EDI Translator: Overview

EDI Benefits/Features

Transmit purchase orders, picking/packing slips and invoices electronically to your customers and suppliers easily. Convert invoices from your suppliers into Accounts Payable vouchers, and purchase orders into quotations or sales orders without having to rekey them. The MXP Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) module provides these capabilities and more.

General

• Supports ANSI X.12 standards.
• Does not require the use of a third-party translator.
• Multi-company and Multi-division support.

Trading Partner Setup

• Unlimited number of trading partners.
• Trading partners can be used by all companies and divisions.
• Multiple trading partners can use the same interchange envelope partner.
• Generating and receiving options for EDI data is maintained by trading partner. Options for a particular transaction set are also controlled by trading partner.
• Control numbers are maintained by trading partner/transaction set combination.

Transaction Set Mapping

• Support for all versions and industry subsets of the ANSI X.12 standard is provided. Default transaction set mappings for all versions supported are also provided.
• Segment mapping can be done for all trading partners, or for a specific trading partner.
• You can define which database fields are to be used when generating EDI transaction sets, and can specify the field to use when assigning elements from incoming transaction sets.
• Qualifiers entered are validated against the EDI qualifier dictionary.
• An open-ended translation facility exists to convert data from incoming or outgoing transaction sets. This allows you to specify the "correct" EDI abbreviation for things such as unit of measure and currency codes. When processing incoming data, the translation feature allows you to determine the correct item number and/or customer number from the transaction set information provided.
• Segment information can be generated or processed for specific countries only.
• Formulas are used to specify the values to be placed in generated transaction sets, as well as allowing you to manipulate incoming EDI data before assigning it to a database field. The formula can be up to 240 characters, can refer to database files, fields, constants, other formulas, and PROGRESS functions such as IF THEN ELSE, MINIMUM and MAXIMUM.
• Transaction set map formulas can be pre-compiled (i.e. saved on disk) to speed up processing when generating and receiving EDI data.
• Utilities are provided to copy system transaction set mappings to trading partners, and to copy a trading partner's transaction set mappings to other trading partners.

Generating EDI Documents

• Generates all major outbound documents including outbound purchase orders (850), purchase order changes (860), purchase order acknowledgments (855), picking/packing slips (856) and invoices (810) for your trading partners to process.
• Handles all aspects of the outbound ASN (Advance Ship Notice) (856). See our ASN module for more information.
• Allows you to specify whether or not a particular document type (i.e. purchase orders, invoices, etc.), is to be sent via EDI by customer and/or vendor.
• Multiple customers and/or vendors can use the same trading partner. You can also specify that a particular trading partner is used when a given transaction set and/or entity code (i.e division) combination is used with the customer and/or vendor chosen.
• You can decide whether or not a document is to be sent via EDI, and the trading partner to use either when the document is being entered or after-the-fact.
• Documents to be sent via EDI are not printed on standard form when a document is printed. They can be printed on stock-tab if a paper copy is required.
• You can specify which version and industry subset of the ANSI X.12 standard to use for a particular trading partner and document type.
• The date and quantity/price format to use for generated EDI documents by trading partner can be specified.
• EDI data can be generated for a range of interchange envelope partners.
• Details of when the EDI document was generated, the user and terminal that generated the data, and the control numbers used are kept on file.
• A batch number is assigned to EDI documents when they are generated. This allows you to easily retransmit a large number of documents in the event of a system crash or communications failure.

Receiving EDI Documents

• Processes all major inbound documents including  purchase orders (850), invoices (810), and text messages (864).
• Supports all versions and industry subsets of the ANSI X.12 standard.
• Incoming transaction sets can be loaded into the system before they are processed. Once loaded into the system, transaction sets can be edited, so that additional information can be entered, or transmission errors can be corrected. Transaction sets loaded in the system can also be printed, allowing for "Rip and Read" processing of transaction sets.
• An incoming purchase order can be converted into a quotation or a sales order.
• Incoming transaction sets can be prevented from being processed for a particular trading partner.
• You can define the database field and array element that a particular data element is assigned to, as well as whether or not the data element is appended to the database field, or overwrites it.
• A data element can be assigned to more than one database field.
• Incoming data elements can be manipulated using a formula before being assigned to a database field. The incoming formula allows you to extract text from a data element, as well as append the contents of data elements from the segment being processed and/or from data elements already assigned to database fields. This allows you, for example, to map an incoming trading partner's store numbers and location codes to your customer numbers, by simply adding a "prefix" to the store number or location code.
• Incoming data elements can be "translated" before being assigned to a database field. This allows you to map incoming customer and item numbers to the "correct" system values.
• The date format of incoming date fields can be specified.
• If a database field is not assigned a value, default values will be assigned to it.
• When processing incoming purchase orders, the system creates multiple orders if multiple shipping destinations are specified. It also allows you to check incoming prices against system prices, and checks to see if the customer P/O number being processed is used by other orders in the system.
• A "simulation" mode is provided when processing incoming EDI documents. This allows you to verify incoming transaction sets before actually creating documents in the system.
• If an incoming transaction set cannot be successfully converted into a system document, it is automatically saved in the system where it can be reviewed and edited before attempting to process it again. You can also put the stored transaction set "on hold", which will prevent it from being processed until you release it.
• Incoming transaction sets are automatically backed up on disk as a safety precaution, once they are processed.

Acknowledgments

• Outgoing acknowledgments are generated immediately when incoming transaction sets are processed.
• You can specify whether or not acknowledgments are to be sent for a particular trading partner.
• All versions and industry subsets of the ANSI X.12 standard are supported. A generated acknowledgment uses the same version and industry subset as the incoming transaction set it is based on.
• Outgoing acknowledgments can be reviewed at any time.
• The ability to regenerate outgoing acknowledgments is provided. Details of when the acknowledgment was generated, along with the user and terminal that generated the acknowledgment are kept on file.
• A batch number is assigned to outgoing EDI acknowledgments when they are generated. This allows you to easily retransmit a large number of acknowledgments in the event of a system crash or communications failure.
• Incoming acknowledgments will update the EDI document record automatically to indicate that the trading partner has acknowledged your outgoing documents. The system can also keep track of documents that have been acknowledged even when the trading partner only acknowledges documents at the functional group level.

Miscellaneous

• Incoming and outgoing documents can be processed in batch for multiple companies and divisions.
• Backed up transaction sets can be easily restored without having to exit to the operating system.
• EDI standards information can be easily loaded in, and updated as often as necessary.