eBridge will be at Microsoft Convergence 2009 (Booth #125) in New Orleans

As many of you know eBridge Software will be attending the Microsoft Convergence 2009 trade show in New Orleans from March 10 - 13, 2009. Be sure to stop by Booth #125 to speak with myself or an eBridge representative to discuss your EDI, CRM, SCM or webstore integration needs.

Click here for more information on Convergence 2009 in New Orleans

If you have any comments or questions regarding the Convergence Show, please feel free to leave a comment. Also if you would like to book a meeting, just send me a quick email.

Cheers,

Jay

Trading Partner Series: EDI Integration for Winn-Dixie

As per request here are the EDI guidelines for Winn-Dixie. For those of you how may not be familiar, Winn-Dixie is a grocery chain based out of Jacksonville, Florida. Winn-Dixie is a little different then most retailers and publish anything and everything that has to do with their EDI requirements. They post their implementation guides, testing process and all application forms on the vendor area of the Winn-Dixie site. Below is a listing of the documents that Winn-Dixie transacts via EDI.

EDI 210 Freight Invoice

EDI 810 Invoice

EDI 820 Remittance Advise

EDI 824 Application Advice

EDI 850 Purchase Order

EDI 852 Item Activity (Warehouse)

EDI 852 Item Activity (POS)

EDI 855 PO Acknowledgment

EDI 875 Purchase Order

EDI 880 Invoice

In order to be compliant with Winn-Dixie they do have a minimum requirement of the only the EDI 850 Purchase Order and the EDI 810 Invoice. The best place to start when investigating EDI for Winn-Dixie would be the Winn-Dixie EDI Policy document. This document explains everything you will need to know about transacting via EDI with Winn-Dixie even including at what times of the day they will be sending and receiving documents. For help integrating Winn-Dixie EDI or just becoming EDI complaint with Winn-Dixie head over to the EDI section of our site and learn how eBRIDGE Software can help you build a stronger relationship with Winn-Dixie and your other trading partners.

Trading Partner Series: EDI Integration for Home Depot

Home Depot is one of the largest building supply chains in the world and by the list below they also have some large EDI requirements. If you go to Home Depot’s Supplier Center they list out all the EDI specifications and implementation guides to match Home Depot’s EDI requirements. Below I have listed the documents you may come across when trading with Home Depot:

EDI 204 - Load Tender
EDI 210 - Freight Invoice
EDI 214 - Shipment Status Invoice
EDI 315 - Ocean Shipment
EDI 810 - Invoice
EDI 812 - Debit / Credit Memo
EDI 816 - Store Listing
EDI 820 - Remittance Advice
EDI 850 - Purchase Order
EDI 852 - Point of Sale
EDI 856 - Advance Ship Notice
EDI 860 - Purchase Order Update
EDI 864 - Text Message
EDI 870 - Order Status Report
EDI 990 - Load tender Response
EDI 997 - Functional Acknowledgment


Looking at the list of documents the only ones on the list you may not understand and that have not been covered previously are the first 4: EDI 204 - Load Tender, EDI 210 - Freight Invoice, EDI 214 - Shipment Status Invoice and EDI 315 - Ocean Shipment. Odds are that you will not have to worry about these documents. These documents provide various details of shipments and are only exchanged between Home Depot and their Logistics partners.

When you formally sign with Home Depot, they will dictate which documents they would like to trade with you and you will need to communicate that information to your EDI provider and make sure it is a transaction set they have and support. This is a good time to explain the added value of eBRIDGE Software’s ePortal EDI Solution. Our Trading Partner Kits for ePortal provide you with all the documents that are required by a given trading partner. In the case of Home Depot, if they ask for only an 810 (Invoice) and 850 (Purchase Order) or they ask you for 10 different documents, the Home Depot Trading Partner Kit for ePortal will include them all.

For more information on our Home Depot Trading Partner kit or any other Trading Partner kit, feel free to leave a message here or contact me directly.

Thanks,
Jay

Ebridge Software Eportal Now Compatible With Blackberry Storm, Blackberry Bold And Apple Iphone

eBRIDGE Software, the leader in business software integration solutions for EDI, CRM, SCM and web store fronts, is pleased to announce that its web-based document management system ePortal has passed testing for compatibility with Apple’s iPhone and the Blackberry Storm and Bold mobile devices.

This compatibility will allow our eBridge customers to access their documents via their mobile devices anywhere, anytime. Blackberry and iPhone compatibility will provide users with a host of advantages including:

• Instantaneous review of non compliant documents: receive notification and immediately review and correct errors for non compliant EDI documents anywhere, anytime on your mobile device;
• Provide constant monitoring – continually monitor status of critical transactions with your mobile device while on the road or out of the office;
• Total control – remove the boundaries of the office; provide the ability to ensure the most important business transactions are smoothly sending and receiving to your trading partners anywhere, anytime.

Having the ePortal as a web-based software as a service (SaaS) solution enables eBridge to ensure a client can use the latest advances in mobile technology to access their mission critical business documents. “Extending the reach of integration as a service (IaaS) to the SME market is a critical component moving forward” explains Colin Brown, CEO at eBridge. “This enhancement of mobile functionality will allow our clients to leverage the software as a service model (SaaS) well beyond the capabilities of the traditional applications on the market today.”

About ePortal

The ePortal Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform has been proven a powerful business integration engine in the small to medium sized business (SMB) market, with its ease of use and short setup time required for vendors to implement. ePortal was designed with Web 2.0 architecture in mind and so, provides the ability to view inbound and outbound documents in a user-friendly format from any remote station that has access to the internet. Web-friendly interface forms are used to enter data for outbound documents, which are then sent to the trading partner in the required EDI format. Our ePortal software as a service solution uses flexible and soft-coded XML technology as well as support for numerous EDI formats (ANSI X12, EDIFACT, etc.), resulting in an independent and flexible Integration Solution that effectively integrates with your financial system while meeting your company’s unique internal business processes.

About eBRIDGE Software

eBRIDGE Software, founded in 1993, leads the small medium enterprise (SME) market in accounting software integration. Our powerful combination of Integration-as-a-Service (IaaS) ePortal—including over 250 predefined connectors, such as EDI, ecommerce, CRM, and warehouse management—and our eBRIDGE adapters for over 37 accounting packages, makes eBRIDGE Software the only last mile integration-as-a-service company to offer the widest range of integration possibilities in the market today. This complete and flexible integration solution streamlines your business processes, saving you time and money. For more information visit www.ebridgesoft.com an EDI | CRM | SCM and Web store front business software integration company.

For more information contact:
Marketing Coordinator
eBridge Software
Tel: 905.631.8333
E-mail: marketing ( @ ) ebridgesoft dot com

Trading Partner Series: EDI Integration for Target

If you manufacture or distribute consumer goods, then chances are you either deal with Target or you want to. And just like another other retail giant, Target prefers to use EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) to purchase goods from their vendors. Target’s EDI requirements are available by visiting Target’s Partners Online portal. This portal is used to communicate with partners and provide valuable information about the business. If you are going to be selling to Target, this is where you will find all the information you need to begin the process of setting up EDI with Target. Below is a list of the documents that are used most often with Target.

EDI 810 - Invoice

EDI 850 - Purchase order

EDI 855 - Purchase order acknowledgement

EDI 856 - Advance ship notice (ASN)

EDI 864 - Text message

EDI 875 - Grocery purchase order

EDI 880 - Grocery invoice

These documents are fairly straight forward and we have covered them in previous installments of this series so I am going to focus on something new this week - EDI communication methods. Target’s EDI specifications allow you to communicate with them via a two methods. They allow you to either communicate via AS2 (direct internet connection) or you have to go through a VAN network. Given the choice most companies will go done the route of AS2 communication. Most AS2 solutions will eliminate the transaction fees that a VAN network will bring to the table. There are some AS2 solutions out there that will still charge per document, fortunately eBRIDGE Software’s ePortal EDI Solution will allow you to connect to Target via AS2 or VAN without the kilo-character charges or transaction fees that may be associated with these methods. For more information on Target’s EDI requirements and our EDI solution for Target feel free to contact me with the information below.

Cheers,
Jay