Answers

EDI 101
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the exchange of business data in specified and standardized formats. EDI can eliminate the need of data entry on both sides, reducing the possibility of human error, and replaces the traditional paper invoicing and ordering.
Benefits of EDI include:
· Reduced cycle time
· Better inventory management
· Increased productivity
· Reduced costs
· Improved accuracy
· Improved business relationships
· Enhanced customer service
· Increased sales
· Minimized paper use and storage
· Increased cash flow

The EDI standards are developed and maintained by the Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12. The standards are designed to work across industry and company boundaries. Changes and updates to the standards are made by consensus, reflecting the needs of the entire base of standards users, rather than those of a single organization or business sector. Today, more than 300,000 organizations use the 300+ EDI transaction sets to conduct business.

Who uses EDI?
Industries currently using EDI include retail, insurance, education, entertainment, mortgage banking, and numerous departments of the U.S. Government. Note, however, that this list is far from complete! As more and more businesses turn to EDI, several standards committees - including the Accredited Standards Committee X12 (ASC X12) and EDIFACT - are working to include appropriate transactions in its body of standards.

What makes EDI work?
EDI permits hundreds of unrelated companies to communicate and process business transactions electronically.
EDI works because it relies on a standard system that everyone can use, developed under the guidelines of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the coordinator for national standards in the United States.
The ANSI committee ensures that everyone using a process such as EDI follows the same rules and methods, making the program universally accessible. As a result of the standard, all businesses share a common interchange language, which minimizes the need for users to reprogram their internal data processing systems.

The advantages of EDI:
1. First, it saves a lot of trees. Traditionally, the manufacture and sale of new products and services has been accompanied by a long paper trail consisting of order forms, invoices, bills of lading, and a variety of documents containing specific but crucial data.

EDI makes it possible to enjoy:
· one-time data entry
· reduced errors
· on-line data storage
· faster management reporting
· automatic reconciliation

2. It saves a lot of time. We know it takes time to compile the necessary paperwork in order to conduct a specific transaction, but we often forget-until it's too late-that we need to allow time for that document to leave our hands and arrive at the appropriate person/department. EDI serves as a faster and substantially more efficient way to communicate and process business data. In addition, it eliminates postage and courier costs.

3. EDI allows you to have uniform communications with all of your trading partners, including customers, suppliers, carriers, and financial institutions.

4. EDI will put you in a better market position in relation to non-EDI competitors.
This information has been taken from "An Introduction to Electronic Data Interchange" (September 1991), a booklet compiled from the Data Interchange Standards Association, Inc. (DISA).

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the computer-to-computer exchange of business data in standard formats. In EDI, information is organized according to a specified format set by both parties, allowing a "hands-off" computer transaction that requires no human intervention or rekeying on either end. All information contained in an EDI transaction set is, for the most part, the same as on a conventionally printed document.
Organizations have adopted EDI for the same reasons they have embraced much of today's modern technology-enhanced efficiency and increased profits.

Information provided by the Data Interchange Standards Association (DISA) and can be found at http://www.disa.org/

FAQ

· How can EDI help me?
o EDI works to your advantage by eliminating the need for keying in data more than once, reducing the possibility of human error. It also provides a paperless storage system of your invoices, and therefore reduces cost.
EDI is required by some companies and will provide new business relationships, and improve existing ones.

· What do I need to do EDI?
- Using the COMPASS system, you only need a PC (Pentium II or compatible) and Internet Explorer (IE5 or higher).

· How many companies can I work with?
- As many companies as you trade with.

· My accounting team uses an ERP software to invoice.
- SEXTANT sounds perfect for you! By utilizing our FTP service, you can transfer application files coded to your specific software to and from Behr Technologies, which will be translated into EDI and sent out to your trading partners.

· What is ERP?
- Enterprise Resource Planning software, used in effect to integrate all functions of your company into a single package.

· What is MRP?
- Material Requirements Planning software, a system used primarily in manufacturing process as a means to manage material requirements.

· What accounting packages can Behr Technologies integrate with?
- If your accounting package can import and export a file with a fixed format, Behr Technologies can integrate with you. See information about SEXTANT.

· My Trading Partner uses EDIFACT transactions. Can I still use COMPASS?
- We deal with both X12 and EDIFACT transactions, and can support any number of versions. Contact Us for more information.