPrice service outage; API/database connectivity failure; contract pricing not configured for a customer; expired contract pricing returning mismatched values

Resolution

Restore OmniPrice connectivity; verify and update customer contract pricing configuration in GP; temporarily apply manual pricing validation during OmniPrice downtime

Business Impact of Failure

Financial and compliance risk — orders processed with incorrect pricing, or orders held and delayed pending resolution

Integration Role

CMP (Customer Management Portal) acts as the manual order entry intermediary for assisted customers such as BUPA — bridging the Customer Service team's manual input to GP order creation

Trigger

ECHIA generates an exception/notification email when an assisted customer's order is received; Customer Service responds by manually entering order details via CMP

CMP to GP

CMP submits the manually entered order to GP, creating the SOP order record in Microsoft Dynamics GP

Failure Points

Customer Service misses or delays acting on the ECHIA email; CMP is unavailable or encounters an integration error; CMP-to-GP connection fails

Monitoring

Customer Service team must monitor the ECHIA notification inbox. No automated monitoring of the email-to-CMP-to-GP pipeline exists — manual verification is required

Business Impact of Failure

Delayed customer fulfilment for BUPA and other assisted customers; potential missed orders if the email is not actioned promptly

ECHIA portal — error and exception management screen (used to identify and resolve production issues)