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EDI
EDI Overview
The EDI module that allows you to receive customer orders and send out customer invoices via EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). The programs in this module were originally designed to work with the CanDo EDI software from Technology Management Programs (TMP), a value added network (VAN) company that will set up connections with your EDI business partners and guide you through the EDI implementation process. However, you can also work with any other EDI provider but you need to have any incoming orders converted to a format that matches the DBASO.IN file that the ED-B program can read. A data map is available at http://www.istechsupport.com/dl/edimap.zip.
NOTE: Due to the nature of EDI in which requirements can vary greatly from business partner to business partner, it is not possible to offer an EDI module that meets every company's exact requirements. Some customization may be required by third party programmers to make EDI work for your company. The EDI module serves as a good foundation for most EDI requirements that even with custom programming included is far less costly than starting from scratch with a completely customized solution.
Setting up EDI
Go into ED-G Master EDI Set-up and first enter a path to where your CanDo EDI software is located. If you are not using CanDoEDI, then create a folder and save a text file named CANDOEDI.EXE into that folder and use that folder as the path. Create a Transfer subfolder under the folder containing CANDOEDI.EXE.
Your Company ID Number is normally your 9 digit Dun's number, but it can be any number. The Next EDI Import Number is just a counter that keeps track of each import file -- you can give it a starting number of 1.
Now you need to set up each customer with whom you will be using EDI. Go into ED-F Enter Customer EDI Info and enter a Customer ID Number (which is normally a 9 digit Dun's number, but it can be any number). Set the Activate EDI field to Y. The Effective Date provides the system with a cut-off date ?any invoices produced for sales orders entered on this date or beyond will automatically be processed for EDI transmittal.
If you are not using CanDo EDI you do not need to set up the Customer ID to process incoming orders but you will need to enter the customer and an activation date on this screen to have invoice data transfer to the DBASO.OUT file for transmittal to the customer.
Receiving EDI Sales Orders
At this point you can begin receiving EDI orders. You may use the CanDo EDI software (ED-A) to do this. Refer to its documentation for instructions on importing orders and how to review them from within the CanDo EDI software.
Within the CanDo EDI software there is an "extract" program that you will run that creates an ASCII file that will be used to bring the data into the system. After running the "extract" program or whatever other program you may have developed (if you are not using CanDo EDI) to create the DBASO.IN file, run ED-B Import EDI Orders, which imports any orders that have not yet been imported. At this point the orders are in a temporary file rather than in the sales order file.
Next, run ED-H Error Report to verify the incoming data. If any errors need to be corrected, run ED-C Edit EDI Orders, which is a program virtually identical to SO-A, Enter Sales Orders. With this program you can edit orders if any changes or additions are required. Once the order has been reviewed and edited to your satisfaction, you can save it and convert it immediately to a sales order, or at a later time you can run ED-D Convert EDI Orders to Sales Orders.
This completes the process of getting the EDI order into the sales order system.
Sending EDI Invoices
Once an EDI customer's sales order gets invoiced and posted, you can run ED-E Export Invoices to create the necessary export file that will be used by the CanDo EDI software (ED-A) to send the invoice to your customer. Check the CanDo EDI software for instructions as to how to transmit these invoices.