Affordable, Fully Managed EDI Software: Elevate EDI

Um, l- let's, uh, let's go, let's go back to the, um, you know, take a step back, I guess, and, and maybe you could help us explain, um, and, uh, understand what exactly is EDI.

So I mentioned like the 850s, 856s in the intro, um, and I'm guessing that meant nothing to some people.

Um, so maybe you could help kind of explain that.

What i- what is EDI and, and also like why, why did the big retailers make everyone do it in the first place?

So the, the easiest way that I ever describe it, and again, I love my wife, but even my wife still to this day is like, "What do you do?" And, uh, "Can you fix my computer?" I'm like, "No, I can't.

I, yes, I could, but do I want to? No, I really don't." So when it comes to EDI, electronic data interchange, think of business documents, okay? Think of things that are being exchanged between two different business entities to ask them to do something.

So in retail, you have what is considered a lot of times the order to cash process.

So a purchase order being received by one entity, and then that entity fulfilling that purchase order and shipping products and labeling products, and then, "Hey, I wanna get paid and I wanna invoice it." Now, EDI in most people's realm, i- if you're talking about, just say North America, okay? North America, we're in a, a certain standard dealing in the X12, and there's different standards and formats and all of those different things that fall under EDI.

Um, one of the big things that a lot of people have been talking about over the last few years is API.

Well, guess what? API falls under EDI because EDI is just a tr- sending of electronic data.

API is making a connection to receive that electronic data or pull that electronic data Think about it this way.

Anything that you can send document-wise, purchase orders, insurance claims, transportation, tendering, where's my load at? All of those different things in a document format, but it's electronic.

It can be XML, it can be X12, it can be a CSV file.

It can...

Some people even consider PDF files.

They're a little unstructured, but you could put them into that bucket if you wanted to.

The actual sort of number, like the 8- 850, 850s, 855, those are the specific sort of like, 850 is the purchase order, right? And then, uh, the 856 is sort of basically the packing slip, but in a format that a warehouse computer can read before the, the truck shows up, that sort of thing?

Correct.

Correct.

So you have your purchase order, which is your 850.

You have sometimes an 855, which is a purchase order acknowledgement.

You also then have an 856, as you've indicated, which is a shipment document.

And then you have your 810, which is your invoice.

Those are common in the retail aspect of things.

Now, could that be in an order-to-cash process? Yes.