Over the next few weeks in our Support blog, we would like to highlight and clarify some of the documentation which is typically requested of our valued customers when they log a Support Case with the eBridge Help Desk.

For some, logging a Support Case can be a somewhat stressful exercise, and we take very seriously the fact that we are dealing with our clients’ vital business documents – which can be subject to strict timelines, and involve significant sums of money which are dependent on sound relationships.

We also appreciate that the issues which arise can be fairly technical in nature, and their solutions are oftentimes no less simple. It is because of this fact, however, that our Support Specialists sometimes require a range of technical documentation to troubleshoot an issue and come to a prompt resolution to the satisfaction of you and your trading partner.

One of the main pieces of documentation which is often requested is referred to as an ‘export only’.

An export only is usually requested when there is an issue mapping business data from your accounting package out to your trading partner. Accordingly, an export only is usually only requested if there is an issue with an outbound profile (exporting invoices, purchase order acknowledgements, shipping notices, etc.).

The issue is often caught by our ePortal system, which will recognize non-compliant data and send it to your non-compliant outbox, triggering an email notification which is sent to you informing you of the problem. Secondarily, the issue will sometimes be brought to you by your trading partner. If the relationship is primarily EDI, you will most likely receive an 864 text document indicating a document you sent was non-compliant according to their protocols, or the accepted EDI standards.  In other instances, your trading partner will contact you directly via email.

An issue with the data being sent, or the map being used to send it, is usually the culprit; although a document can be rejected for a variety of reasons – including changes in the EDI standards accepted by your trading partner, a change in the business relationship, or changes in taxation, pricing, discounts, and other promotional details which are subject to change.

An export only allows our Support Specialists to view the raw data being sent from your accounting package. This data is evaluated independently for errors or inconsistencies, and it is also compared against the map being used, the data which arrives on ePortal, and the standards insisted upon by your trading partner.

The process for retrieving an ‘export only’ of raw data from your accounting package is quite simple.

The process is executed through the eBridge desktop application through the outbound profile, ‘export only’. Please find the steps below:

1. Open the bridge program.
2. Choose process from the file menu.
3. Select outbound run from the drop down menu.
4. You will see a Profile ID dropdown-please select the export only or export profile id.
5. Then run the outbound profile.
6. Select the document type for the type of documents you wish to export (810, 855, 856, etc.)
7. Put in any other criteria you wish for retrieving these documents (date range, trading partner, etc).
8. Click the retrieve button.
9. You will see your screen start to process and then it will populate with data.
10. Please highlight the documents you wish to export.
11. Then click export.
12. The file will export to C:\Program Files\eBridgesoft\eBridge200x\Data\export.txt – please email this file

This documentation is essential to the troubleshooting required to determine what the issue is and to locate a resolution as quickly as possible.

We hope that you have found this information useful and that you will now have some background on the rationale behind our requests from the Help Desk.

Thank you for reading and make sure to check in next week for more information about the nuts and bolts of your interaction with the Help Desk and Support Services generally.

Take care for now,

Paul Tittel

Help Desk Administrator

Article by Paul Tittel

Support, eBRIDGE Blog eBRIDGE Blog, eBridge Help Desk, Export Only, Support