fcB2B Articles
What do I need to participate in fcB2B?
You’ve heard about fcB2B but want to know more about how to participate. Congratulations on taking the first step to becoming more efficient. Who can participate in fcB2B? Any company in the flooring industry that does business with another company. What do I need to participate in this program? That depends on your type of business. Let’s break down the requirements for manufacturers, distributors, and retailers.
Manufacturers and Distributors
To participate, you need to have a computer system that contains your products and prices. Having this information stored in spreadsheets will make participating in fcB2B a little more difficult. You will need a way to translate your data into the fcB2B EDI format. That can either be a commercial translator, custom written translator, or a third-party EDI service provider. The first 2 options will require people skilled in transforming data into the EDI format. The last option may lead to faster implementation but will require additional costs. Another option is to use the new Non-EDI Product Catalog. This is a fcB2B standard spreadsheet format that can be imported by customers using a flooring specific software package that supports fcB2B imports. This spreadsheet allows the same attributes as the EDI version but in a much easier format to create and maintain. Providing the product catalog is a huge benefit for your customers. Allowing them to submit PO’s electronically can be a huge benefit for both you and your customers. Just because a PO is submitted electronically doesn’t mean that you have lost control of this process. The same business rules that apply to your website order processing and your manual order processing can still apply to the fcB2B PO. Companies validate the PO prior to creating a live order and either suspend the order for someone to review, reject the order if it fails a validation, or create the order if correct. A PO Acknowledgement is created to convey the status and potential order number back to the customer. Providing ordering via your website may be beneficial for you, but your customer has multiple suppliers that they are placing orders for via multiple websites. This can be very inefficient for them to login and navigate through multiple sites just to place a single order. By making life easier for your customers, your sales may increase.
Retailers
To participate, you need to have a computer system that supports the fcB2B process. It can be the traditional automated process or an import process that supports the new fcB2B non-EDI product catalog. If you are using QuickBooks, you will need to upgrade to a true flooring specific software package. There are some packages that provide a stand-alone package for fcB2B process and allows QuickBooks to continue as your financial application. QuickBooks is a great application for what it does, but it’s not designed to support the level of detail that is provided by suppliers using the fcB2B standard. It also doesn’t allow you to generate PO’s using the fcB2B standard. Whether you are generating 5 purchase orders a week or 500, you may find that using fcB2B will simplify your back office and make you more efficient. fcB2B offers many business functions to streamline your entire business, from product and price changes to processing invoices to checking stock and placing reserves. Making your business more efficient can mean big savings to your bottom line.
Check the fcB2B website at https://fcb2b.info/connections/ to see if your suppliers are members. If your supplier is not showing to be a member, please complete this short survey (https://bit.ly/22fcB2Btps), so I can contact them about joining fcB2B to support their customers. You can also help by using the fcB2B Form Letter for Suppliers on the fcB2B website under the Resources > Files tab. This provides a template that you can download and send to your supplier or update to include a personalized note before sending. Click on the Resources tab to learn more about fcB2B. The Members > Connections tab has a listing of the members who support fcB2B.
We’ve always done it that way!
“We’ve always done it that way” and “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” are dangerous phrases that can hurt your business. Why do we assume that because something worked in the past it’s still the best for the future? Are we so busy getting the job done that we can’t see there may be a more efficient way? Have you ever wondered if there was a more efficient way, but either didn’t want to rock the boat or weren’t sure how to proceed? Now is the time to question those processes and look at a better way. This article will review the processes associated with fcB2B and how your business can be more efficient by making a few changes.
The first process we’ll review is maintaining your product and price changes. Is this still a manual process? The fcB2B Product / price catalog allows your fcB2B suppliers to send the products and prices they have linked to your account. You already receive this via a printout, email, website, or spreadsheet, but how does your system get updated? Having someone manually enter the information or via a manipulated spreadsheet that gets imported is slow. With fcB2B, the process can be automated. Existing products are updated with the latest price, new products are added with the description from the supplier and dropped products or colors are removed. This process normally takes minutes, not hours or days. Imagine the time savings during a price increase or when new products are being released.
The next process relates to the ordering of products. Most suppliers provide a website for checking stock, reserving stock, placing orders, and checking your order status. This would be nice if you only had one supplier, what happens when you have five, ten or more suppliers? For simplicity, let’s assume you have ten suppliers each with a different website for entering orders. You would need to collect all products to be ordered for a supplier, find the website, login, navigate to the order entry screen, select the product, enter the quantity, verify the products and quantity, submit the order, now update your system with the reference number. Now repeat this for the ten suppliers. Sounds like a lot of steps with possible interruptions and hopefully no errors. Why not let your ERP system do this for you with the push of a button? With fcB2B, the software collects the orders for suppliers and allows you to press the button to submit the order with the products and quantities needed. It will update each order with the reference number normally within seconds. Whether all your suppliers provide fcB2B or not, think about the time savings and reduced errors you can gain when connecting with those that do use fcB2B.
Do you get notified of products or PO’s being delivered prior to the truck showing up at your door? If your suppliers are using fcB2B, they can provide you with an Advanced Ship Notice. The ASN contains PO numbers, PO line numbers, roll numbers, package numbers, products, quantities, and bill of lading number. All of the information needed to help you receive and update the PO and customer order. Most systems will show when a customer’s order is complete and ready to be installed.
The last piece is the invoice. Do you still wait for the mail to run to get your paper invoices so someone can begin verifying what was ordered has been received and invoiced? What if the verification was automated so that your invoice was received electronically, linked to the PO and receiving, then marked for payment? Computers are excellent for repetitive tasks and can help free up an employee to be more productive in other areas of your business. Take the time to look at your process and don’t keep doing things the same way because “We’ve always done it that way”. By spending a few minutes reviewing your manual processes, you may be able to update and save many hours.
Is your business digital?
Do you still deal with paper processes? If so, WHY? Many retail businesses no longer automatically print a receipt but will ask if you want a paper copy. Others provide an electronic version only. Do you still require a physical signature to close a deal or has your company moved to electronic signatures? These are just a few examples of how business has changed over the last few years. So, is your business digital?
Since the desktop computer first became affordable, companies have looked for ways to automate their processes. First moving from paper accounting to spreadsheets, and then to applications like QuickBooks. Around the beginning of the 21st century the fcB2B standards were released and began to be adopted. The suppliers that participate and provide the price catalog have helped their customers move to a digital catalog. Why is this important? I recently spoke with a retailer that indicated he had someone that spent fifteen to twenty hours a week maintaining prices in his system for non-fcB2B suppliers. He was able to maintain prices for fcB2B suppliers in ten to fifteen minutes a day. Imagine the cost and time savings by reducing a manual process from twenty hours to less than one and a half hours a week. That’s just one process that is supported by the fcB2B standard.
Placing orders is another process that can be automated using fcB2B. No matter if you submit ten purchase orders a week or one hundred there are efficiencies to be gained. Think about how long it takes to either call your order in or navigate to your supplier’s website. You must enter the order then update your system with the reference number and status. Using fcB2B can reduce that time typically to less than 2 minutes and provide a digital trail of the PO being generated, submitted, the acknowledgement being received, and updating your system. Several suppliers provide the order status web service so the software can provide the most up to date status of your order.
The receiving process can also be digitized using the fcB2B Advanced Ship Notice (ASN). This is a detailed bill of lading which will help with the receiving process and provide a digital copy of what was included on the truck. Most systems will match the PO’s, ASN and receiving information to confirm if the PO has been fully received or if certain products are still on order.
Are you still receiving paper invoices or are you receiving a PDF of all invoices for a given day? Are you saving the paper or digitizing to have a digital copy for reference later? How long does it take to match the paper invoice to the PO and receiving to confirm you were correctly invoiced for products received? What if this process could be automated so an electronic copy of the invoice was downloaded to your computer, matched to the PO, and receiving and automatically verified that everything was correct? This entire process can be completed in minutes instead of hours, when done manually. This can be reality if you are using the fcB2B invoice and you will have an audit trail of when it was received and what was on the invoice.
Are you not using fcB2B because only a few of your supplier’s support it? Your voice is powerful and has a bigger impact then you may think. Use the fcB2B form letter at https://bit.ly/fcB2BLetter or visit www.fcB2B.info and select the Resources tab then Files. Look for the “fcB2B Form Letter to Suppliers”, download and send to your suppliers. This is a tool to help get your suppliers involved in fcB2B. Suppliers need to know this is important to their customers and not just another project to add to their list.
Visit our website at www.fcb2b.info and click on the Resources tab to learn more about fcB2B. The Members > Connections tab has a listing of the members who support fcB2B.
Do you B2B? If not, why? Contact me to find out how to be more efficient in your business.
fcB2B – What’s New in 2022.
2021, another year in the books, so I thought it would be a good time to review the changes that have been made regarding the fcB2B program. A lot of what happens in fcB2B is done without a lot of fanfare, but you are hopefully receiving the benefits.
One of the first initiatives we continue to push is for all companies who are providing fcB2B services to become certified. Why is this important? The original fcB2B standard was created 20 years ago and over the years has been updated by many different people. As the updates happened there were conversations about how certain information was to be provided to fcB2B. Some rules were documented, and others were not. This has led to inconsistencies in the implementation of each document by members that may not have been part of fcB2B during those updates. We now have a newer fcB2B standard, which the fcB2B created a few years ago to streamline the information being shared. There are now rules defined in the standard so that each member providing fcB2B services will be consistent. fcB2B created the certification process to ensure that exchangeable documents are formatted correctly and the data follows the best practice guidelines. The companies that receive the documents will see the benefits by having quality information loaded into their systems. This should reduce errors and manual processing to correct issues. How do you determine if a company is certified with fcB2B? The fcB2B website has a feature that allows you to filter the members who have completed certification. The website is www.fcB2B.info look under The Members, then Connections and click the box next to “Only Display fcB2B Certified Organizations”. This will provide you the current list of companies who are certified. Check back often as we continue to add more companies to the list.
If you sell products in California, then you are familiar with CARE and the charge for all carpet products. Hopefully, you are also aware of the change that went into effect on April 1, 2022 (https://carpetrecovery.org/california/assessment/). fcB2B formed a committee and worked with CARE to update the Catalog to provide the retailer with the amount of the charge for each product. This will allow the computer system to calculate the correct amount for the product.
An issue that has caused heartburn for many who receive product catalogs is when the product information is out of date. Throughout the years there have been changes to the product catalog regarding numerous issues, but problems still arise. This causes incorrect prices, dropped products still showing as active, missing products and other issues. The normal resolution was to request a complete catalog and hope it resolved the issues. The fcB2B formed a committee to discuss these issues and they have updated the 832 product catalog with rules for processing drops, adds, and changes. The committee’s updates will be validated during the certification process to ensure the changes are applied correctly in the receiving system.
We had eight distributors and one manufacturer who signed up in 2021 to begin providing fcB2B documents to their customers. Check the The Members > Connections tab to see if your suppliers are members. If your supplier is not showing to be a member, please complete this short survey (https://bit.ly/22fcB2Btps), so I can contact them about joining fcB2B to support their customers. You can also help by using the fcB2B Form Letter for Suppliers under the Resources > Files tab. This provides a template that you can download and send to your supplier or update to include a personalized note before sending.
Do you B2B? If not, why? Contact me to find out how to be more efficient in your business. Contact Lewis Davis at 706-217-1183 ext. 132 or via email at ldavis@wfca.org.
What is fcB2B and why should my company participate?
There have been many articles written and interviews given about fcB2B over the years, but I still run into people that aren’t familiar with it. This article will explain what it is and how it can benefit your company, no matter if you are a manufacturer, distributor, or retailer. fcB2B stands for Floor Covering Business to Business and in its simplest definition is a process to provide business critical documents in an electronic format. If you’re thinking that you already do this by sending documents via email or downloading them from a website, you’re close. These processes still require human interaction to complete the process and are error prone. The email could get sent to the wrong person, get stopped by a SPAM filter, requires someone to open the email attachment and do something.
Let’s take the first document and review from a manufacturer’s perspective. The product catalog is generated for your customer and contains the products and prices that they are allowed to purchase. This is generated from the information already stored in your system and provided to your customer, in most cases automatically because someone updated the information via an existing process. Your customer, using a process that supports the fcB2B standard, retrieves the information and updates their system with the changes. Why is this important? In some cases, your customers are also dealing with a reduced staff and looking for ways to do more with less. Let’s put this into perspective, if your customer bought from 5 different suppliers and each supplier had 100 styles with 2 sizes in each style and 10 colors in each size, that’s around 10000 items that would need to be updated for each price change. Assuming it takes 30 seconds to update the price on 1 item, that’s 5000 minutes, or 83.33 hours. If those 5 suppliers are using fcB2B that 83.33 hours turns into maybe an hour to retrieve prices and update their system. Your customer is now much more efficient and more likely to encourage the sale of your products.
From a distributor’s perspective, your customers are also happy with you because they can now import the products. they purchase from you quickly and efficiently. You also have the added benefit of using fcB2B with your suppliers and automating processes on your side. You can submit PO’s and get PO acknowledgements. You can get notifications of shipments and automate the receiving process. You can also get your invoices electronically. Not only are you helping your customers be more efficient, but you are also benefiting from the automation that fcB2B allows.
As a retailer you have already seen how the product catalog can provide efficiencies by reducing the time delay in getting your prices updated. What other efficiencies can you gain? What about submitting POs to your suppliers? Do you currently enter the POs into each suppliers website or call customer service to get the order entered? Imagine taking those PO’s that already exist in your system and pushing a button to have them sent electronically to your suppliers and getting the reference number and status automatically updated in your system. How much time would that save you a day or week? How about your sales staff being able to check stock on a product instantly while talking with a customer and not having to visit a website or call customer service? What about having the status of orders updated in your system without having to call or visit multiple websites and then manually update your system. Imagine the possibilities and how efficient you could become by using technology.
Fcb2B provides specifications to generate Price / Product Catalogs; receive PO’s and return PO acknowledgements; send Advance Shipping Notices (electronic BOL) and invoices. We also have specifications that allow for instant Price Checks, Stock Checks, placing Reservations on stock, instant Order status updates, and seeing what items may be related to a product being sold.
The Members > Connections tab has a listing of the members that support fcB2B.
Do you B2B? If not, why? Contact me to find out how to be more efficient in your business.
What’s in it for me?
I get this question quite often when talking with suppliers about fcB2B. For the retailers, there are plenty of efficiency opportunities to be found when using fcB2B. A few are listed below.
- Automating price updates via the product catalog
- Price check to ensure the current price is correct
- Checking for available stock
- Reserving stock for an order
- Placing the order electronically
- Receiving the order confirmation
- Checking order status
- Receiving the ship notice to facilitate receiving
- Receiving the invoice for 3-way match
However, suppliers typically see fcB2B as a cost. They fail to see the long-term savings and efficiencies they can get by implementing fcB2B with their customers. The suppliers can save money on printing and postage for price catalogs and invoices. Efficiencies come from reallocating of resources from phone calls to other important functions. Most suppliers have websites that allow these same functions but fail to think how inefficient that is for their customers.
As a retailer who orders from 5 suppliers, not utilizing B2B, they potentially have 5 different web sites they must log into and navigate to place an order. If the supplier doesn’t provide a web site with these functions then the retailer must find and potentially call multiple times, confirming the current price, finding out if stock is available, placing a reserve and then finally calling back to place an order. This takes time for the retailer and for customer service to perform these checks. With most Flooring Management systems these functions are built in. This allows the retailer to remain in one system and become much more efficient.
Suppliers that implement B2B can benefit from fewer claims associated with incorrect orders being entered; fewer complaints from customers that haven’t received the latest price update in a timely manner to get their system and store updated; fewer calls to check stock, place reservations and checking the status of orders. As more and more retailers see the benefits of using B2B, they demand B2B of their suppliers. Suppliers that have B2B may notice an increase in orders. This could be because the retailers find it easier and faster to place an order via B2B than placing it via web or phone.
Suppliers, if you are already doing business with the big box stores, then you are probably already using X12 EDI with them per their requirements. fcB2B utilizes the language of X12 EDI and it has been used by retailers in the flooring industry for over 15 years. B2B allows retailers to become more efficient, profitable and they may even try a little harder to sell your product compared to a competitor who doesn’t support fcB2B.
So back to the supplier’s question “What’s in it for me?”. More efficiency; fewer claims for wrong products, quantity or price on the order; and best of all, potentially more sales from happy customers. Are you a manufacturer, distributor, or retailer that’s curious about how fcB2B can help, but don’t know where to start? Contact me at ldavis@wfca.org or 706-217-1183 x 132, and we’ll set a time to talk you through the steps.
Do you fully use fcB2B?
Do you utilize the full process that fcB2B provides? What do you mean, you may ask? Are you a retailer that is only receiving the product catalog? I am sure you see the benefit of keeping your prices and products updated automatically, but what about PO’s, receiving and invoices. Were you aware that there is an average of 1 to 2 percent error rate when placing orders manually? What do errors cost your business and what if you could reduce that percentage by entering the order once and submitting it electronically. Computers typically do a great job of processing exactly what they are provided. Whether you submit 1 order a day or 1000 a week you can still benefit from automating that process.
Now let us talk about receiving and how that process can be improved by using the Advance Ship Notice. Are you manually entering everything received into your system and then matching back to what was ordered? What if your computer already knew what was on the truck and could tell you what was ordered but not received? Your process of receiving could be reduced to verifying the product and determining where to location the inventory.
Now that the order has been placed and received are you waiting for the mail to deliver the invoices. Once you receive the invoices are you having to manually match the order to the receiving and the invoice to confirm everything ordered was received and invoiced. Imagine having the invoices in your system within 24 hours after the shipment was received and automatically matched to the PO and receiving. I have heard of a retailer that had one person spending 40 hours a week submitting PO’s and processing Invoices. After adding fcB2B to their process that one person was able to process PO’s and invoices in only a few hours a week and assist with other processes. If you are currently using one of the flooring specific software packages, check with support to see about adding fcB2B to your setup. Not using a flooring specific software package but still interested in benefiting from fcB2B? Contact Lewis Davis at ldavis@wfca.org and discuss options you have for your current setup.
Do you suffer from SAOD?
Do you suffer from Severe Acronym Overload Disorder or SAOD? I know I do on some days. If you read through any of the trade magazines you may have been affected at one time. Thank goodness, we have Google to help identify what each acronym means.
fcB2B has a long list of numbers and acronyms that mean something. If you listen to members at our meetings talk, you might think they are part of a secret government agency. “I sent an 850 to you but you didn’t send me an 855 or an 856. What about the 997?” All of these numbers indicate a different electronic document. Let’s look at the acronyms and numbers used within the fcB2B language so we can eliminate a little of your SAOD.
Let’s start at the beginning and work our way through the fcB2B alphabet.
fcB2B – This stands for Floor Covering Business to Business and is the group that manages the standards and helps suppliers become fcB2B compliant.
WS – Web service is a connection to a supplier’s computer that allows a software package to ask a question and get an answer in near real-time. The web services that fcB2B have defined are Stock Check, Order Status, and Price Check. New services in process or being reviewed include Reservation and fcB2B setup request and response. The Reservation Service will allow the reservation of a product in the supplier’s system electronically. The fcB2B setup request and response would standardize the process for a company new to fcB2B to request setup with their supplier.
FTP or SFTP – File Transfer Protocol or Secure File Transfer Protocol is the communication method used by fcB2B to send and receive documents between the retailer and supplier. This is a direct connection and eliminates any third-party charges for managing the connections.
EDI – Electronic Data Interchange is the computer to computer exchange of business documents in a standard format.
X12 – Is chartered by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for more than 40 years. It develops and maintains EDI standards to drive business processes globally. fcB2B uses the X12 EDI standard to define the Price Catalog, PO/PO Acknowledgment, Advanced Ship Notice and Invoice.
832 – This is the X12 number for the Product Catalog. This is the electronic document sent by suppliers with product and price information used to load and maintain flooring software.
850 – Electronic Purchase Order generated by flooring software and processed by suppliers. This provides suppliers with the information required to generate an order.
855 – Electronic PO confirmation sent by the supplier after receiving an 850. This is a confirmation that the order was processed and contains values indicating either success or failure when processing the PO.
856 – Advance Ship Notice or ASN. Think of this as a detailed electronic bill of lading from the supplier. This contains the quantity, product, PO number, ship to and from, and other information needed to receive in the shipment.
810 – The electronic invoice is the final document in the fcB2B bag. This allows the retailer to receive a copy of the invoice and the flooring software to match what was ordered, received and invoiced. This completes the 3-way match and ensures the retailer isn’t missing any product and wasn’t billed incorrectly. 997 – This is a functional acknowledgment which is automatically generated and returned for every document sent. This ensures that when sending an X12 document, the receiving party receives it and it wasn’t lost in space. The document can convey the status of the received document and any errors found in the original document.
Why certification?
Why should the fcB2B provide certification? Without some type of validation process the B2B documents that are being passed between suppliers, distributors and retailers will continue to be inconsistent. Certification has been attempted multiple times in the fcB2B groups existence. In the past there wasn’t an independent entity to perform the certification. There also wasn’t a defined process for how certification happened.
The fcB2B group has now defined a certification process and will act as the independent entity. The certification process was approved at the annual meeting in October. A tool to perform the validation is currently being researched. The fcB2B group requested when approving the certification process that the tool be available for self-testing prior to starting the certification process.
Certification will only be performed on the latest version of documents which currently is version 3.0 and at the present will not certify web services. The web services validation process is still being reviewed so a process can be defined. The certification process as defined, will validate both the senders process and the receivers process. This will ensure that all parties are compliant, and the data being processed is consistent. We hear quite often that one supplier sends information differently then other suppliers and this either causes extra work for the software providers or problems for the receiver of the information. This has mostly been because of how companies interpreted the original standards. The new version of the documents are much clearer and eliminates the ambiguity in the interpretation. With certification we can ensure that the standards are being interpreted the same across the industry. Once a company completes certification the company and the approved document(s) will be identified on the fcB2B website with a marker indicating they are certified. This certification process will remain in effect for a timeframe or until changes occur that require recertification. The retailers will then be able to view the suppliers and software providers and know who has gone through the certification process. You can feel comfortable that the data being passed between the suppliers and software providers is good. The process also validates that if bad information does get sent that the receiver will handle it correctly and not populate bad information in your system to cause you problems. The certification list will also allow you to see what documents a supplier or software provider are able to transact. This allows for informed decisions when selecting your next flooring software provider.
My Supplier isn’t on B2B!
As a retailer who uses fcB2B, you understand the benefits and cost savings it provides. Some benefits include checking stock in real time without leaving your customer, verifying the current price of a product, reserving stock to ensure your orders are filled, and submitting orders electronically. Imagine having all your suppliers using B2B instead of just a few. You would be a master of productivity. Instead, you probably only have a few suppliers utilizing fcB2B. Others require extra work on your part to keep prices updated and time to manually key PO’s in their website or call the order desk to place the order. Then you wait for the paper invoices to arrive in the mail. With the current health crisis and possible reduced staffing levels, automating these tasks is more important than ever.
Why doesn’t fcB2B get these suppliers involved with B2B to make your life easier? We have a list of suppliers that we contact that are currently not part of fcB2B and encourage them to join. The problem we run into is that they look at us as a fly at the picnic. Just spitting out buzz words and wanting them to implement B2B. Suppliers listen to their customers more than they do the fcB2B group. If we work together, then our combined voice can make a difference.
What can you do to help fcB2B help you? To start with, fcB2B has a short video that explains the benefits of B2B from the retailer’s perspective. We had several requests from retailers to provide information that would help explain what fcB2B is for sales reps. This video is front and center on our website. Send your reps to the site and have them spend less than 2 minutes reviewing the video. We also created a form letter that explains the benefits for both the retailer and the supplier. Download the form from the website, add your company info and send it to your suppliers you want on B2B.
The Retailer letter for a supplier can be found on the Resources tab or by clicking here. This is a Google letter that you can download and add your company information. Then, send it to your suppliers. Are you a manufacturer, distributor, or retailer that’s interested in making your business transactions electronic, but don’t know where to start? Drop me an email at ldavis@wfca.org, and we’ll set a time to talk you through the steps.
What is EDI and why is it used by fcB2B?
What is EDI or Electronic Data Interchange? Let us start with a little history, back in the early 1970’s companies were looking at ways to communicate business documents in an automated fashion. Back then communication was done using modems (precursor to todays routers). Companies like Montgomery Ward and Kmart defined their own format to send purchase orders to their suppliers. This was great if you were the sender, but each supplier had to support multiple formats to be able to process PO’s. This was very inefficient and costly for the suppliers. The industry came together and requested help from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and after a period, EDI was born. At the time that the fcB2B standards were created, EDI was well established and heavily used within supply chain. This made the decision on the format very easy.
The EDI documents are rather cryptic if you are not familiar with the format. Each document has a number that identifies what information is contained within. The 810 is an electronic invoice whereas the 832 is a product catalog. Each document is broken down into segments and elements. The elements define what data is stored and qualifiers are used to further identify the data. X12 EDI is used throughout the United States where as EDIFACT is the standard used in the rest of the world. Although they differ in context and document name, a Purchase Order is an 850 in X12 and ORDERS in EDIFACT, both still use segments, elements, and qualifiers to identify the data being sent.
I know this is techno speak but it helps to explain why EDI was used to create the fcB2B standard. In today’s IT and in life, things move much faster, and we have gotten accustomed to instant access and instant delivery. One question I get is why are we still using EDI to send these critical documents, why not a newer technology or web services to request a catalog and receive the data. One reason is the volume of data in a complete catalog from some suppliers, although small compared to some files on the internet. Another reason is the investment suppliers have made in EDI which is still required by large retailers to conduct business. The big online retailers (Amazon, Wayfair, etc.) are looking to EDI to provide stock levels to keep products on a website and supplier analytics. There are other options for sending this type of information but they would require additional effort to define and get industry agreement. EDI may be getting some gray hairs but it’s still useful and still has a role in automating business critical documents.
Do you B2B? If not, Why? Contact me to find out how to be more efficient in your business. Lewis Davis can be contacted at 706-217-1183 ext. 132 or via email at ldavis@wfca.org.
This Is How It Starts
The phone rings in customer service at Acme Flooring Manufacturer. A cheery but bored CSR answers the phone “Thank you for choosing Acme, how may I help you?”. The rushed caller is ready to place an order. “My account number is 31234. I need to place an order for 136 feet of style 109464, Perpetually Blissful, color 592. Do you have it in stock?”. The CSR minimizes their Facebook window and checks stock for style 109464 color 582. “You’re in luck, we have a 136 foot roll of that style in stock and can have it delivered in two days.” Two days later, Acme’s delivery of 136 feet of purple Perpetually Blissful arrives at the dealer. “I ordered beige, color 592, you delivered purple, color 582!!!”. A claim has been born. This is how it starts.
Sadly, across our industry, over 750,000 orders are manually sent to distributors and manufacturers every month. History has shown that every time there is a handoff, which is when an order is either called in, faxed, emailed, or re-keyed from a dealer’s system to a manufacturer web page, there is an error rate between 1-2%, no matter how diligent everyone is in checking and rechecking the order. So that means 10,000 or more incorrect orders every month make it through the system. Fortunately, these are preventable. The easiest way to prevent these is to eliminate the handoff. That’s where B2B kicks in. Transmitting an order electronically, straight from your system to the supplier, completely eliminates that extra handoff. That means lower costs for the dealer, less claims, more reliable installation dates, and most importantly, happier customers!