How does EDI work? What is the process? Why do people use it? What are the advantages/disadvantages?

Recently, someone posted these questions on Quora and thought I would post my response here as well.

EDI (electronic data interchange) is a standard data structure that allows companies with differing hardware and software systems to exchange information in a common  format.  EDI is used to communicate a variety of information and is typically used in a supply chain.  It is widely adopted in retail, healthcare, automotive and even by the U.S. Department of Defense.

In my experience, no one does EDI because they want to, they do EDI because a partner in a business relationship mandates it, however it does help save time and money when it comes to communicating business information documents.  Major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target and Home Depot most commonly use EDI to communicate the following information: Orders to their suppliers (850), Invoices from their suppliers (810), Shipment notices from their suppliers (856). There are also a number of other documents that are used but these three are almost always required in a retail relationship.

There are many different EDI solutions in the marketplace so the process and tools you set up and use can differ but the high level processing steps are the same. Read more…

General EDI

If your EDI trading partner has asked you to transmit ASN documents, it is likely that the UCC/EAN-128 barcode label is also required. The label, usually attached to each carton or the entire pallet, allows the shipping receiver to quickly determine the contents of the carton/pallet in conjunction with the ASN paperwork.  This is done by scanning the SSCC-18 bar code at the bottom of the label.

While it seems reasonable to the trading partner that these labels are used since they speed up shipment verification at the receiving dock, they can be a pain for the supplier to generate, particularly since they contain bar codes that need to match the corresponding ASN document.

The labels are typically 4″x6″ in portrait mode and usually need to be printed on thermal paper.  Let’s look at specifications for two different trading partners, Lowe’s and The Sports Authority.

As you can see, both labels contain the same basic information, the exact layout will vary by trading partner. Additionally, some trading partners are more strict than others about tolerances regarding font size, spacing, paper type, barcode density and so on. Read more…

General EDI, Technology Corner

Salesforce pioneered the Software-as-a-Service industry and is the leading CRM solution, which is why I am excited to announce exciting news regarding the eBridge integration connector for Salesforce.

We have enhanced the integration connection to allow greater flexibility, including:

• Access to any objects related to an “Opportunity”, including those that are one or more steps removed. For example, for Opportunity –> Account –> Case, the Case object is not linked directly to the Opportunity but we will be able to ‘tow’ it along when we pull the Opportunity.
• Access custom objects related to the Opportunity.  Salesforce is almost always customized to accommodate specific business processes or workflows and that means adding objects that are not native to the default Salesforce environment.  Now eBridge can access custom objects so we can accommodate your specific business usage of Salesforce!
• Access an unlimited number of user-created fields (maximum was previously 20) on the Opportunity and any of the objects that come down with the Opportunity.  This means we can support an unlimited number of custom fields on the Contacts object, for example, since Contacts is linked to the Opportunity.  Of course all of this true for custom objects as well.

Here is a diagram highlighting the Opportunity object in green and all the related standard objects we can access, in orange.  Don’t forget, if you create a custom object that is linked to any of these, we can access that as well!  Click the image to enlarge.

We are always looking for your feedback on how you would like to integrate Salesforce with your back-office systems so please leave your comments below or on The Core, the eBridge community forum.

CRM Integration accounting integration, CRM Integration, Integration, salesforce.com

Software-based consulting services are tricky. Being involved in the industry for 10+ years, I have made a few observations about the perception most people have regarding the value of time spent by software consulting professionals.

It is well known that lawyers and psychiatrists bill their time by the minute, which no one seems to dispute.  For whatever reason though, many other consultants are not afforded the same understanding.  Perhaps it gets muddy when the company you are working with is selling a product and professional services, in which case the line is blurred in terms of what exactly you are paying for.  Maybe it is because the value of software itself is diminished; after all, I’m sure you have all met someone that has illegitimate (illegal) copy of some popular software package.

Either way, consulting services are about paying for the time of someone with the experience and expertise to help you solve a problem that should have a positive net result for you or your business.  I have delivered literally hundreds of projects and I would have to say that the most important thing is managing expectations.

Like any relationship, a business initiative requires co-operation and effort from both Read more…

Technology Corner, eBRIDGE Blog

People find EDI intimidating enough on its own and an SDQ (Store Destination Quantity) order adds another twist.  In a previous article, “SDQ Made Easy!“, Andrea Hunter provides a good introduction.  I would like to go into a little more detail in this post.

An SDQ order is an efficient way to order a product that needs to ship to multiple locations.  Since VANs (value-added-networks) charge per kilo-character, I suspect there was some financial basis for this structure since it drastically cuts down on the amount of EDI code needed to communicate the order details.

With non-SDQ orders, the ship-to location would be specified as part of the order header which means everything gets shipped to that location.

Let’s have look at some EDI code from an SDQ order. Read more…

Uncategorized

Recently, we looked at some questions you should be asking to help you narrow your choices when seeking a software solutions provider. Now I want to turn the tables and provide some insight as to what is happening on the other side.

Ultimately, the salesperson is trying to determine the following:

1. Fit: Can I offer a solution that solves the major problem(s) expressed by the prospective customer?
2. Budget: Does the prospective customer have an actual budget allocated to pay for the solution?
3. Probability to Close (PTC): How soon can I close the deal?

You are likely to hear some form of the following questions that attempts to get to the root of the three questions above.

• Is there an actual project (or is this a discovery/information gathering exercise)? (PTC)
• What is driving the need for a solution? (Fit) – For EDI, this may be  a new business relationship with Home Depot and for eCommerce it can be volumes that makes manual data entry impractical. Read more…

Technology Corner, eBRIDGE Blog

A few articles ago, I wrote about effective communication in business and examined the value of asking the right questions. Today I would like to provide a list of some questions that should help you narrow the field of providers when procuring a software project.

I have been in the software services industry for over 10 years and have worked on hundreds of projects, from clarifying the scope of work, through implementation and project wrap-up. I have also been on the receiving end of deliverables and have just about seen it all in terms of what could go wrong during the delivery.

In a future post, I will look at some specific reasons projects go over time and budget, but today I would like to share some key questions you should be asking to help get your project off on the right foot.

Keep in mind that these assume you will have some type of ongoing business relationship with that company, including technical support, upgrades, future product purchases and additional professional services.

Two Guys in a Basement?

Depending on what exactly you are trying to achieve, a freelance consultant may be a great fit for your project, but if you are implementing a project that affects mission-critical data, be wary of a fly-by-night solutions. You may or Read more…

Technology Corner, eBRIDGE Blog

In my previous article, we started looking at how important effective communication is, specifically in business. We saw how taking the time to ask the right questions can save everyone time and make you look like the professional you are.

Asking the right questions is useless though if you don’t listen to the responses. Stop for a moment and think about the difference between hearing and listening. Is there a difference? Absolutely! Hearing is passive, something which you have you have no control over. You hear a siren or you hear name shouted from across a room. You can ‘tune-out’ ambient noise but you can’t turn your ears off to prevent you from hearing.

Have you ever had a conversation with someone and they were not paying attention to what you were saying, perhaps formulating a response or comment before you finished speaking? What about that person who is constantly checking their phone (or worse, answering it), or is otherwise distracted? Read more…

eBRIDGE Blog

eBridgeConnections can, has and will do some pretty creative implementations, so please ask if you cannot find your eCommerce cart in the eBridge Blueprint builder, or are otherwise unsure about what services eBridge can provide.  The information below is to help you understand some options we have available if you do not see your desired eCommerce cart/web store.

Option #1: eBridge Builds a Connector
For carts that eBridge has NOT built a connector for (using the web store’s API – Application Programming Interface), eBridge can build a connector, provided:

• A Web Store API actually exists
• The API is robust enough to facilitate the functionality required by the end-user. This could mean how frequently we are allowed to exchange data with the web store, or it could mean the contents of the data for any given touchpoint.

Be aware that not all API’s are created equally.  The data contents of each touchpoint (orders, inventory, prod/price, shipment) varies between carts and needs to be examined on a case-by-case basis.  Ultimately, eBridge is at the mercy of the web store, as would any other integration solution provider you may be examining.

Option #2: eBridge Provides API access to ePortal Integration Platform
eBridge has an API for ePortal (online integration platform) which allows people to exchange data using the ePortal-specific formats and methods.  The final integration with the web store (or any other external system for that matter) is the sole responsibility of the end user.  In other words, eBridge has nothing to do with the data once it leaves ePortal.

Option #3: File integration
Most carts have some type of file export/import functionality using either a delimited (CSV for example) or XML file format.

• Inbound from Web Store to ERP: If the end user exports orders from the web store and puts them somewhere, eBridge can pick them up (FTP or a folder on your network, for example), eBridge can integrate them into the accounting/ERP system.
• Outbound from ERP to Web Store: Opposite of inbound.  eBridge can export from the accounting/ERP system and create a delimited or XML file in web store-specific format.  It would be up to the end user to import that file into the web store which is usually a manual process.

eBridge can also repackage data from any structured format to any other structured format (delimited files and XML most commonly), as well as with custom databases. What are your data transformation and integration needs?

Integration, Technology Corner, Webstore Integration, eBRIDGE Blog, eCommerce

Magento is one of the world’s leading eCommerce platforms and consequently happens to be the most popular and frequently requested integrations we come across here at eBridge Connections.

We are continually updating our Magento connection functionality and I would like to share some of the highlights and enhancements that are supported by the API connection.

• Multi-store, tier pricing is now fully supported and can be configured right from your accounting/ERP database. Tier pricing is a promotional tool that lets you price items differently for higher quantities. You can think of this as volume discounting.
• Order retrieval filter for order creation date has been added. This is in addition to order number range (start/end).
• Configurable, multiple concurrent connections for product and inventory creation and updates has been added. Instead of processing items one at a time, this feature allows multiple connections to run in parallel, resulting in performance that is 15x faster on average!
• Usually new customers will be created directly on Magento but some people have existing customers in their accounting/ERP system that they would like set up with accounts on Magento. Customer creation on Magento through the API is supported!

Of course we also continue to support the following touch-points:

• Orders out of Magento
• Product & pricing creation/updates into Magento
• Inventory quantity updates into Magneto
• Shipment with tracking information updates into Magento

Build your Magento to accounting integration today!

Webstore Integration, eCommerce