The value and justification of EDI testing fees are weak at
best and disproportional to the costs.
Over the last decade suppliers, EDI experts, and providers have ranted
their experiences online but generally have complied since the service was put
forward by a big retail account. But
that Mickey Mouse bad business practice is finally coming to an end. There is a new sheriff in town. He has heard the cries of tens of thousands
of suppliers. The convergence of new
technology in community management and a talented group of EDI developers have
put forward a no cost service called Infoborders
CE, which industry leaders predict will end EDI testing fees in 2012.
Infoborders CE, is
a self-service no cost tool for both retailers and suppliers to connect and
test their EDI connection online. The CE
stands for Community Edition and some of the highlighted features include an
EDI spec builder, syntax level testing, business rules testing configured by
each retailer, item level check, multiple document process flow validation, and
collaborative work flow tools that include issue resolution and task completion
reports. For suppliers, the community
tools allow for the sharing and editing of EDI spec information. For instance, if there is a change to the specs
for Macy's, supplier/subscribers can be alerted to the change in the
specs. The combination of a central
point for trading partner information together with a testing platform,
maintained by the community of users, much like Wikipedia, at a zero cost point
is a game changer.
"The proliferation of EDI connectivity just took the next
step into a new generation", states Mike Franks, President of DataTrans
Solutions Inc., one of the beginning sponsors of Infoborders CE. "Our retail EDI partners, the DataTrans
service team, and thousands of supplier partners will benefit by being able to cost
efficiently test EDI per partner in a single wiki environment."
For readers who have not had the experience of going through
an EDI testing third party service, check out the EDI-L group on Yahoo http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L/ and search for ‘EDI testing fees'. One
will notice over 200 messages related to the topic from users who have dealt
with the process. How does one justify
the efficiency of EDI over paper when charging anywhere from $1K to $5K just to
test the electronic connection? That is
per customer and just the fee the supplier pays the EDI testing service company
not including their own staff or EDI vendor who has to do the work. Imagine if the supplier has 10 or 20 retail
customers asking for EDI testing fees. How
can EDI providers look themselves in the mirror and say, "I am promoting the
supply chain efficiency by charging trading partner thousands of dollars just to
test a connection." Supply chain
efficiency? I don't think so.
But that is all coming to an end thanks to some focused
developers, designers and new technology.
EDI and technology has prevailed over soon-to-be obsolete bad business
practices. Let's mark this day a
victory in the evolution of EDI converging with social collaborative
tools.
News 
