EDI
EDI stands for Electronic Data Interchange: exchanging business documents — orders, invoices, delivery notes and despatch advices — electronically between two trading partners, in a form both systems can process without anyone stepping in.
EDI standards
To communicate over EDI you have to agree with your trading partner which standard you use. It determines how the message is built up and which guidelines it must meet. EDI has been around for more than thirty years; some standards were made for a particular industry or region.
| Standard | Where and what for |
|---|---|
| UN/EDIFACT | The only genuinely international standard, recommended by the United Nations. The leading one outside North America. |
| EANCOM | The EDIFACT subset developed by GS1. Dominant in retail and in global supply chains; the messages describing logistic units belong to it as well. |
| ANSI ASC X12 | The leading standard in North America. |
| TRADACOMS | Developed by the Article Number Association, now GS1 UK. Dominant in British retail. |
| ODETTE | In use across the European automotive industry. |
| VDA | Also automotive, and mainly in Germany. |
| HL7 | The international standard for medical, financial and administrative data between healthcare information systems. |
What EDI gets you
Moving from paper to a digital exchange pays off in everything that comes after it. Organisations that adopt EDI lower their costs, process orders faster, make fewer entry errors and work more easily with their trading partners.
EDI itself runs through B2BSynergy
- SSCCLabels.com produces the label. The message traffic itself — orders, invoices, despatch advices — is handled by B2BSynergy, who we work with.
- Cloud based: sending and receiving without installing anything first.
- Direct links with a wide range of back-office systems.
- Start with the labels and extend later; same agreements, same party.
Where the SSCC fits in
The SSCC is the link between the physical pallet and the paperwork around it. The code makes the logistic unit unique worldwide, and everyone scanning it along the way — your forwarder, your customer’s distribution centre — is looking at the same number. That works with EDI and without it: with no message traffic, the product information simply sits on the label. So you need not wait for an EDI project before starting with SSCC.
Back-office systems we connect to
Among others:
- SAP S/4HANA
- SAP Business One
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations
- AFAS Profit
- Exact Online
- Exact Globe
- Unit4
- Infor LN
- Oracle NetSuite
- Odoo
- Visma AccountView
- King Business Software
- Ridder iQ
- Isah
- Sage
Also if you run an older version
An ageing ERP is no reason to skip EDI — it is usually the reason it is not there yet. We meet these regularly and they can be connected:
- Dynamics NAV (Navision)
- Dynamics AX (Axapta)
- Baan Triton / LN
- Multivers
- AccountView
From labels to full EDI
Start with the labels and connect your ERP and the message traffic later. Get in touch to discuss what your situation needs.