Catalog Load

When offered, this "extra" option populates the application's catalog data for the vendor using the Vendor EDI transaction available from the Purchasing area. The content of any catalog data will vary for each vendor provider. Catalog information can be accessed via the Catalog Inquiry or Catalog Maintenance options and certain catalog information is also displayed in some application folders. Once loaded, EDI file maintenance or other operations generally keep this information up-to-date. Some aspects, such as warehouse quantities (when applicable), may be done more frequently and as independent operations.

Catalog data is sometimes only available if you request it. For some vendors, their catalog data contains dealer-specific pricing. In these cases, the catalog data is usually only queued by the vendor upon request and may involve the download and processing of multiple files. In others, catalog data may always be available. If you try to download catalog data and there is nothing to retrieve, your vendor probably needs to be contacted first.

Before beginning, catalog processing may take several minutes or longer (depending upon your connection and the quantity of data, number of files to process). You will not be able to use the application during processing.

To begin, you may have to select an EDI Interface and Vendor. If your branch only has one EDI Interface enabled and one vendor assigned to that wholesaler ID, these will be automatically populated for you.

Next, choose (select) the "Extras" radio button. A drop down style control will appear. Select "Catalog Load" from the list of selections.

Choose Retrieve (F5) to begin processing.

Processing can vary by vendor; however, you will typically receive one or more dialogs requiring some type of response.

The first dialog asks whether or not you want to use scripting. What this essentially is asking is "Do you want us to try and retrieve a file for you?" If so, respond "OK" (yes) or if you've already retrieved a file and you'd like to browse to select that file to process instead, answer "no" by choosing the Cancel button.

The next dialog will ask if you want to purge the existing catalog for the vendor before loading new catalog data. Usually, you would answer "yes" to this prompt. This makes sure that any items that the vendor may have removed are cleared from the catalog.