Using the Private Supply Network for EDI Transmissions
The Private Supply Network (PSN) is ECI's own Private Value-Added Network product that receives, stores, and transmits EDI messages both securely and efficiently. The Private Supply Network offers services beyond basic data transmission, such as message tracking, error detection, and data translation. The on-boarding process is more streamlined and simplified, which reduces the time and effort required to establish new Vendor EDI connections. Your business will now have a centralized and scalable system to manage EDI communications as well as provide better support for issues typically associated with EDI connections. We have updated the PSN with the data required for all customers to use this process as your vendors come online. Support can set up the PSN for you as described here.
The first implementation of this Private Supply Network (PSN) technology is for retrieving and updating your database with the Ace Hotsheets, promotions, and purchase order updates, but we will be migrating our EDI vendor processes to this platform over time. After you set the PSN infrastructure up, the data retrieval process will work as it did before, but you will have more retrieval options, they will be more efficient, and there will be new features in place to prevent errors, which we will discuss below.
Using the PSN Endpoint
We have updated the application’s EDI processes to download ACE Hotsheets using the PSN endpoint and we will continue to add new endpoints until we can support all vendor EDI processes using this platform. Hotsheets contain the changes in item pricing that are built over the course of a single day, so each day, ACE builds a new hotsheet containing that day’s changes. To ensure you receive a full day of these changes, this endpoint provides access to the previous day’s hotsheet only.
We have added a new Date field to the Vendor EDI Communications form for ACE Hotsheet and Purchase Order Update transmission requests. This field lets you specify the date the hotsheet or invoice was generated.
The Date field defaults to the previous date. The application ensures the transmission accounts for any server offset hours that may apply to the transmission request.
Note: You cannot retrieve data for the current date because the vendor can add new information all day; making a request before the day ends could result in an incomplete list of updates.
For invoices, we have added an Invoice Action Flag to ensure that you do not download the same invoice twice. However, if you request it, you may download the same Hotsheet twice.
Retrieving and Transmitting Data using the PSN Process
After you enable the PSN parameter settings and the branch and vendor settings are complete, you can send and retrieve vendor information using largely the same process as before. For the PSN-based transmissions, we have added a Date field to allow you to specify the date for these EDI requests. When you select a date in this field, the vendor sends the records you requested for the previous day.
Note: If the vendor sent you the current day’s records, any records that change after the time you send the request would not reach you; therefore, they send the complete records for the previous day.
It may be possible to retrieve data from another day. Contact your vendor’s customer services team to see if they can respool your data so you can download it again.
This is an example for using the PSN process to retrieve data from a vendor.
To retrieve ACE Hotsheets and Promotions using the PSN process:
1. From the Main Menu, choose Purchasing and from the Left Menu choose Vendor EDI. The Vendor EDI Communications form displays.
2. From the EDI Interface list, choose the vendor’s name, in this case, ACE.
3. From the Vendor list, choose the vendor’s vendor ID, in this case, ACE.
4. Choose the Hotsheets button in the list.
5. In the Date field, leave the previous date selected.
6. Select the Include Items With No Price Change check box if you want to include all items or leave this check box blank to retrieve items with price changes only.
Vendor EDI Communications with ACE PSN Entries
7. Choose the Retrieve (F5) key. The Retrieve File confirmation message displays:
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Scripting is enabled, meaning the software may connect externally to your vendor when you press OK. Press OK to Continue Retrieving.
8. Choose OK to continue. The Open box displays.
9. In the Open box, choose a folder for the new file and enter a file name in the Filename field. Then, choose Open. The application retrieves the hotsheets and promotions that are available.
The application retrieves the file(s) you requested and saves it/them to the folder you specified. A confirmation message displays when the retrieval process is complete. The application also reports if the retrieved file(s) contain(s) no new data.
Importing/Processing Purchase Order Invoices using PSN
PSN also allows you to import and process purchase order invoices as you did before. This process assumes you have set up the Branch EDI settings for the vendor as discussed above. The results of this process are the same, they just use a different endpoint. Currently, this process is supported for ACE Purchase Orders, but eventually, you will use this process to retrieve all vendors purchase orders.
To retrieve purchase order updates and create invoices:
1. From the Main Menu, choose Purchasing and from the Left Menu choose Vendor EDI. The Vendor EDI Communications form displays.
2. From the EDI Interface list, choose the vendor’s name, in this case, ACE.
3. From the Vendor list, choose the vendor’s vendor ID, in this case, ACE.
4. Choose the Purchase Order Update button in the list. The Date field displays the current date.
5. From the Date list, choose the invoice date of the purchase orders you want to retrieve.
6. Choose the Retrieve (F5) key. The Retrieve File confirmation message displays:
- Scripting is enabled, meaning the software may connect externally to your vendor when you press OK. Press OK to Continue Retrieving.
7. Choose OK to continue. The Open box displays. The application updates the data grid with the invoice(s) you requested, when they are available.
8. In the Doc ID column of the data grid entry, click the down arrow and choose New to create a new invoice document for the downloaded purchase order. Complete this step for each entry in the data grid.
9. Choose Process (F12) to create the invoice documents.
After you complete this step, you can receive the purchase order(s) in receipts.
10. From the Main Menu, choose Purchasing and from the Left Menu choose Receipts. The Inventory Receiving form displays.
11. From the Vendor list, choose the ACE vendor ID.
12. Choose the Receiving (F5) key to display the context list.
13. Choose Purchase Order. The PO Purchase Orders box displays.
14. From the PO# list, choose the new purchase order (invoice) you just imported and click Accept. The Inventory Receiving data grid updates to show the item associated with the purchase order invoice.
15. Choose Process (F12). The Process Session Document box displays.
16. Choose Finish (F12) to complete the document import process.