When a large retailer asks you to trade by EDI, you are being asked to exchange standard business documents by computer instead of by email or portal. The requirements are strict, and mistakes are deducted from payment.
The document flow
- 850 Purchase Order: the retailer's order, arriving in your system.
- 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgment: your confirmation of what you will ship.
- 856 Advance Ship Notice (ASN): sent when the shipment leaves, listing exactly what is in which carton and pallet.
- 810 Invoice: sent after shipment, matching the order and the ASN.
- 997 Functional Acknowledgment: each side confirms receipt of a document.
Some partners add 846 inventory advice, 860 order changes or 214 shipment status.
How you connect
- Through an EDI provider or value-added network (VAN), which routes documents between you and each partner.
- Directly over AS2 or SFTP, if the partner allows it. This suits a few partners and a team that can support the connection.
Labels and routing guides
Retailers publish a routing guide that specifies pallet and carton labels, usually GS1-128 with an SSCC, carrier rules and delivery windows. The label barcode must match the ASN.
Why deductions happen
- The ASN did not match what was on the truck.
- The invoice price or quantity differed from the order.
- The label was wrong or unreadable.
- The shipment or the ASN was late.
Partner testing
Each partner has its own specification and its own test process. Plan time to exchange test documents, correct mappings and get approval before going live. The second partner is faster if the first was built as a template.
Checks that prevent deductions
- Compare the PO, the ASN and the invoice before any of them is sent.
- Generate the ASN from the confirmed pick, not from the order.
- Print labels from the same data as the ASN.
- Send an alert on any mismatch, to a named person.