A DCS customer’s Evaluated Receipt Settlement (ERS) for key customers was failing, resulting in unpaid shipments and delayed payment. Though these failures were to only one process, it was highly visible. Any disruption to cash flow is not tolerated in business and needed to be resolved. The customer had Oracle E-Business Suite and GXS TrustedLink for Windows (TLW) with a secure connection (AS2).
Challenge
Developed by General Motors, ERS is the process of paying for goods directly from an Advanced Ship Notice (ASN, 856), without the need of an Invoice (810). A great option for many companies, the data provided in the 856 is easily applied to payments for a quick response. If not approved by a Receiving Advice (861) or Application Advice (824), cash flow is halted and problems arise quickly.
The biggest challenge for DCS was diagnosing the problem as quickly as possible to get their system back on track. A DCS EDI Specialist created a testing transaction log to find packing quantity and shipped quantity issues. With no invoice needed, accurate reporting became a concern for all parties.
Solution
The problem was found in their payment approval message with an Inbound 824 that was not being picked up by the VAN in TLW. Once the transaction log was applied, 9000 records were found to be missing. A solution was then created for the missing records with changes to the system. There were also several mapping and formatting issues due to a new complex, unstable process, as well as missing equipment prefix and weight issues. Our EDI Specialist:
- Fixed previously run files that failed
- Created scripts for file process automation and email notification
- Modified maps to handle new flags for multi-line orders or single orders
- Debugged problems and rewrote scripts to read new file locations
- Debugged certificate issues for WinSCP
- Setup their VPN connection
Results
With DCS’ EDI Specialist’s quick thinking, a problem that had all but stopped our customer’s process was quickly up and running. The project was completed in only 80 hours. DCS also trained the customer employees and monitored their system until all problems were resolved. The ERS is now fully functioning and alerting the customer if any problems arise quickly.
Have you ever had records go missing? How did you recover them quickly?
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