Pacon, the leading producer and marketer of paper products for elementary education, moved to SAP All-in-One ™ to improve links to key customers allowing them to boost productivity and keep prices low. SAP Business All-in-One was an ideal choice due to its pre-configuration for mass merchants and industry specific. Another plus for Pacon was the fact that they previously purchased Global eXchange Services BizManager™ EDI and B2B system which has preset maps for SAP.

To boost the benefit, cap cost, and remain self-sufficient, Pacon hired DCS to provide a comprehensive link for each document, such as the purchase order, and move to direct connection.

Overview

To create a comprehensive EDI map (the integration program) our DCS EDI Specialist used an EDI data analyzer to comb through 12 months of all customers’ inbound Purchase Orders (850).  This ensured that no special concessions carefully garnered over the years were lost.  This output was then shared with the SAP implementation team from Idhasoft to confirm the Trading Partner Profile and the ORDERS01 Interchange Document (IDoc) were configured properly.  Idhasoft quickly and willingly made changes, which facilitated thorough and economical mapping.

The comprehensive EDI map was then customized for each individual customer by Pacon’s experienced EDI Manager.  Customization required “turning-off” unused fields so that erroneous error messages did not arise.  Because the analysis of historical data was done first by DCS, it made this task easier.  (Similar tasks were completed to automate the Shipment Notice [ASN, 856], Invoice [810], and other documents.)

The next step was moving more customers to a direct, secure, and economical connection using FTPS.  (AS2 was configured years ago, and was unchanged.)  Here too the EDI manager worked with the customers to set and test connections.

Throughout the process, DCS was available to assist when several unexpected shipping scenarios, unique to Pacon, were implemented by the warehouse.  Due to our experience with SAP and BizManager, we were able to rapidly come up with a new map to handle the various scenarios.

Finally, DCS helped the EDI Manager with the cut-over to production providing monitoring and repairs as needed.

The Result

Due to DCS’ thorough understanding of SAP and EDI, the following was achieved:

  • Comprehensive data analysis – ensuring no special concessions were lost
  • Links to key customers were improved
  • Pacon now has the ability to add more customers economically and more efficiently
  • Critical EDI functions were maintained during the conversion
  • A number manual processes were eliminated or streamlined during the successful conversion to SAP
  • Most importantly Pacon remained self-sufficient

DCS NEXT LEVEL™ Conversion service ensured a thorough, quick, and economical process due to our experience with SAP All-in-One and BizManager.  The time needed for moving to All-in-One was about 150 hours, plus the time of the Pacon EDI Manager and Idhasoft.

Now, as new requirements arise, DCS’ same day support ensures the customer can maintain daily processes and peak efficiency.

Learn how DCS EDI Specialists can assist you with integrating customer documents providing same day support and more. Your first step is to take advantage of our FREE assessment!