EDI transaction sets frequently used in Manufacturing

As EDI becomes more and more popular in many manufacturing verticals and as the thin line between manufacturers and distributors becomes more and more blurred in today’s world of e-commerce transactions, here is a list of some of the more popular EDI transaction sets used in today’s modern world of manufacturing:

§  ANSI X12 810 / EDIFACT INVOIC – Invoice – sent by manufacturers to the customer to bill for goods ordered and delivered.

§  ANSI X12 830 / EDIFACT DELFOR – Planning Schedule/Material Release – provides forecast data for upcoming orders that helps suppliers manage materials and other resources such as labor requirements. Not all 830's, however, can be used to create a Purchase Order, just manufacturers with 830's that have release capabilities.

§  ANSI X12 832 / EDIFACT PRICAT – Price/Sales Catalog – used by manufacturers to provide product information and prices to their supply chain partners in the form of a catalog.

§  ANSI X12 846 / EDIFACT INVRPT – Inventory Inquiry/Advice – used to notify trading partners of on-hand inventory. Becoming a strong requirement from Online Retail trading partners.

§  ANSI X12 850 / EDIFACT ORDERS – Purchase Order – used by manufacturer to purchase materials and/or services from a supplier.

§  ANSI X12 856 / EDIFACT DESADV – Advance Ship Notice (ASN) – communicates the contents of a shipment, sent in advance of that shipment’s arrival, which also provides information on the order, the products, the shipment arrival date and time, etc.

§  ANSI X12 862 / EDIFACT DELJIT – Shipping Schedule – provides detailed shipping requirements and may be triggered by product usage, allowing suppliers to replenish items immediately (similar to VMI), in support of Just In Time manufacturing processes.

§  ANSI X12 940 / EDIFACT INSDES – Warehouse Shipping Order – used to instruct remote Third Party Logistics Providers (3PL) or warehouses to ship orders to customers.

§  ANSI X12 943 / EDIFACT DESADV – Warehouse Stock Transfer Shipment Advice – an advance ship notice to a remote warehouse that a transfer shipment has been made from the manufacturer.

§  ANSI X12 944 / EDIFACT RECADV – Warehouse Receipt Advice – acknowledgment of receipt of a shipment (such as may be referenced in an EDI 943 transaction) at the warehouse.

§  ANSI X12 945 / EDIFACT DESADV – Warehouse Ship Advice – used by 3PL or warehouse to let manufacturer know goods have been shipped to customer.

§  ANSI X12 997 / EDIFACT CONTRL – Functional Acknowledgement – customer acknowledges receipt of EDI transaction set from manufacturer.

If your organization would like to know more about how EDI can help improve its supply chain efficiencies, please contact B2BGateway today by visiting our website www.B2BGateway.Net to get a local office number or simply email Sales@B2BGateway.Net

EDI in the Transportation Industry

 

EDI has become very popular in the haulage and transportation industry as transportation companies and load brokers are adapting their systems to cater for EDI document exchange.

The advantages for those working in the transportation industry is that routine high volume communications can be automated allowing dispatchers and accounts receivables staff more time to focus on more productive/profitable tasks and provide clients with better customer service. One of the main advantages of EDI is that it eliminates a dispatcher from having to manually key information into the dispatch operational and billing system. This results in saving time and money while eliminating any costly data entry mistakes. The other advantage is that transportation companies who are EDI compliant can communicate seamlessly and electronically with all parties in the supply chain process.

 
All data is communicated between the carrier, shipper, and the consignee in electronic EDI documents known as ANSI X12 “Transaction Sets.” The most commonly used EDI Transaction Sets in the Transportation Industry are:

204- Motor Carrier Load Tender

211- Bill of Lading

212- Delivery Trailer Manifest

214- Shipment Status Message

210- Freight Details and Invoice

820- Payment Order/Remittance Advice

 

990- Response to the Load Tender

997- Functional Acknowledgement

 
Being EDI enabled allows carriers to have access to the vital information that helps them perform at optimum efficiencies and effectiveness, while at the same time saving time and money.
 
For further information on how B2BGateway can help your transportation organization become EDI compliant and meet the needs of your clients and their trading partners call +1 (401) 491 9595 or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net  

The differences between EDI X12 and EDIFACT

 

Question: Hi Roger, we recently got a contract to supply an organization in Germany which will require EDI. This would normally be no problem to us as we have been doing EDI with our North American trading partners for over four years; however, our new German contract requires us to use EDIFACT rather than X12 as their preferred EDI standard. Could you highlight the main differences between X12 and EDIFACT and suggest what I should do?

 

Answer:  In 1979 the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) chartered the Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12 to develop uniform standards for inter-industry electronic exchange of business transactions – now known commonly as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). These transaction sets, abbreviated to X12, are the predominant EDI standards used by organizations in North America today.

In 1986, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) approved the acronym "UN/EDIFACT," which translates to United Nations Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport. UN/EDIFACT is an international EDI standard designed to meet the needs of both government and private industry. EDIFACT is the most popular worldwide EDI data standard outside of North America.

Here is a brief list of some of the different names given to documents in the X12 and EDIFACT transactions sets. You will notice that X12 assigns numeric values to documents whereas EDIFACT lists names or abbreviations.

TRANSACTION SET/DOCUMENT	X12 SET	EDIFACT
PRODUCT/PRICING TRANSACTIONS
Price Sales Catalog	832	PRICAT
Price Authorization Acknowledgement/Status	845	ATHSTS
Specification/Technical Information	841	PRDSPE
Request For Quotation	840	REQOTE
ORDERING TRANSACTIONS
Purchase Order	850	ORDERS
Purchase Order Acknowledgement	855	ORDRSP
Purchase Order Change	860	ORDCHG
Purchase Order Change Acknowledgement	865	ORDRSP
MATERIALS MANAGEMENT TRANSACTIONS
Planning Schedule/Material Release	830	DELFOR
Shipping Schedule	862	DELJIT
Production Sequence	866	--
Ship Notice/manifest (ASN)	856	DESADV
SHIPPING/RECEIVING TRANSACTIONS
Shipment Information (Bill of Lading)	858	IFTMCS
Receiving Advice	861	RECADV
Non-conformance Information-Disposition Transaction, Cause/Correction	842	NONCON
INVENTORY MANAGEMENT TRANSACTIONS
Inventory Inquiry/Advice	846	INVRPT
Product Transfer and Resale Report	867	SLSRPT
FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS
Invoice	810	INVOIC
Freight Invoice	859	IFTMCS
Payment order/Remittance Advice (EFT)	820	REMADV

There are many differences between an X12 and an EDIFACT document and I would recommend that if you do not have the capabilities to do EDIFACT in house that you outsource to a strong global EDI solution provider who can handle both data formats. At B2BGateway, we have offices located in North America, Europe and Pacific/Asia regions and can handle all internationally recognized EDI data formats including not only X12 and EDIFACT but many, many more (Tradacoms in the UK for example).

For further information on B2Bgateway’s international data standards capabilities please visit www.B2BGateway.Net or call (401) 491 9595. 

Roger Leyden is Director of Global Business Development at B2BGateway.

 

3PL's: Automate, Automate, Automate.....

 

In Real Estate we are always told the key to success is all about Location, Location, Location! I would like to try and bring this maxim to the world of Third Party Logistics (3PL), where I believe the key to success should be Automate, Automate, Automate! Having a smooth, successful supply chain operation can be achieved by automating as many tasks as possible. At B2BGateway we can help 3PL's achieve this by automating the entire business document flow between the 3PL, their clients and their trading partners. By introducing B2BGateway’s cloud-based EDI solutions, 3PL's can eliminate the need to re-key data into their ERP/WMS systems, giving seamless communication between all trading parties. Eliminating the need to re-key data will increase efficiencies, dramatically decrease errors and help contribute to a greater overall bottom line.

 

B2BGateway has been providing cloud-based, fully integrated EDI solutions since 1999 and we are highly proficient in the EDI X12 200 and 900 transaction sets. As a global organization we can also handle all international recognized data standards (X12, EDIFACT, Tradacoms, Eancom, Odette, XML, etc.) and all communication protocols (VAN, FTP, FTPs, AS2, etc.). For further details on B2BGateway's EDI solutions and services for 3PL’s please visit http://www.b2bgateway.net/flipbook/3pl/3pl_prospectus.html

Most common EDI transaction sets used by Third Party Logistics providers (3PL’s).

 

Most common EDI transaction sets used by Third Party Logistics providers (3PL’s).
ANSI X12 Transaction	Transaction Name	Transaction Description
940	Warehouse Shipping Order	Data contents of the Warehouse Shipping Order Transaction Set (940) for use within the context of an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) environment. This transaction set can be used to enable the depositor to advise a warehouse to make a shipment, confirm a shipment, or modify or cancel a previously transmitted shipping order.
943	Warehouse Stock Transfer Shipment Advice	Data contents of the Warehouse Stock Transfer Shipment Advice Transaction Set (943) for use within the context of an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) environment. The transaction set can be used by a depositor or an agent of the depositor to advise the recipient that a transfer shipment has been made. This transaction set provides a receiving location with detail information concerning product being shipped to that location.
944	Warehouse Stock Transfer Receipt Advice	Data contents of the Warehouse Stock Transfer Receipt Advice Transaction Set (944) for use within the context of an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) environment. The transaction set can be used by a receiving location to advise a depositor or an agent of the depositor that a transfer shipment has been received. This transaction set provides the depositor or the depositor's agent with detail information concerning product that has been received
945	Warehouse Shipping Advice	Data contents of the Warehouse Shipping Advice Transaction Set (945) for use within the context of an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) environment. The transaction set can be used by the warehouse to advise the depositor that shipment was made. It is used to reconcile order quantities with shipment quantities.
946	Delivery Information Message	The transaction set can be used by a receiving location to advise a depositor or an agent of the depositor that a transfer shipment has been received. This transaction set provides the depositor or the depositor's agent with detail information concerning product that has been received. If you need help supporting this EDI document, please visit our signup page. We will contact you shortly after the information is received. Thank you
947	Warehouse Inventory Adjustment Advice	Data contents of the Warehouse Inventory Adjustment Advice Transaction Set (947) for use within the context of an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) environment. The transaction set can be used to inform a warehouse/depositor of a quantity or status change to inventory records. This transaction set provides detail information concerning the internal adjustments which occur between a warehouse and a depositor.
997	Functional Acknowledgement	Data contents of the Functional Acknowledgment Transaction Set (997) for use within the context of an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) environment. The transaction set can be used to define the control structures for a set of acknowledgments to indicate the results of the syntactical analysis of the electronically encoded documents. The encoded documents are the transaction sets, which are grouped in functional groups, used in defining transactions for business data interchange. This standard does not cover the semantic meaning of the information encoded in the transaction sets.
856	Advance Ship Notice/Manifest	Data contents of the Advance Ship Notice/Manifest Transaction Set (856) for use within the context of an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) environment. The transaction set can be used to list the contents of a shipment of goods as well as additional information relating to the shipment, such as order information, product description, physical characteristics, type of packaging, marking, carrier information, and configuration of goods within the transportation equipment. The transaction set enables the sender to describe the contents and configuration of a shipment in various levels of detail and provides an ordered flexibility to convey information. The sender of this transaction is the organization responsible for detailing and communicating the contents of a shipment, or shipments, to one or more receivers of the transaction set. The receiver of this transaction set can be any organization having an interest in the contents of a shipment or information about the contents of a shipment.

 For a full list of all EDI X12 documents supported bt B2BGateway.Net please visit http://www.b2bgateway.net/edidocs.asp

Why outsourcing EDI may make sense for your organization.

Although EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) has been around since the late 1970’s, it started gaining increased traction in the early to mid 1990’s. The increased popularity in the 1990’s was mainly due to a heavy push from large organizations with large transactional volumes to reduce costs and increase efficiencies through automation.

Unfortunately, the very thought of EDI, can be daunting for an organization that has not used EDI before or has limited IT resources. The initial reaction is that EDI has been ‘forced’ on their organization by a large retailer or trading partner. Terms such as ANSI X12, UN/EDIFACT, Tradacoms, VAN, AS2, seem like Double Dutch and better still, the traditional English language has been replaced by numeric values, e.g. a Purchase Order is now called an 850, an Invoice becomes an 810, a Ship Notice becomes an 856, and so on. After a short period in production, the new EDI user will suddenly understand the benefits of EDI for their organization – reduced errors, shorter order to payment cash cycles, and reduced costs.

As mentioned above, there are many standards and communication protocols associated with EDI – in North America ANSI X12 is the predominant EDI standard, whereas in Europe and the Far East a far more popular standard is UN/EDIFACT. Some trading partners prefer to communicate through a VAN (Value Added Network), whereas others will prefer AS2 or FTP. Add to this mix a myriad of 318+ recognized EDI documents, customized mapping and reporting functions and it is clear to see why EDI becomes a daunting task for any organization.

It is at this stage that outsourcing your EDI requirements should make sense to your organization. Outsourced EDI solution providers come in various shapes and sizes. Some providers will require you to invest in your own mapping solution and they then develop the maps. Then there are others, like B2BGateway.Net, that provide the entire service and are also the first point of contact between your organization and your trading partners to resolve any EDI issues that may arise.

For further information on B2BGateway.Net’s fully outsourced EDI solutions please visit www.B2BGateway.Net or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net