EDI

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EDI

Introduction

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is a standard for electronic document exchange between customers and suppliers. In Bulgaria, it is also known as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Electronic Data Interchange is a data exchange with a predefined structure between suppliers/customers in a secure environment provided by an EDI supplier. In principle, the use of Electronic Data Interchange allows the exchange of over 40 commercial documents such as invoice, order, delivery confirmation, account statement, shipping order, payment documents, etc. In Bulgaria, only 5 documents are used, and they are:

 

Order;

Delivery Advice;

Confirmation of delivery;

Electronic invoice;

Invoice (purchase invoice).

 

All documents used in Bulgaria meet the requirements of local legislation.

EDI in Bulgaria

 

EDI in Bulgaria is mainly used by large retail chains and their suppliers. The users at the moment are:

 

Billa

Metro

Praktiker

Homemax

Fantastico

Pharmacor

 

There are expected changes to the list of users. Some of them force all their suppliers to use EDI.

Data exchange

 

The example describes a data exchange including four documents – order, delivery, delivery confirmation, electronic invoice.

 

Process participants:

 

Trading chain;

Provider of the retail chain;

EDI supplier.

 

The exchange of data itself takes place as follows:

 

1. The chain makes a purchase order (this document is delivered to the supplier of the chain as a sales order from the EDI provider);
2. The supplier prepares the goods ordered in sales order. Prepares a goods receipt note/ shipping note / and an electronic delivery document for delivery to the customer via the EDI provider;
3. The chain confirms delivery by sending a delivery confirmation document. If there are differences between the order and the delivery they must be reflected in the delivery confirmation document;
4. Once the supply has been confirmed by the chain, the supplier issues an invoice which sends via the EDI provider;

 

Benefits of using EDI

 

1. Costs for materials such as paper, consumables for printing are reduced.
2. Delivery errors are minimized, as well as the consequences from these errors.
3. Reduce the time and cost of inputting documents.
4. A common “language” for the exchange of data between EANCOM systems is used.
5. Delivery time shortens.
6. Sales of goods are increasing.
7. Stock availability is optimized.
8. Decrease / decrease of postal and courier costs.

 

EDI technology

 

All documents are exchanged in EANCOM format on the EDI network. They are exchanged through a system of interconnected servers in fully protected mode.

Each EDI participant uses the software to convert received documents from EANCOM <-> XML provided by the EDI provider.

 

The order described above in terms of the documents exchanged is:

 

1. The chain sends a purchase order to the EANCOM server. The same is obtained from the supplier of chain. This EANCOM is converted to XML by the EDI provider software and imported into the vendor’s system as a sales order;
2. The provider sends XML to the EDI server. This XML is converted to EANCOM and refers to the chain as a delivery note.
3. The chain sends EANCOM to the server, which is a confirmation of delivery. The EANCOM message is converted to XML and imported into the vendor’s system.
4. The supplier should issue an invoice. This invoice is sent as XML to the EDI software provider, converted to EANCOM and delivered to the chain.

 

 

 

Documents are sent / received automatically, ie. users do not need to send / receive each document manually. The system monitors the status of the document – if the status is “Forwarding”, the system finds it and sends it.

Pantheon & EDI

 

The procedure described above works in the following way with Pantheon:

 

1. The chain sends a purchase order from the chain. This document is imported into Pantheon without user intervention. There is a report in Pantheon that shows the result of the import.
2. When the goods are dispatched, the supplier must create a document for dispatching of goods (delivery note). Once a sales order has been placed, all rows can be copied without need to enter them manually. The advantages are felt in large orders, because all rows are copied. Once the goods receipt is ready, the user only changes its status – “Forwarding”. Based on the Pantheon & Electronic Data Interchange connection, the delivery note is automatically sent to the chain.
3. Once the chain has received the goods, it must confirm receipt. For this purpose, Pantheon imports the return confirmation (again without user intervention).
4. Once the receipt of the goods has been confirmed, the supplier has to invoice them. Once a receipt has been issued – all lines of the receipt are copied to the invoice. It is possible to invoice multiple delivery notes in one invoice.

 

 

The Pantheon & Electronic Data Interchange interface is developed by BSV Consulting Ltd. and is currently working with clients. If you are interested – contact us. Using Electronic Data Interchange & Pantheon will save you time and effort.