Comments for Why is our EDI not standardized? at http://www.ec-bp.biz/joomla , comment 1 to 6 out of 6 comments http://www.ec-bp.biz/joomla Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:10:16 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.ec-bp.biz/joomla/component/option,com_myblog/show,Why-is-our-EDI-not-standardized-.html/Itemid,10052/#comment-11 Great concept Mike and right to the point... However, for Mr. Davis, I have a question - how can the "big box retailers" get together and have a simple standard...? That would require each of them to use the same standards and (possibly) systems as the other.... WalMart would need to use the same concepts as K-Mart or Target or JC Penney or Sears or .... And we know that's never going to happen. First off, consider the concept of the SKU - the Stock Keeping Unit. Each company has their own SKU for the products they carry. It's their internal number for the item. Think about a ubiquitous product that many will carry - the iPod. At WalMart, the SKU is E-100-25679. Target's SKU is the i-55-9983234. Then maybe over at Best Buy, the SKU is PE-756990. In each case, the SKU used by the retailer would be specific to their needs and set up - things like departments and classes of products. And none of them are the same. I work for a major retailer - not somebody I'd consider a "big box" store - but can tell you that our SKU is pretty simple - just 10-characters, numeric - but at another retailer I worked at years ago (not in EDI, but at the store management level) used an 8-digit sku, with a hyphen. The first 3 digits where the product class or department - apparel, jewelry, peper products, toys, and so on. Then the hyphen and then the 5 digit "item number" This was on every single item we sold in every single store. There will always be some difference for each trading partner you do business with - they send information that is critical to their system, but not so much to yours. And vice-versa. What's the old adage - "you can please all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but never all of the people all of the time"? - C Dunham Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:16:45 +0100 http://www.ec-bp.biz/joomla/component/option,com_myblog/show,Why-is-our-EDI-not-standardized-.html/Itemid,10052/#comment-6 Hi Donna- My appologies for taking so long to respond, as I just now saw your post. Normally I get an email when someone posts a comment; I'm thinking a spam filter may have blocked it??? Are you using the former Mercator product that Emanio had purchased at one point? I would be glad to recommend other tools, along with their advantages/disadvantages. I will need more info on your current environment to do so. For privacy reasons, please go to my website at www.gotEDI.com and email me through the link near the bottom of the page. Thanks... Mike - Mike Kelly Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:40:19 +0100 http://www.ec-bp.biz/joomla/component/option,com_myblog/show,Why-is-our-EDI-not-standardized-.html/Itemid,10052/#comment-5 Hi Mike, We are currently using ANSI X12 EDI with our highest standard capability at 4030. Our software is an older Mercator product that was sold to Ascential Software that was then bought by IBM. We are a small EDI shop and we have been doing fine processing 850's inbound and outbound, 810's outbound 855's and 856. Now my challenge. More and more customers are urging us to expand on these transactions and would like for us to use Standard 5010. And surprisingly so, IBM does not support 5010. Well not so surprising. They really are not making lot of money off of this old software but Trading Parters(Mercator) is a great product. So as we begin to look into forging ahead I would like to know if you have any suggestions for good, ease of use, EDI software products. You assistance would be greatly appreciated. - Donna Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:13:05 +0100 http://www.ec-bp.biz/joomla/component/option,com_myblog/show,Why-is-our-EDI-not-standardized-.html/Itemid,10052/#comment-3 Mike, I have had the pleasure of being able to help create a set of documents (810, 850, 855, 856, 832) that is used by the entire flooring industry. The top 3 mills got together back in 1999 and worked together in creating the 'standard'. Today we can setup a new customer using the Flooring B2B standard in less than 30 minutes with no programming required. Now if only all of the big box retailers would work together to create the same type of standard life would be great. Lewis Davis - Lewis Davis Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:27:17 +0100 http://www.ec-bp.biz/joomla/component/option,com_myblog/show,Why-is-our-EDI-not-standardized-.html/Itemid,10052/#comment-2 Thank you for taking the time to write this article. I have had to expain it myself why some TPs can be set up in a few hours versus some that can take a few days or weeks. My ususal comment is "it depends on the TP and their specs, and how quickly they want to implement". - J Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:20:48 +0100 http://www.ec-bp.biz/joomla/component/option,com_myblog/show,Why-is-our-EDI-not-standardized-.html/Itemid,10052/#comment-1 Mike, Most industries have taken the ANSI X12 standards and shot them apart. Healthcare has the HIPAA X12N 'standards' which are interesting. Telecom has some interesting standards developed by their standards organization and then each teleco takes it one step further. David Frenkel - david frenkel Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:18:18 +0100