AEB will end general availability of ASSIST4 on December 31, 2026. To help us accommodate your desired timeline for the transformation, we strongly recommend familiarizing yourself with the topic and including transformation in your planning.

The following article outlines how you can transform your current ASSIST4 solution into a state-of-the-art, future-ready solution using the latest AEB software modules.

Cloud only

All of AEB’s next-generation solutions are offered exclusively as cloud-based applications. The only exception is the plug-ins for SAP®, which are integrated into your SAP® system and communicate with the AEB Cloud from there. High-maintenance on-premise installations will be replaced by low-maintenance web applications. System monitoring, data backups, and updates will become a thing of the past, handled instead by AEB with its long track record running an ISO 27001–certified data center in Germany.

Specialized functionality or process management?

Most of our customers have already taken the first steps in this process – often without even realizing it. If you’re already tapping into specialized functionalities such as ATLAS Export or integrating your transport service providers with business services such as Export Filing: ATLAS or Carrier Connect, you’ve already laid the groundwork for your transformation. These specialized applications help you manage your processes correctly and efficiently with technical checks, templates, and daily content updates. Often, data from your host systems is simply routed through ASSIST4 for minimal augmentation with domain-specific data (such as ATLAS document codes). Today’s APIs offer the option of easy integration along the processes in your ERP or WM systems, for example.

If you’re currently using process-specific features in ASSIST4 such as consignment consolidation or packing stations, we’ll work hand in hand with you to develop an appropriate ASSIST4 transformation strategy using solutions based on the cloud platform nXt. The cloud platform features individual and standardized components so that you can fine-tune how you map and support your processes. The specialized functionality that you have already enabled in your standard business services from AEB will not go away. Templates for processes and user apps are already available in nXt to smooth the transformation away from ASSIST4 Dispatch solutions.

Click here for more information on the cloud platform nXt.

SAP®-certified

If you’re using an SAP® ERP or SAP® EWM system, AEB plug-ins for SAP® offer an attractive alternative for integrating the aforementioned applications into your process. These plug-ins are installed using an SAP® transport and communicate with the applications in the AEB Cloud using a web service (with certificate). All AEB applications with plug-ins for SAP® offer plug-and-play implementation, relying solely on standard SAP® user exits and customer exits for their integration. This makes it easy to update both your SAP® system and the AEB software. All development objects created under ABAP objects are generated in the AEB namespace. You also have the option of using Business Add-Ins (BAdIs) to personalize your system. Our plug-ins also work under S4/HANA.

Learn more about AEB plug-ins for SAP®.

Examples of transformation

The following examples illustrate how a typical shipping process handled today using ASSIST4 might be managed in the future using the alternatives described above.

Today: Shipping process with ASSIST4

Alternative 1: Shipping process with nXt

Process management under this option will be handled in nXt. This is not a 1:1 changeover. Unlike ASSIST4, nXt is a process-oriented system, so it offers the option of aligning the process perfectly to your specific use case based on your specifications.

nXt Start Template

AEB understands that many customers will still want to have a process very similar to what they know from ASSIST4. The “nXt Start Template” package, which facilitates the transition from ASSIST4 Dispatch to nXt, was developed for this very reason. At the end of this transformation, customers have a nXt solution that includes basic features of ASSIST4 while also letting them design more flexible processes and implement completely unique data models. This means that the transformation is anything but a 1:1 changeover. We’ll work personally with you to determine whether this is the right package for you.

Alternative 2: Shipping process with specialized applications (through API or manual input)

This scenario is recommended if the entire process is now or will eventually be able to be mapped in your ERP system or another host system. Any specialized functionalities that are missing (carrier integration, export management, etc.) are integrated at the point in the process where they are needed. Carrier label printing could be integrated directly into the packaging process, for example.

The option to augment data using templates that you can configure on your own makes it possible to achieve a high degree of automation, even when domain-specific data is not available in the host systems.

If the customer’s limited volume of daily transactions make integration too costly, a solution relying entirely on manual user input can also be an efficient option.

Visit the AEB website for an overview of all specialized applications.

Alternative 3: Shipping process with AEB plug-ins for SAP®

This scenario moves the entire process into the customer’s SAP environment. For simplicity, we have not distinguished here between ERP and WM/EWM systems. AEB can provide plug-ins for SAP® for either system.

The example here is also intended to illustrate AEB’s various integration options from a technical and procedural perspective. For that reason, the number of depicted applications is limited. It’s worth mentioning, however – especially in the SAP environment – that the broad portfolio of Customs Management, Trade Compliance, and Logistics & Supply Chain applications often represent a comprehensive and efficient alternative to the SAP® TM and SAP® GTS systems.