EDI
Welcome to the Intuitive Systems EDI page
This page is to assist businesses better understand EDI, and how Intuitive Systems can add value and assist
your company become EDI enabled for commercial benefit.
So lets start with what is EDI?
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It stands for “Electronic Data Interchange” (EDI)
EDI is widely-used technology for the automated exchange of documents between dissimilar
applications. It allows value chain partners to exchange purchase orders, invoices,
advance ship notices and other business documents directly from one business system to
the other, without human intervention. We should also comment there are in general term
2 types of EDI. Formal and informal.
Formal is where you have two or more major companies engaged in EDI via and EDI VAN and
generally share one standard, e.g., UN-EDIFACT. This is really good but the EDI budget
will be in the millions per annum and any setup and or any changes will take weeks and
huge dollars.
Informal, these solutions apply to the vast majority of NZ business, SME (Small to Medium
sized enterprise) where (e.g.) a companies financial/accounting system is able to out-put
(and if sophisticated input) certain files, e.g. an invoice electronically and want to trade
with both local and overseas companies of perhaps a similar size. They do not have a multi
million dollar EDI budget. The communication standard will vary significantly, essentially
each end is a disparate system. But fear not, this is what Intuitive Systems specialize in.
Setting up you own EDI/ecommerce platform to trade with numerous and variable partners here or
overseas.
What is driving EDI
In general, it could be said it is the large organisations, be they manufacturers or
retailers wanting to drive down the cost of the supply chain. From this comes both
up stream and down stream pressure to the related parties involved in this sales or
supply channel.
General Benefits
Proven advantages are fewer errors, real time transactions, lower administrative costs,
and faster turn-around time for business processes, and 24x7 availability.
So lets talk about your situation
Who is asking you to trade electronically?
Or is it you promoting this? Contact your customers and see which are interested in
trading electronically with you.
You may wish to check any pending contracts and negotiations where having EDI will be
mandatory, or is being EDI enabled a “strategic sales advantage” to your business?
Talk to us about these issues or business drivers.
Getting enabled
Once you have made the commitment to become EDI enabled, our team will consult with
you to create a suitable EDI environment. This could be a simple one to one relationship
for the moment. Or you may want to quickly engage with trading with all your suppliers
and customers. Either way Intuitive Systems can manage all the process and advise on a
suitable solution. If you have some internal resources, how much of the solution we do
is entirely up to you and often we work jointly with customers in-house IT team.
Once we have a customer to link you up to, it all starts with, what messages/formats do they require?
There is usually a 'Message/format Implementation Guide' made available by them explaining
their message requirements in great technical detail. Sometimes this does not exist and so
will become part of the project itself. Intuitive Systems will already understand much of
this information, so there may be minimal need to examine the detailed message specifications.
Intuitive Systems solutions are always tailored to meet the exact requirement for your project
from both a technical and business point of view. The most common ecommerce messages used are
Sales Invoices and Sales Orders, as these represent the largest numbers of documents to be exchanged
in a trading relationship. It is useful to find out the likely volumes you will be exchanging as
this will have an impact on solution design.
Then comes connectivity
Intuitive Systems can provide a complete set of options and advise on the best connectivity for your situation.
These Include:
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Features
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User benefits
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Owner benefits
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AS1 SMTP MAIL
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Real time transactions
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Provide effortless minimum user interaction for data exchange
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FTP
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Reliable platform
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Provide seamless uninterrupted data transfer
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TCFT
proprietary secure protocol
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Secure protocol option
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Reduce errors and manual handling
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AS2 HTTP
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Designed to push data securely and reliably over the Internet.
Fast and reliable connectivity.
AS2 detects if the document was altered during transmission.
Non-repudiation of receipt confirms that the intended party received the data.
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It specifies the means to connect, deliver, validate and reply to (receipt) data in a secure and reliable way.
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AS2 HTTPS
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Designed to push data securely and reliably over the Internet. Fast and reliable
connectivity.
Encryption ensures that only the sender and receiver can view the data. AS2 detects if the document was altered during transmission.
Non-repudiation of receipt confirms that the intended party received the data.
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It specifies the means to connect, deliver, validate and reply to (receipt) data in a secure and reliable way.
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Advantages of setting up your own EDI/Ecommerce solution
Below some comparative statements, EDI VAN versus setting up your own EDI platform
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Item/ Feature
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EDI via VAN
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B2BLink EDI Solution
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Price
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High
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Low
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Total Cost of ownership
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High
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Low
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Hardware requirement
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High
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Low
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Time to scope
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High
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Low
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Time to implement
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High
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Low
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Ongoing support cost
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High
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Low
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Ongoing or transaction fees
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High
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None
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Ongoing resource requirement
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High
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Low
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Probably need frame relay or VPN
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Yes
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NO
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Change request
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Long/hard/costly
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Quick /easy low cost
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Scalable cost model
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NO
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yes
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Portable EDI product
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NO
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yes
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Talk to desperate systems quickly and easily
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NO
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yes
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Deal with non standard EDI easily
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NO
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yes
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Has multiple transport methods
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Rarely
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yes
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Is independent of Financials, ERP or WMS
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NO
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yes
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Can enable PDF invoice printing or emailing
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Not without major expense
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yes
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Can enable other application to print or email
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NO
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yes
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Ease of translating desperate formats
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NO
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yes
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Can save, duplicate, synchronize or back up files easily
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NO
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yes
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Deliver an EDI solution on a “one off fee” from $4000 per end
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NO
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yes
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Scope, Deliver, install a solution in 1 week
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NO
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We have done several
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Potential for annual support cost under $1000
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NO
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yes
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Extremely compelling ROI
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NO
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yes
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Client in full control of their solution
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NO
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yes
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Is not just EDI, but an ecommerce platform
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Rarely without major cost
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yes
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Once installed client able to manage their own EDI solution
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NO
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yes
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Why Choose Intuitive Systems
- Shortest possible implementation time (many jobs done over a one week elapsed time) “provided all necessary remote access, server availability and format requirements provided to us up front”.
- Extremely compelling story for total cost of ownership
- Scalable solution
- It Is totally independent of backend, be it e.g. ERP, CRM, financials or WMS
- Our solution runs on a standard Windows XP PRO PC, No expensive hardware required
- Our solution uses the lowest cost transport method, the internet (ADSL)
- B2BLink can be totally owner managed and usually reside on your premise
- B2BLink owners have full control of their EDI or Ecommerce enablement
- B2Blink is not just EDI, it has many eCommerce possibilities, it is an ecommerce platform
- B2BLink owner has ability to be or become an electronic hub at no additional cost to them
- Because owner has control, they can provide or setup fast response for queries or support
- Additional changes or new formats can be done and “live” within, hours or days, not months
- We become your EDI in-house/outsourced assistant
- Work with The #1 EDI solution providers for NZ SME
Call us now for a no obligation consultation, and let our team show you how easy it can be. (Tel +64 9 828 1404)
