Blish-Mize - Setup

Once EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) has been enabled by ECI Support or Implementation personnel for Blish-Mize (from Parameters), the next step is to configure the EDI settings for communication with the vendor. These settings are typically completed by support personnel; however, someone at your company may have to supply some of the information required. Setup is done from the Branch Setup maintenance form which is accessed from the Maintenance area's Database menu. Additional settings are provided by the Mapping Overrides and Automation options available from the menu marker icon's () context menu.

Account Number

The branch location's (store) account number.

Login

The user name for on-line access.

Password

This the member's password for on-line access to the vendors EDI web service/system. This would be provided by the vendor.

Warehouse Code

Not applicable.

Template Item

A template item is used when updating a purchase order with receiving data and an item in the data received is not located in the item database. The template's item settings are used for any settings or information that are not provided in the data so that the application can add the item to the Item database. This item is also used when adding new inventory items using Catalog data for the EDI vendor. You can name this item whatever you prefer. It's best to assign the item to its own group and section so that newly added items are easy to locate and make changes to. Generally, the template item is assigned to a primary vendor matching the EDI vendor code.

Base Pathname

This directory (folder) is a physical path on the local computer or a mapped drive and is important for many EDI functions. If a directory is specified that does not exist, the application will prompt the user when necessary to add it; however, this only applies to processing that is user initiated and not those that are automated.

For locally installed (not hosted) applications, the path name is a directory on the user's local computer or a mapped drive to a network share directory (on the server or another computer). This would usually only be done if EDI was being processed from different locations (computers) and you wanted to have all of the data files kept in the same location. Directory names can vary from our examples.

An additional directory, indicating the branch location, should be used any time the company has more than one location using the same EDI option; otherwise, there is a possibility that operations will conflict with each other causing another user's data to be overwritten.

C:\WSTieIn\{EDIName}\1000

For our cloud hosted systems, the path should be a UNC path name to a shared directory (folder) on the hosted servers. In some cases, it is instead a mapped drive that is automatically added when the user connects to the hosted environment. The UNC path will vary for each customer and point to their specific share directory (see below for an example).

\\server-name\SHARE\SharedFolders\ANYSupplyCo\EDI\{EDIName}\1000

 

When using a physical drive path, the letter of the drive may vary, but is usually either "R" or "S." It's best if letters for user's mapped drives do not conflict with any physical drive found on the server. For example, for servers where a physical drive of "R" exists, it's best to map the "local" drive to another letter. Both the drive letter, and path name, will be set for cloud hosted customers (this only applies to companies hosted by ECi Software Solutions, Inc.). An example is provided below:

R:\EDI\{EDIName}\1000

Some EDI operations run automatically and are initiated by services running on the server. In these cases, a physical path cannot be used (and the "mapped" drive won't exist). For this reason, there is a "services base path name" override found in the Automation dialog available from the context menu on the EDI tab of the Branch Setup form (Main Menu > Maintenance > Database > Branches). The services base path name resolves to the same location but is the UNC path name to that location.

Send Program

The "send" program refers to a script, application, or method used for transmitting data from your company to the vendor. In the case of Blish-Mize, we use a "direct" code-based method, not a script. This should be set to "DIRECT" as shown in the image at the beginning (top) of this topic.

Receive (Recv) Program

The "recv" program refers to a script, application, or method used for retrieving data from the vendor. In the case of Blish-Mize, we use a "direct" code-based method, not a script. This should be set to "DIRECT" as shown in the image at the beginning (top) of this topic.

Upload Directory (Dir)

Not Used.

Download Directory (Dir)

Not used.

Once settings changes are completed, choose Process (F12) to save the EDI settings for the branch. Repeat for any other branch locations as needed.