E.D.I. 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgement

855 Purchase Order Acknowledgement (PO) Defined
The EDI 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgement (PO) is just a confirmation of a PO. It is sent electronically, instead of calling or faxing your customer, and says “I got your order for these products to ship to this address. We have all of these in stock, and we are moving on fulfilling the order – we will send another update once it ships”. The electronic file format the document is sent in is called EDI – which stands for Electronic Data Interchange. The purpose of EDI is to cut down on the cost and errors associated with manual keying of data. For example, your customer needs some of your products so they send you an 850 PO which says “this is what I need and where I want it shipped”. You receive the PO and send back a 997 Acknowledgement saying “I got the PO”. You then fulfill the order and send an 810 Invoice saying “we shipped these items and here is the final price – please pay us within 10 days”. If you are fully integrated with EDI, all of this happens electronically with only one or two checks by a human (and no keying of data).

One of the reasons EDI is used (in lieu of other electronic formats) is that it is a very well documented file format. There are standards committees, which include experts in the fields of electronic commerce, that define and publish formal standards on the EDI document formats and communication protocols (how the documents are sent and received). The two recognized standards for EDI are ANSI X.12 (ANSI X12) and UN/EDIFACT. The UN/EDIFACT is an international standard that will most likely be adopted by US companies.

An EDI document is called a “Transaction Set” in ASNI X.12 and is called a “Message” in UN/EDIFACT.

EDI documents are sent electronically (instead of via fax or mail). Part of the EDI document serves as the envelop, which states who the sender and recipient of the document is. The sender and recipient are called “Trading Partners”, because they “trade” electronic documents.

Each EDI document is broken into logic groups of data called Segments. Each Segment is made up of one or more Data Elements. A Data Element is just a field of data (like Address1, City, State, PO Number, Order Total, etc).

Since the EDI standards for each document are very extensive, it is unlikely that a company will use all of the Segments and Data Elements that could make up the document. In general, a company should use as few Segments and Data Elements as needed to accomplish their business goals. For this reason, most companies that require their vendors to use EDI have very specific Mapping Documents. A Mapping Document is a fancy way of saying – this is exactly how we use the 855 Purchase Order PO Acknowledgement document. Here are the groups of data (Segments) we need, and here are the specific fields of data (Elements) we need. Companies also defines the Usage of each field of data / Element. The Usage tells you exactly what they use that field for and what the acceptable values are.

Electronic Data Interchange, can be established by the conventional ansi x25 method using a value added network.

OpenPro is designed with Electronic Data Interchange in mind.

OpenPro also has XML layouts for importing and exporting data to other systems. OpenPro ERP Software can interface to each trading partner and send OpenPro XML formatted data.

OpenPro EDI Solution – Simple and Affordable

Our EDI solution is a simple way for small and medium sized suppliers to process EDI transactions. Our EDI services are affordable and turn-key, which means you don’t have to know anything about EDI or how it works. All you need is Internet access and email.

Our web-based solution allows you to trade EDI documents / files including the ability to:

  • Receive 850 Purchase Orders
  • Receive 997 Functional Acknowledgement
  • Send 810 Invoices
  • Send 997 Functional Acknowledgement
  • Send 856 Advanced Ship Notice (ASN)
  • Send 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgement (PO)
  • Send / Receive any other EDI documents required

Advantages of Our EDI Offering
The OpenPro EDI Pipeline can serve as a stand-alone solution to meet the trading partner requirements, or can be a single interface to trade EDI documents with all of your customers. The following is a list of known trading partners that use EDI. Our system can streamline your EDI communications with any of these partners.

The advantages of using our system include

  • Plain English view of documents (purchase orders, invoices, etc)
  • Web-based system allows you to access it from any computer
  • No software installation required
  • No additional staff required
  • No technical skills required
  • We handle all setup and technical interaction with your trading partners
  • We train you on the web-based control panel
  • We handle all of the technical stuff to set it up and keep it running
  • We can provide electronic files that import into your software systems
  • We speak English, and we answer the phone when you call us
  • You can stop stressing about EDI and focus on growing your business
  • You gain our technology and experienced support staff for a fraction of the price of one employee

Details of Our EDI Offering<

The OpenPro EDI Pipeline solution for trading partners includes access to a web-based, password protected control panel that allows you to view and manage all aspects of document trading. The web-based Control Panel includes the following features:Communication Manager

The communication manager is an easy to understand interface that allows you to see every EDI file / document sent to and received from trading partners. The files can be viewed in a plain English printable format, or in the raw EDI format. The following components are include with the communication manager.

  • Inbox – showing all pending inbound documents (i.e. 850 Purchase Orders and 997 Functional Acknowledgements).
  • Received Log – a historical log of all inbound documents already processed.
  • Outbox – showing all pending outbound documents (i.e. 810 Invoices, 856 Advance Ship Notices, 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgements, and 997 Functional Acknowledgements)
  • Sent Log – a historical log of all outbound documents already processed.
  • Deleted Log – A log of all pending documents that were deleted before being processed

Order Log

The Order Log is an alternative way to view of all documents related to a single inbound Purchase Order. When the 850 Purchase Order is received from trading partners, it is set up in the Order Log. In addition, all of the corresponding documents associated with the Purchase Order (i.e. the 810 Invoice, the 997 Functional Acknowledgements, etc) are tied to it for easy access.

How You Get Purchase Orders

Once the 850 Purchase Order is received by the EDI Pipeline system, it is converted into a plain English (readable) format that you can view and print. The plain English format is available in any of the following ways:

  • Via Email – automatically sent to you email address(es)
  • Via Your Control Panel – log in a view it at any time
  • Via Fax – automatically sent to your fax number

In addition, the Purchase Order can be converted into an electronic file that can be imported into any industry standard or unique electronic format.

Import into Your Software Programs

The EDI Pipeline solution can optionally include a method to electronically import trading partner Purchase Orders into your financial / inventory software (or any other software system), eliminating the need to manually key in the order data. The Purchase Order is received by the EDI Pipeline system, translated into the specific format your software needs, and sent to your office to import. The file can be sent via any method desired; the most popular being via email or FTP (to a specific server location).

What Are the Next Steps?

While you are investigating OpenPro….

  • Call OpenPro today, we will discuss your EDI needs and provide specific pricing (no obligation to you)
  • We can show you a demo of how the EDI works with a complete ERP package

If you decide to use our solution…

  • We contact trading partners directly and work out all of the details
  • We set up your EDI system
  • You take orders and send invoices via EDI – hassle and worry free