EDI for MS Dynamics GP, AX, SL and NAV

One Comprehensive EDI Integration Solution

ePortal provides one solution for the exchange of business data by managing connectivity, data transformation, storage, and EDI compliancy functions, relieving your organization of the need to purchase and maintain multiple components.

ePortal with eBridge Integration Solution

With an eBridge EDI Integration Solution working in conjunction with ePortal, Microsoft Dynamics is connected to your EDI document exchange process to streamline the e-commerce flow. An eBridge EDI Integration Solution eliminates manual and duplicate data entry to prevent costly errors and save your company time and money. Data from inbound EDI documents, such as orders, are automatically moved and integrated to Microsoft Dynamics. In turn, this accurate information is then used to automatically create outbound EDI documents, such as ASNs and invoices.

Benefits of Integration

• Eliminate manual data entry

• Prevent costly errors

• Allow more efficient use of staff

• Timely processing of documents

• Minimize chargebacks

• Faster order-delivery-payment cycle

• Faster access to information

• More efficient shipping, receiving and cargo tracking.

In addition, the Integration Solution creates historical transaction records of all inbound and outbound transactions, providing an auditable record track that is compliant with more stringent government regulations. The flexible and soft-coded XML technology employed by the ePortal supports numerous EDI formats (ANSI X12, EDIFACT, TRADACOMMS, etc.), thereby resulting in an independent and flexible Integration Solution that effectively integrates with the financial system while meeting a company’s unique internal business process.

ePortal negates the need to install and maintain on- premise communication and translator software, as it handles communication responsibilities through the established and secure channel with the Trading Partner (VAN, AS2, etc.) along with EDI compliancy and acknowledgement functions. E-mail notifications are sent upon acceptance of documents or when an outbound document has not been acknowledged within a specified time. ePortal stores documents that have not passed EDI compliancy checking. The non-compliant error(s) for these documents can be viewed to enable the document to be corrected “on-the-fly” using web forms, and then reprocessed. Archiving of documents is also offered with ePortal, providing less clutter on the screen and allowing for easier navigation.

Benefits of ePortal

• Platform for document exchange and tracking

• Unlimited transactions with no transaction fees

• Low annual subscription fee per trading partner

• Connectivity, compliancy, acknowledgement, data transformation, document routing

• View and print documents in user-friendly or raw formats

• Web forms for data entry and “on-the-fly” corrections/modifications

• Reprocessing capability

• Upgrades to new EDI versions automatically reflected in maps

• Large volume document storage

• Storage and viewing of non-compliant business documents

• E-mail notification of received documents

• E-mail notification of unacknowledged outbound documents

New eBridge Software Website

Our marketing team has been working hard over the last few months and revamped the eBridge Software website. The new look is easier to navigate and has tons of new features like videos, a knowledge base and our new corporate blog. 

Be sure to check out the new pages for EDI, CRM and Webstore integration for MS Dynamics GP and MS Dynamics SL.

Make sure you check it out!

Jay

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

Trading Partner Series: EDI Integration for Costco with MS Dynamics GP and SL

Costco Wholesale is a chain of retail warehouses that operate internationally with 53 million members spread across 5 million businesses. In order to open up your products to their clientele you will need to meet the following EDI requirements:

810 Invoice

820 Payment Order/Remittance Advice

824 Application Advice

850 Purchase Order

860 Purchase Order Change/Cancel

864 Text Message

875 Grocery Purchase Order

880 Grocery Invoice

997 Acknowledgment Document

Here is some info on a few of the EDI documents that are new to the series. An EDI 820 document advises the payee of the details of the payment including any adjustments that have been made. The EDI 860 informs the vendor of any changes / cancellations that need to be made a purchase order by the customer. The EDI 875 is a purchase order for grocery products and the 880 is the accompanying invoice.

eBRIDGE Software has successfully supplied both integrated and non integrated EDI solutions for both Costco Wholesale and Costco Wholesale Canada. We have helped many small and medium sized businesses become EDI compliant. If you are looking for an EDI solution for Costco then give us a call. We can help you out by providing you with 15 years of knowledge and experience when it comes to EDI and how it actually reduces costs and increases productivity and sales!

Trading Partner Series: EDI Integration for Bed Bath and Beyond with MS Dynamics GP and SL

Bed Bath and Beyond was started back in 1971. BBB focuses on selling domestic merchandise and home furnishings. With over 800 stores BBB has quite a large footprint in the retail market. Below are the documents that BBB trades with their vendors via EDI. For information on their implementation guides you can go to the Bed Bath and Beyond Vendor Support Site.

850 - Purchase Order
816 - Organizational Relationships
860 – Purchase Order Change
864 - Text Message
810 - Invoice
856 - Advance Ship Notice
UCC 128 Shipping Label

The two documents above that have not been covered in the previous editions of the trading partner series are the 816 and 864. The 816 (organizational relationships) provides the address of all the locations that you may need to bill or ship to along with the code that both BBB and you will use to reference these locations on a PO, invoice or ASN. The 864 is a text message. This document will provide you just basic information about the stores like the holidays they are closed.

eBRIDGE Software has helped many client become EDI compliant with Bed Bath and Beyond. We have mapped and tested against their EDI specs to ensure that all situations are covered. If you are currently dealing with Bed Bath and Beyond and looking for an EDI solution (web forms or integrated) then give me a call and I can explain eBRIDGE Software’s EDI solution for Bed Bath and Beyond.

Thanks,
Jay

Trading Partner Series: EDI Integration for Walmart with MS Dynamics GP and SL

Walmart is one of the largest retailers in the world so it is pretty obvious that Walmart would implement an EDI system to handle the amount of orders they make on a daily basis. If your compnay is interested in transacting via EDI with Walmart, make sure that you are compliant on the following transactions:

850 – Purchase Order
856 – Advance Ship Notice (ASN)
810 – Invoice

Walmart also requires that a UCC-128 label is affixed to each carton that goes out on a shipment. By scanning the barcode on the label Walmart knows what items and the quantities that are included in the box. They will in then match that information with the information provided on the ASN. It is very important that your company has a reliable system in place to handle the 856 (ASN) and the UCC-128 labels. Any errors or delays in providing the information on time will result in chargebacks to your company.

If you are looking for a solution that can stand up to Walmart’s EDI requirements then give me a call or head to the eBRIDGE website to see eBRIDGE’s Walmart EDI solution.

Trading Partner Series: EDI Integration for GHX with MS Dynamics GP and SL

GHX was created in 2000. Their goal is to standardize the way that the heath care industry transacts by managing the transactions and data format for all their partners. A single connection to GHX gives you the ability to send electronic documents to over 3,600 hospitals and suppliers. GHX requires the following base EDI transactions if you are a supplier that is joining GHX.

850 – Purchase order

855 – Purchase order acknowledgement

856 – Advance ship notice

810 – Invoice

With GHX, you will go through an extensive testing process where they will validate several best and worst case scenarios. This testing process is a little more thorough than most trading partners, but the benefit is that you will not have to retest the documents when adding a new partner though GHX.

Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions in regards to integrating GHX EDI with MS Dynamics GP or SL. Also if you are interested in more information on GHX, feel free to email me and I will pass you along my contact’s information.

Cheers,

Jay

905-635-3328

jisaak@ebridgesoft.com

3PL EDI Integration for Microsoft Dynamics GP / SL

A lot of companies utilize a third party logistics company (3PL) to manage their warehouse, inventory and shipping. Outsourcing your warehouse through a 3PL is a great way to allow your company to focus on its core business while leaving the logistics to the experts.

A 3PL does cause somewhat of a paperwork nightmare. Orders, inventory levels and shipment details all need to be sent back and forth between the logistics firm and their client. An EDI integration solution can alleviate all the headaches and stress of manually entering data and email and faxing information back and forth. Information is extracted from your MS Dynamics system, converted to EDI and then sent directly to your 3PL. The return documents are then picked up by eBRIDGE and integrated into your ERP. Here are examples of some of the documents that are sent via EDI between a 3PL and its client:

• 940 Warehouse Shipping Order
• 945 Warehouse Shipping Advice
• 944 Warehouse Stock Transfer Receipt Advice
• 846 Stock Status
• 947 Inventory Adjustment

A 3PL EDI Integration Solution by eBRIDGE Software is available for MS Dynamics GP and MS Dynamics SL.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Cheers,
Jay

EDI Integration for MS Dynamics GP

I get a lot of questions about our ePortal offering and the features and benefits that it provides for MS Dynamics GP 10 EDI integration so I thought this would be a good time to explain the solution and what it can do for your company.

The ePortal solution from eBRIDGE Software is a web based product that eliminates the need to manage and maintain the software that is required for EDI. With the ePortal you receive the benefits of having a translator and mapper without the headaches.

ePortal not only takes care of the software that is required for EDI but it allows removes the need for 3rd party communications. ePortal has the ability to connect to any trading partner using the method that is requested by that trading partner. All communication methods are supported, whether the trading partner requires AS2, FTP or VAN communication.

When dealing in the EDI world, communications are always followed by charges to use those forms of communication. ePortal gets rid of all transaction fees, kilo-character charges and interconnect costs while allowing clients to send unlimited transactions for a low annual fee. That annual fee not only includes transactions but it also includes unlimited data storage.

Through ePortal documents can be viewed and printed at anytime from any PC in the world that has internet and web browser access. Not only does logging into ePortal give you the ability to print documents that you receive but it allows provides web forms that allow you to manually create outbound invoices, advance ship notices and purchase orders. The web forms are provided as a back up solution in case of technical issues with MS Dynamics GP.

eBridge for MS Dynamics GP 10 is a client application that handles the import and export of the EDI documents to and from MS Dynamics GP 10. eBridge is scheduled to monitor ePortal for new EDI documents and, when received, the documents will be transmitted via secure FTP and integrated into MS Dynamics GP 10.

The adapter for MS Dynamics GP 10 follows the same business rules and logic that is included in MS Dynamics GP 10. For example, the adapter will verify customers exist, customer balances and terms, products and pricing. Once a document has been imported into MS Dynamics GP a log file will be emailed stating what occurred.

The bridge will also be scheduled to monitor MS Dynamics GP 10 for any new invoices or purchase order acknowledgements and send the documents to ePortal to be sent off to the trading partner.

Features Snapshot
· Unlimited transactions
· No transaction fees or kilo-character charges
· Includes all map edits and changes by the trading partner
· Hosted EDI software (document mapper and translator)
· Includes all communication methods (AS2, VAN, FTP, SFTP, ETC)
· Unlimited data storage
· Web forms for creating and sending outbound EDI documents when needed