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EDI Development
All businesses and organizations must continually improve or fall behind. The role of the IT department is to surface and solve business challenges. Your EDI system can be readily and economically built-out to provide quicker response times and cut operating costs.
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| The true power of EDI is only realized when all inbound and outbound documents are processed in/out of a businesses application system with little to no operator intervention. The tools that provide the means for
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this model of efficiency are Integrated Maps. For example, an INbound P.O. Acknowledgement (855) instantly alerts your materials staff to problems. Another example is an INbound Shipment Notice (ASN, 856) which tells the receiving dock and materials staff the precise quantities actually shipped. DCS helps you learn of the challenges from other members of your company and brings to them economical, time-proven solutions.
Overview of the Development Process
Comparing a list of EDI documents to a list of your ERP system’s modules quickly brings confusion. There are hundreds of documents and numerous modules. Knowing which would achieve 100% ROI and which would bring disgrace to the EDI staff is a difficult circumstance. Fortunately, outside assistance is available. Our focus upon quality, knowledge transfer, and process simplification means a more effective development effort.
Our many years of experience, crystallized in our DCS Grow™ development service, means a rational approach:
1. Talk to the managers to learn their goals and challenges.
2. Consider if Process Automation would be a solution.
3. Determine which EDI documents could be effective.
4. Estimate the cost of development and the Return on Investment.
5. Pause to carefully review the estimate with the manager. Since every businesses department has unique, time-tested procedures, the alignment of new, automated steps must be careful. Also time savers and cost reducers should be estimated.
6. Implement the changes with several customers or transporters or vendors to confirm that the estimated benefits accrue.
7. Roll out to all Trading Partners. Part of the roll-out includes mini-training and motivation.
Transforming your business processes into reality involves more than just mapping. True success requires linking the critical components of your business to a cohesive, global strategy – with a partner dedicated to achieving your success.
For more details on mapping read our Mapping and Integration process
Here are some time-proven suggestions for lower cost and speeding cycles:
1. Receive customers’ internal forecasts.
2. Improve Transport efficiencies.
3. Boost Logistics performance.
4. Gain more discounts from key vendors with e-purchasing
5. Faster cash-flow with e-invoicing.
6. Greater customer response with RFID.
7. See your industry’s Success Stories for solutions others achieved.
To learn the effort needed, a Free Assessment is provided. From it, a task list and time estimates are provided. A part of the assessment is learning if the ERP system vendor has released a more robust EDI/EC gateway, supporting more transaction sets, segments, and elements.
Conclusion
Development should be done with the assistance of experts with years of real-world experience. An investment in automation can have a quick return and later build outs can yield further savings. DCS GrowTM Development Service can help you avoid a flawed upgrade and ensure your EDI is runs smoothly afterwards. The first step is easy, e-mail DCS for your free assessment.
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