When integrating EDI into the SYSPRO environment, you need to understand the key components to make the process as seamless as possible. Once you know the fundamentals of EDI and its key terms, we can delve into the intricate details of the combined SYSPRO EDI environment. By breaking down the core components and highlighting the finer points of Cadacus or how the supply chain works within the environment, you’ll be able to make the best use of it with your business.
The SYSPRO EDI Environment
Before getting into anything else, let’s dive into the elements of the SYSPRO EDI environment. You’ve got four key pieces:
- Your SYSPRO environment itself, which can be ver. 7 or ver. 8, both fully supported.
- Your network infrastructure is going to provide the means for the communication between the two systems, which can include your firewall, URL or public IP address, and security certificates that, if you’re in an AS2 environment, you will use to validate your identity and the trading partner’s identity.
- The communications pieces we have two main options: CLEO LexiCom/VLTrader or File Transfer Protocol (FTP):
a. If you’re going to go with Direct EDI, CLEO LexiCom is the solution that we recommend. LexiCom is a standalone piece of software that can be installed either as a workstation or a server-based solution that’s very cost-effective and has a host-based pricing model (you pay on a per-host basis for how many partners you will connect to). VLTrader is more for the higher volume environments as it offers a web-based interface and is a server-based solution only.
b. FTP, as mentioned before , is supported directly within the Cadacus program, allowing you to send and receive using the FTP protocol if your trading partner supports it. In that case, there would be no costs associated with that because you’re using your existing internet connection to transmit information via FTP. The communications tools are usually either on-demand, where they act as the trading partner, and send the transaction so it shows up inside your system within seconds, or are more batch-based, where you have to initiate that communication with your trading partner and you set a schedule to run that. Thankfully, there are ways within SYSPRO to automate that using a combination of Windows Task Scheduler and automation via scripting or batch files.
- The final element is the translator itself, which is the Cadacus Solutions for SYSPRO. Cadacus is a highly integrated program that looks and feels like SYSPRO and runs as a menu option from within the main program. It provides support for the exchange of all the documents as well as the processing of those documents into and out of SYSPRO. Also, secure FTP (SFTP) is supported within the Cadacus software.
Those are the key puzzle pieces to your SYSPRO EDI environment.
Catching and Fixing Mistakes
The last piece to touch on is Error Identification and Resolution and its implementation in SYSPRO. The Error Identification and Resolution is email-based, meaning you can set it up within the Cadacus Solution EDI or email documents that are triggered from the EDI transactions. For example, you can have an email that gets sent out whenever you receive an inbound 850 from a certain trading partner, and you can route that email out to specific people within your organization or even outside the organization if you need to. You can also configure those emails to trigger if there are errors with the import and route those differently within the company. For example, you may want to route the email to your EDI team rather than sending it to a sales or customer service representative. This routes the transaction itself and routes if there are any errors identified via email to the best people who can take action. It’s a great way to electronically and automatically communicate what’s going on with your EDI from within the SYSPRO solution, and it can be configured in a variety of ways.
What Are the Cadacus-Supported Documents?
In terms of supported documents, there is a lot of information that you can exchange and import into SYSPRO from your trading partner to you. We should note that some of these are for specific industries, which may be ideal for you if you are in those industries or not quite as relevant. As far as outbound documents are concerned, the list is a bit smaller, but these are the documents you would send to your trading partner. Here is a current list of the document imports and exports:
The support in terms of imports and exports allows you to integrate your full supply chain so that it’s not just your customers you can integrate with, but your suppliers as well. It’s a high level of integration between yourself and your trading partners.
Streamlining the Supply Chain
A great way to think about it is that you’re putting yourself in the buyer’s chair, and your supplier is on the other side of your transaction. As far as SYSPRO is concerned, you’re issuing a P.O., which then gets transmitted to the trading partner. They receive it, fulfill, ship, invoice, and it comes back to you as an EDI invoice. Those are the processes between you & your customer, and you & your supplier.
Companies heavily focused on the shipping process want to make that as smooth and streamlined as possible, and their businesses often center on the Advanced Shipping Notification (ASN). Many of those companies don’t even wait for the invoice; if they receive the ASN and confirm receipt of the shipment, they pay directly off of that ASN rather than waiting for an invoice.
That said, the basic process as far as shipping integration involves sending the P.O., then the 856 or ASN document is what you would send. You pick, pack, & ship, and while your shipment is on the road or as it leaves the dock, you are transmitting the ASN to the trading partner. Imagine an organization like Walmart that is likely receiving hundreds of thousands of items daily. That receiving process has to be highly automated, streamlined, and accurate. The ASN allows them to know that the shipment is coming and then compare that to the purchasing document to make sure that everything’s in order when it arrives. In some environments, they will use these other documents, like the 824 or 861 as confirmation that the goods have been received. They will actually pay off the shipping document instead of waiting for an invoice! Altogether, it’s an important business process and fully supported in the SYSPRO environment and Cadacus.
Putting It All Together
Whether you’re new to SYSPRO EDI or looking to enhance your existing setup, this guide provides a comprehensive overview of the puzzle pieces that form the backbone of a robust and efficient SYSPRO EDI environment. One of the questions that typically comes up when you’re contemplating an EDI implementation is “How am I going to make all of these pieces work together?”
That is what we focus on at BT Partners. Our expert EDI team does the whole gamut as far as implementation, from trading partner onboarding and consulting regarding communications, to putting all of these different pieces together by installing, configuring, and making them work in your environment. We also help you make these pieces work with as little manual interaction as possible, so you get as much automation as possible – giving you more growth potential going forward.
We realize this was a lot of information and a lot of details. There’s plenty to cover in the SYSPRO EDI integration, so we hope you’re walking away knowing more and ready to optimize this powerful combo. If you have questions about any of this, please reach out. We’re happy to help and answer your questions.
