1. What is CBMail purpose?

CBMail is design purely for data interchange between businesses. It functions like a fax machine. Both sides must install CBMail. When you first install CBMail, you don't have to connect to your MIS until it is worthwhile to do so. This is why CBMail be a Plug & Play EDI solution.

This is quite contrast to Supply Chain Management approach. When you invest lots of time and money to have SCM implemented and found your data is still not accepted by your suppliers.

2. What can CBMail do?

You can be a seller or a buyer at a time. If you want to be both at the same time, please be reminded that set up your CBMail on two different directories.  

As a seller, you can send a quotation or a sale invoice data out to the buyer and receive buyer's reply data. 

As a buyer, you can send an order or a purchase invoice out to the seller and receive seller's reply data. 

When the buyer wants to return some or all the items back, he can send out a purchase return out to the seller. The seller will receive the data as a sales return.

Data interchange can be back and forth as many as you need. Either seller or buyer can initiate the data interchange process. This basically simulates business negotiation and communication process.  

3. Who will use CBMail?

All companies need CBMail just like they need fax machine. The companies have different branch offices may require CBMail theory and method to develop internal data interchange application. 

4. Why CBMail is a total solution for EDI?

CBMail contains three elements. They are

²         Application - to Provide user interface for data entry and data browsing. 

²         DBEngine.dll - to Pack and Unpack the data with strong data accessibility through BDE data component.

²         MailBox.dll. - to Manage outgoing and incoming mails.

The latter two are dll program to let programmer to design tailored applications by linking to them. In the long run, every CBMail user can have several applications on his desktop and use the same DBEngine and MailBox. 

5. Why CBMail don't follow XML standard?

CBMail complies with XML but strongly recommend using DSS instead. DSS (Data Source Stream) is better than XML in the following ways.

²         DSS is smaller than XML in size.

²         Database export and import through DSS is faster than XML.

²         DSS is compatible to relational database.

²         DBEngine_Std.dll, supporting BDE engine, allows packing and unpacking any database BDE supported. No upgrade of the existing database to meet XML standard is required.  

6. Can we update CBMail to meet our requirements?

Yes, you can update or design new application to meet your corporation's requirement. Of course, you have to pay for the authorization.

You can use DBEngine.dll as a database conversion black box. 

You can then design a new application complying with CBMail's mailbox.  You can use any tool to design your tailored application. The only connection between your application and CBMail is that when you send an mail out, you have to append a new record in the outbox table. MailBox will take care of all the other things including unpacking the attachment dss file back to your application.