I was ignoring this thread as it just didn't make sense, without understanding 
industry/ERP/EDI system and integration of same, not sure what relevant answer 
I could give.

However, since it won't seem to go away, I'll add my 2 cents.  In my 15 years 
or so of experience mostly in manufacturing, but also in retail, banking, and 
health care (shudder).  I find that once implementations have been worked out 
(tricky, as explained in excellent detail by Michael), the majority of issues 
are what we lovingly refer to as PBCAK or ID-10-T errors.  Sometimes these can 
be addressed systematically or programmatically, however, even training won't 
cover it all, and we live with it, look at it as job security.

PBCAK = Problem Between Chair And Keyboard
ID-10-T = well, figure this one out yourself ;)

My favorite was a guy who "cut and pasted" data from an excel spreadsheet into 
a text field in a release, somehow managing to capture formatting from the 
spreadsheet which converted (on an old mainframe) into a hex "bell" character 
during translation to an 830, totally bombing the whole system.  That was a fun 
one!

Oh, and while I can't claim such a long time since my last drink (good for you 
Michael), I can honestly say that I average approximately 4 drinks per year, 
none of them in recent memory.

Leah




________________________________
From: Michael Mattias/LS <[email protected]>
To: EDI-L <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 9:21:22 AM
Subject: Re: [EDI-L] the Big 3 - 810, 850, 856


12/29/08

>I am attempting to have a discussion on EDI topics, I am not sure if you 
>are drunk over the weekends, then go to an AA meeting.

Well, I never attended a meeting, but I think I can take some small measure 
of pride in noting that today marks five thousand five hundred ten days 
since my last drink. (Yes, I still take it one day at a time). But I 
digress...

>I asked what are the sort of issues that have existed in your experience.

Perhaps that is what you meant, but it is not, sir, how I interpreted your 
post.

I read you were concerned about how the '856' document "works" in your 
environment versus how the '850' does not 'work.'

Now either I did not understand your question due to an inferior choice of 
words on your part, or you do not understand the uses of the 850 and 856, or 
you made a typo.

While I may have been a tad brusque in my own choice of words, it is my 
considered opinion that other than the possibility of a typing error 
(unlikely since you have not issued a correction), either of the other 
causes for confusion here are significant deficiencies for anyone wishing to 
participate in a discussion of "EDI Topics."

You may not agree with me, but there's no need to cast personal invective 
(which as it turns out was a lucky guess).

All that said, in my experience (25+ years) the biggest *techinical* 
'issue' which occurs in the exchange of the 'distribution industry 
documents' (810/850/856) is dealing with turnaround data - the information 
transmitted by the buyer in in the '850'  which must be returned in 
either/both the 810 and 856. If your ERP system is not set up for this, you 
will have to develop your own 'tanking' subsystem to capture said 
information and retrieve it when needed.

The biggest *non-technical* issue is poorly-developed implemenatation 
guides... missing information, fuzzy explanations, etc. (Damn, those 
'communications skills' sure have a way of insinuating themselves into many 
places, huh?)

For example, I recently handled a client mapping where a customer-developed 
'850'  IG did not include either a "date wanted" or a "how to ship" 
('regular', "overnight', etc)  for the purchase order and we had to have a 
discussion with that customer as to what those values should be. That 
customer also did not include either his part number or a description of the 
items ordered anywhere in the PO1 loop.... which makes dealing with invalid, 
obsolete or superceded  vendor part numbers tricky at best.  And after we 
started testing, it turns out the customer never allowed for the possibility 
of the quantity discounts for which he could qualify. The seller - my 
client - generated the 810 invoice at the quantity discounted price - which 
caused a 'mismatch' in the buyer's system causing the invoice to be 
rejected. (This one we still have not solved).

The bottom line for me is, if you want to be an "EDI Expert"  - be it as an 
internal (employee) or outside (e.g moi) resource, you need to have mastered 
the techincal and non-technical  fundamentals and understand the user's 
business before you can even begin to deal with the finer points.

Then again, I'm an old fart who is pretty set in his ways.

Michael C. Mattias
Tal Systems Inc.
Racine WI
mmatt...@talsystems .com
http://www.talsyste ms.com

    


      

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