I've been involved with EDI for almost 20 years now myself.
I've read a number of TPA's and I almost fell off my chair
the first time I read this one. (and I did read it over and
over again several times) (out loud :-)
The naughty bits from the "Dear Valued Supplier" letter are:
-There will be 2 main methods of conducting business: These
are Machine to Machine (M2M or EDI) and Web Application.
All these methods of conducting business are a form of
E-Commerce, and require a signed document on electronic
signatures and other matters. These are often referred to
as Trading Partner Agreements (TPA).
-Appendix A of the TPA includes information on the method
of transacting business, which has been filled in for your
current choice. There is also information on the annual
fee associated with the tools, and the method of payment.
...and from the TPA:
-WHEREAS, Buyer and Seller desire to facilitate purchase
and sale transactions ("Transactions") by electronically
transmitting and receiving data in agreed formats
-Documents will be transmitted electronically to each party
either, directly or through a third party service provider
("Provider") with which each party may contract.
-Each party shall be responsible for the costs of any Provider
with which it contracts.
-System Operations: Each party, at its own expense, shall
provide and maintain the equipment, software, services and
testing necessary to effectively and reliably transmit and
receive Documents.
...and from the Appendix:
Transactions must be processed under one of the following
methods and are subject to the annual fee listed. The fee
is in effect for three years from the date of this Agreement.
Full EDI (Machine to Machine) $1000 per year
Hybrid (Combination of EDI and Web) $ 400 per year
Web based (via Website) $ 400 per year
Supported Transactions
Purchase Order
Purchase Order Acknowledgement
Purchase Order Change
Purchase Order Change Acknowledgement
Advance Shipping Notice
Forecast
Invoice
The annual fee will be credited against a payment due in
the second quarter of each year. For other methods of
payment, contact... </snip>
---------------------------------------------------------
So except for the appendix, (and that they only refer to a
PO and not an 850) it sounds like a pretty much standard
EDI trading partnership agreement to me.
What I was trying to attain from the EDI-List group was
confirmation about whether this was a misunderstanding or
an isolated case. From Timothy's comment, it would appear
that it is not. The second point is that if others had been
receiving TPA's similiar to this one, that some sort of group
would recognize that these sort of initiatives are not in
the best interests of any of us.
I am in whole hearted agreement that EDI is the way to go
and that $1000/year spent will help to recoup far more in
actual savings. How a company can expect to collect money like
this for itself is another matter. What prompted all this on
my part however is the creeping infestation of gouging tactics
that seem to becoming more popular. (Chargebacks, proprietary
data synchronization databases, software certification, etc)
I am hopefull that someday something develops that helps
to remind people that EDI is about creating situations that
help both trading PARTNERS.
I am in Canada. So is the supplier. The buyer is in North
Carolina. I do not work for either company. I do agree with
Klaus-Dieter that government involvement is bad (don't get
me started on SOX) but it still doesn't explain why we don't
have some sort of watchdog to help avoid this sort of thing.
I guess I will follow up and find out from the source what
their real intentions are. I'm actually hoping that there
is more to this than meets the eye and that the only thing
that they are guilty of is writing a misleading TPA. (that
someone happened to forward to me because I "know so much
about EDI" HA! :-)
Cheers,
Kev.
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