Why use EDI to integrate your eCommerce shopping platform with your ERP/Accounting Software System?

As online shopping continues to gather rapid pace (Forrester predicts that over $278 Billion will be spent this year online by US consumers on products and services), many organizations are purchasing eCommerce platforms such as 3dcart, Volusion, Magento, etc., to help them operate their eCommerce online stores. An eCommerce platform is a complete online store application that includes search, navigation, user accounts, shopping cart and ordering capabilities.

 
Without the right tools using an eCommerce platform can be quite a cumbersome and manual process as the following steps will outline:

1. Setup product items to sell online including pricing, imagery, inventory.
2. Customer places order online through the shopping cart.
3. Order details are keyed in manually into the organizations backend accounting software solution or ERP.
4. The order is sent (email, fax, etc.) to the warehouse for fulfillment, where it is manually entered again into the warehouse’s WMS.
5. The warehouse fulfills the order and sends the organization notice (email, fax, etc.) that the goods have been shipped with tracking details.
6. Order information from warehouse re-keyed into organizations backend system.
7. Product shipped to customer.

As can be seen from the steps above, the entire process is quite laborious and can be error prone. Now let’s see how the same transaction would work if the organization implemented EDI:

1. Setup product items to sell online including pricing, imagery inventory.
2. Customer places order online through the shopping cart.
3. EDI 850 Purchase Order is sent directly into organizations backend accounting software or ERP (no need to re-key data). The EDI 850 triggers an EDI 940 (warehouse ship order) to be sent directly into the warehouses WMS (again full automation and no re-keying of data required).
4. The warehouse fulfills the order and sends an EDI 945 (warehouse shipping advice) to the organization letting them know the goods have been shipped. The organization uses the EDI 945 to close out the sale in their back end system.
5Product shipped to customer.

As well as orders and shipping notices, organizations can use the EDI 846 Inventory Inquiry/Advice document to let their trading partners know of stock levels at all times to avoid selling out of stock goods and the EDI 856 Advance Ship Notice to let trading partners know when to expect to receive goods.

For further information on integrating your eCommerce platform with your ERP/Accounting Software system please call B2BGateway today at (401) 491 9595 or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net

5 Tips for Successful EDI Implementation.

To implement EDI successfully all organizations must make EDI a part of their overall business strategy with complete buy in from all departments including senior management. Needless to say, good communication between the organization and its trading partners is also an essential component in implementing a successful EDI strategy.

Here are a few tips that should help your organization develop a successful EDI implementation:

1.       Determine where your organization lies in the supply chain.

Is your organization an ‘Initiator’ or ‘Responder’. In other words are you implementing EDI on your own terms to help improve your overall business processes (‘Initiator’) or are you responding to a request from large customers who require you to become EDI compliant in order to secure your contract (‘Responder’). An ‘Initiator’ will be able to determine which rules and regulations suit their business model best, whereas a ‘Responder’ will have to abide by the standards and protocols that have been laid down by their customers or trading partners.

2.       Put in place a dedicated project team.

A dedicated project team is needed to determine your overall business objectives (e.g. remove manual data entry to reduce errors and chargebacks, comply with trading partner requirements, etc.) and to define deliverables over a set time period.

3.       Communicate with Trading Partners.

Ensure your trading partners have full commitment. Ask for a copy of your trading partners agreement and find out which EDI standards (X12, EDIFACT, Tradacoms, Odette, etc.), transaction sets (850, 810, 846, 856, 997, etc.) and communication protocols (VAN, FTP, AS2, etc.) they will require.

4.       Use first implementation as a pilot project and thereafter a stepped approach.

If you have many trading partners to communicate thru EDI, use your first implementation as a pilot project, one that you can tweak and make improvements to as you move forward. Many organizations make the mistake of trying to add too many trading partners at once. This is a huge drain on your resources and can make trading relationships go sour very fast. A stepped or phased approach may be better. Decide which trading partner relationships are a priority and implement accordingly over a phased basis.   

5.       ‘Inhouse’ or ‘Outsourced’ EDI

At this stage you need to determine if you have the internal capabilities and resources to successfully implement your own EDI department or do you outsource your EDI requirements to a 3^rd party EDI provider. A 3^rd party EDI provider will act as your own EDI department and will take away the hassle, constraints and complexities of using EDI with many trading partners. However, if your organization is very large and you have a large IT department there may be advantages to operating your EDI needs inhouse.

If you would like further information on how B2BGateway’s fully outsourced EDI solutions can help your organization achieve successful EDI implementation please call +1 (401) 491 9595 or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net 

Webinar: NetSuite EDI 101

When: Wednesday, January 15, 2014 Time: 10am PST / 1pm EST Register here As a 'Built for NetSuite' certified solution, B2BGateway would like to share our expertise about what EDI is and how it works, typical EDI data flows, how we meet the needs of the NetSuite EDI user and how much money using our services will save you.  Additionally, we'll have a 'questions and answers' segment at the end for any specific question that might not have been covered in the webinar. Please click the link below to register for the NetSuite EDI 101 webinar and we hope to see you soon!

Roger Leyden Director of Global Business Development B2BGateway

Integrate your Omni-Channel Logistics with cloud based EDI solutions from B2BGateway.

 

To fulfill goods and services for the ever increasing world of Omni-Channel Retail, suppliers have to create excellence in their Omni-Channel Logistics operations. Omni-Channel Retailing is best described by Wikipedia as the evolution of multi-channel retailing, but is concentrated more on a seamless approach to the consumer experience through all available shopping channels, i.e. mobile internet devices, computers, bricks-and-mortar, television, radio, direct mail, catalog and so on. Retailers are meeting the new customer demands by deploying specialized supply chain strategies and software solutions.

The major challenge for suppliers, in order to meet the retailers’ new omni-channel needs, is to get their goods and services to the correct channel as quickly and as accurately as possible and, needless to say,  in the most cost effective manner.

In order to help suppliers achieve excellence in Omni-Channel Logistics, B2BGateway has developed full end to end seamless connectivity between the supplier and all parties in the supply chain from box store retailers (Wal-Mart, Target, CVS, etc.) to online retailers (Amazon, Buy.com, etc.), to manufacturers, third party logistics providers (3PL) and even the suppliers own online shopping carts (which may be powered by online platform providers such as 3dcart, Volusion, Magento, etc.).

 

Through specially developed, cloud based EDI software, B2BGateway’s Omni-Channel Logistics solution fully integrates the suppliers ERP software with all parties in the supply chain, thus allowing fully automated and seamless connectivity for the exchange of all business documentation needed such as Purchase Orders (EDI 850), Invoices (EDI 810), Inventory Updates (EDI 846), Warehouse Shipping Orders (EDI 940), Advanced Shipping Notices (EDI 856) and so forth.

  

As there is full automation and no need to re-key data, the supplier benefits greatly from increased speed, increased accuracy, greater visibility and reduced labor overheads.

 

If you would like to learn more about B2BGateway’s fully integrated Omni-Channel Logistics solution please call +1 401-491-9595 or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net  



 

How to use B2BGateway EDI solutions to fulfill your orders when using NetSuite and a 3PL



It is important to understand the flow of documents when working with EDI. This sequence will show you how to work with a 3PL or Third Party Logistics provider and NetSuite when integrating with a box store retailer such as Walmart. This is a typical EDI transaction where the NetSuite user uses a 3PL to store and ship goods. 

 

 



(1) A Purchase Order (850) is sent from Trading Partner to NetSuite user and is imported into NetSuite as a Sales Order (850).
(2) The Sales Order is pulled from NetSuite based on pre-determined criteria and sent as a Warehouse Ship Order (940) to the 3PL.
(3) The 3PL returns a Warehouse Ship Advice (945) which B2BGateway sends to the TP (if required) as an Advance Ship Notice (856) and also fulfills the sales order in NetSuite.
(4) The NetSuite user creates an Invoice (810) in NetSuite and based on the query rules established it will be pulled by B2BGateway and sent to the TP as an Invoice (810).

To learn more about B2BGateways fully integrated EDI solutions for NetSuite and 3PL's , please visit us online at www.B2BGateway.Net, email Sales@B2BGateway.Net or call 401-401-9595 extension 5.               

Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and EDI

A warehouse management system (WMS) is a software application that supports the day-to-day operations in a warehouse and is a key part of the modern supply chain process. WMS programs enable centralized management of tasks such as tracking inventory levels, receiving, picking, put-away and identifying stock locations.

 
A WMS monitors the progress of products through the warehouse. It involves the physical warehouse infrastructure, tracking systems, and communication between product stations. More precisely, warehouse management involves the receipt, storage and movement of goods to distribution centers or to a final customer. In today’s modern world, organizations may use multiple levels of warehouses. These may include a central warehouse, regional warehouses (serviced by the central warehouse) and potentially retail warehouses (serviced by the regional warehouses).
 
Early warehouse management systems could only provide simple storage location functionality. Current WMS applications can be so complex and data intensive that they require a dedicated staff to run them. High-end systems may include tracking and routing technologies such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and voice recognition.
 
No matter how simple or complex the application is, the goal of a warehouse management system remains the same -- to provide management with the information it needs to efficiently control the movement of materials within a warehouse.
 
WMS systems may be standalone applications or modules of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.  B2BGateway offers clients fully integrated, cloud based EDI solutions to link their WMS with their ERP or Accounting Software solution. This automates the flow of data between systems and removes the need to re-key data.  This in turn gives the client greater accuracy, reduces charge backs and saves both time and money.
 
To learn more about B2BGateways fully integrated EDI solutions for WMS call +1-401-491-9595 or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net 

Logistics Pooling

At the recent ECR Ireland Supply Chain Summit in Dublin, two themes for the supply chain future prevailed: Sustainability and Logistics Pooling. In this short blog I am going to concentrate on Logistics Pooling – what is it and what are its advantages?

 
Logistics Pooling has been defined by Jesus Gonzalez-Feliu as the common usage of logistics resources: material (vehicles, platforms), human (drivers, land operators) and immaterial (software tools, information) between organizations. It consists of a semi-closed group of collaborators who share vehicles and platforms to reduce their logistics costs and the environmental nuisances related to last mile distribution in urban dense zones. 
 
Quite simply it is the sharing of transportation resources to get goods to the same distribution centre by making best use of space available (i.e. sending one full truck with multiple organizations goods on board, rather than sending many half empty trucks for each organization).
 
Logistics Pooling offers the following advantages to suppliers and manufacturers:

·         Ability to meet demands of retailers who want smaller volumes to be delivered more often(greater freshness of product, reduced inventory levels, etc.).
·         Ability to reduce transportation costs.
·         Environmental awareness and sustainability by reducing CO2 emissions.
 
For further information on automating your supply chain processes and making the best use of supply chain logistics please contact our sales team today on 401-491-9595 or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net