For your reading pleasure, we are reprinting our Thanksgiving blog. Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving from the Aurora EDI Alliance!
Picture appears courtesy of D.C. Atty. This week's blog was written Aurora team member Kim Zajehowski. Many of our clients ask: How can I track our customers’ product sales and on hand inventory? The answer is the EDI 852, also known as the Product Activity Data transaction. This document can be used to convey that very information to you directly from your customers. The 852 transaction is structured so the customers provide a report to you via EDI with inventory figures for week ending dates typically ending on Saturdays. The transmissions usually are generated by customers on Sunday-Tuesday for the previous week’s snapshot. Quantity Sold (QS), Quantity On Hand (QA), Quantity Returned (QU), Quantity on Order (QP), Quantity in Bonds (QF), and Quantity Inventory Adjustment per physical inventory (QT) are the standard quantities that you may see provided for by your customer. The two most used are the Quantity Sold and Quantity on Hand. The Quantity Returned or a negative Quantity Sold may have to be considered as reducing the overall Quantity Sold on a given product if provided.
Most people know that the Advance Ship Notice (ASN), known in EDI language as ANSI X12 856 and in EDIFACT circles as DESADV, is used to communicate details about a shipment to your trading partner. The ASN typically contains information about the shipment and order details - products shipped with the order, type of packaging and carrier information. The ASN is somewhat similar to a Bill of Lading (BOL), except that rather than accompanying a shipment like a paper BOL, the ASN is sent via EDI when the order is shipped. Timing is critical here as it must arrive before shipment does, which is why it’s called the Advance Ship Notice. And it must be accurate - missing data such as the BOL# and the Pro# can result in costly charge backs. The value of the ASN lies in the fact that when the receiving dock scans the GS1-128 bar code label on the carton, their system can access the previously received ASN to determine the carton contents, thereby saving time by not having to open the carton. Secondly, the ASN informs the receiving party of any difference between what was expected (from the PO) and what was actually shipped, helping the supply chain move along more accurately and efficiently.
Most of that is common knowledge. There are a few things though that can differentiate one 856 from another that are much less widely understood. The first is the difference between Standard Pack, Simple Pack, Pick & Pack and Tare Level. With a Standard Pack 856, the hierarchy goes from shipment to order to item to pack, in other words, only one type of item (UPC) is in a carton, but there may be more than one pack (carton) of those items. A Pick & Pack 856 is slightly different because the hierarchy goes from shipment to order to pack to item, meaning each pack (carton) can have several different item types (UPCs). Less common but another type we see occasionally is the Tare Level ASN. The Tare Level hierarchy goes from shipment to order to pallet (tare) to pack to item, so it's similar to a Pick & Pack with one extra level. Depending on the items being shipped, the Pack (Carton) level may not be required, which brings us to the Simple Pack, also known as the No Pack. This type of ASN has no pack level information and the hierarchy goes from shipment to order to item.
Photo appears courtesy of William Warby. I have a customer using a web-based EDI solution and they are just too big for it. They are currently weighing their options. But it got me thinking, how many organizations are out there using a solution that is really not working for them? Reasons why might include perceived complexity, cost concerns, integration limitations, and lack of technical staff. This article will focus on those four objections to making the move from web-based EDI to on-premise EDI software.
Welcome to our fourth blog article in the History series. So far we have discussed healthcare, logistics, and retail. The use of EDI in the financial industry encompasses quite a few sub-industries: education (student loans), banking, government and insurance to name a few. Furthermore, the globalization of our industries and commerce has forced us to rely on EDI in such a way that without it, our economies would simply collapse. The exchange of money between countries, companies and governments is 100% dependent on electronic data interchange - from payments, to currency conversions to taxes and everything in between.
Guest blogging for the Aurora EDI Alliance is Nathan Camp of Liaison Technologies. Photo courtesy of Alan Cleaver.
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