BEYOND the INITIAL CONNECTION: HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR B2B EXCHANGE

BEYOND the INITIAL CONNECTION: HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR B2B EXCHANGE 1

1EDI Source: BEYOND THE INITIAL CONNECTION WHAT THE CHANGING B2B EXCHANGE ENVIRONMENT MEANS TO YOU. For anyone in charge of automating business processes using EDI to integrate customer, vendor and partner data, implementing a solution that allows you to automate processes while maintaining visibility and compliance with your business needs can prove to be a unique (and daunting) challenge. Successful electronic data interchange, or EDI, initiatives require the consideration of a number of factors, beginning with who your trading partners are and how you want to integrate the data. But, EDI projects often stop there because companies fail to realize the higher-level benefits of process automation, operational compliance, collaboration, and the powerful ability to provide valuable intelligence to business stakeholders. ERP EDI TRANSLATOR CUSTOMERS Studies indicate that organizations are then attempting to achieve those higher-level benefits by customizing solutions in and around their enterprise resource planning (ERP) to enable EDI process automation, visibility and control. After all, that s the role of an ERP, to automate workflows and provide information access for the entire organization, right? RISKS of Investing in ERP Customization Manual intervention into processes that should be automated perpetuates the risk of errors ERP Increasing thresholds for write-offs since researching issues can be time intensive Lack of visibility and control based on limited access to the information that truly matters Lost productivity due to cumbersome research tools Failure to build customizations for unforeseen circumstances may result in poor customer service 2

The old way of doing things was very manual. We had employees scanning, picking and logging material by hand, a very labor intensive experience. We achieved total first-year savings and on-going year over year savings of $70,800, and overtimes were reduced by 80 percent. Joe Chadwick, Quality Manager, Tom-Cin Metals Sure, but best in class companies are now realizing that the true objective is to achieve integrated operations, and that requires leveraging data in its native EDI form that compliments ERP information. See, when you integrate EDI data into your back office system, you risk the loss of critical details of EDI documents. For example, perhaps your ERP package only supports a ship date, but your customers provide you ship by, ship no later than, and expected delivery dates in their EDI messages. Levels of EDI IMPACT Achieving Operational Excellence Automate Volume Connect Comply/Collaborate Automate Integration Rules Operational Excellence Apply Intelligent Levers Operational Excellence Data Exchange EDI projects often stop at connect and comply because companies fail to realize the higher-level benefits of process automation, collaboration, and the powerful ability to provide valuable intelligence to business stakeholders. Losing these types of message details can often lead to new, unplanned IT projects requiring development of custom reporting. This not only increases the total cost of the EDI data integration project, but also makes your environment more complex, putting your most important business relationships at risk. THE SOLUTION What modern businesses should consider is a comparable investment in a specialized EDI solution, which could: Quickly comply with trading partner requirements and realize the efficiencies of automation Prevent business costs through supporting your business rules that are too complex for ERPs to handle Improve performance with your trading partners by leveraging complete and structured EDI data, ensuring operational compliance with processes such as advance shipment notifications (ASNs) Deliver heightened visibility, where ERPs process steps are disconnected Bottom line businesses are investing significant time and resources into EDI, but are not realizing the full potential of automation since they re investing in the development of customizations that compensate for either the deficiencies in their ERP or their existing EDI solution. 3

1EDI Source: BEYOND THE INITIAL CONNECTION Our Solution EDI/HQ EDI/HQ software or SaaS solutions from 1 EDI Source, Inc. were specifically designed to make managing your EDI tasks easier, more efficient and effective. You get EDI translation and data mapping combined with data management tools in one complete and powerful solution. INNOVATION No company has dedicated themselves more to innovation in the business-to-business space than 1 EDI Source. In fact, our company has been focused solely on helping companies learn and implement business-to-business transactions more effectively for more than 25 years. INTEGRATION Go beyond just integration with your trading partners. Through 1 EDI Source, we integrate your entire system including your ERP, warehouse and accounting applications, improving visibility to help you make better decisions. Our experience includes integration with standard ERPs including Oracle, SAP and Microsoft Dynamics. In addition to handling your unique integration needs with a standard ERP, warehouse management systems (WMS) or transportation management systems (TMS) packages, we can also integrate your EDI business with your custom back-office solutions. MIGRATION PLANNING Our EDI experts have handled hundreds of migrations from other solution providers facilitating a smooth transition for your internal teams and trading partners. TRAINING With 1 EDI University, users can learn how to maximize their investment in EDI/HQ through either a comprehensive inperson training facilitated at 1 EDI Source offices, or via monthly webinars scheduled throughout the year. CUSTOMER SERVICE When you choose 1 EDI Source, you immediately receive a dedicated EDI consultant focused on solving problems, answering questions, and overcoming obstacles to achieve your goals. COMMUNICATIONS Establishing reliable, secure connections with trading partners is critical. Our AS2 Complete solution complies with industry standards making it easy for you to send secure EDI or other data, create and manage certificates, and handle data encryption and decryption. The Oracle integration with EDI/HQ was easy, thanks to the intuitive mapping software. Kyndall O Neill, Oracle Support Specialist, Garden of Life GARDEN OF LIFE TURNED OPERATIONS AROUND WITH EDI/HQ Garden of Life integrated EDI with their EBS solution using Oracle s XML Gateway and quickly became EDI compliant and found significant value in automating the order to invoice process for all trading partners. The manage by exception capabilities of EDI/HQ allowed them to maintain low error rates and keep the IT team focused on value-added technology initiatives. Ultimately, Garden of Life was able to support their explosive company growth of $145 million in annual revenue while maintaining current staffing levels. Read more about Garden of Life s experience by downloading the complete case study at 1edisource.com/casestudies. 4

EDI/HQ DASHBOARD Your entire EDI operation at a glance. Every session in EDI/HQ begins with your own summary dashboard. Your dashboard provides a quick glance at key data, errors and other critical events to allow you to dig in for more detail. Choose from a variety of widgets that you want to appear in your dashboard and customize them to display the information that matters most. Start every session with your summary dashboard allowing you to see everything at a glance. Customize your dashboard with a continually growing selection of widgets so you can see what matters most to you. The easy-to-use interface allows you to find what you need and drill into the detail, fast. 5

1EDI Source: BEYOND THE INITIAL CONNECTION DATA MAPPING & Integration Integration isn t just possible it s easy. EDI/HQ is compatible with most back-office systems, including ERPs, WMS, TMS, accounting and other business system solutions. The real-time mapping feature allows you to apply data from actual transactions on the fly. Visualize the results as you go no need for the compile, test, compile, retest approach of other systems. And it can process virtually any format EDI, XML, delimited and fixedlength, as well as direct SQL integration with ODBC-compliant data sources. Once your data is mapped, EDI/HQ allows you to view both sides of the equation in your internal format and in the appropriate external format side-by-side in the innovative EDI/HQ View EDI Data window. And you get immediate access to specific data or transactions with SmartFilters. Search for specific transactions using an almost endless set of criteria. Save your commonly-used filters for future searches within the View EDI Data window, or for use in Dashboard widgets and reports. Find and review your data quickly and easily with the advanced View EDI Data window. The real-time mapping feature dramatically decreases the time to onboard a new transaction. 6

ALERTS & AUTOMATION Stay on top of errors, key events and transactions. Managing by exception is only possible when you re aware of the exceptions. That s why EDI/HQ has built in sophisticated alert and logging functions. Sure, it can handle most common communications protocols, but it also notifies you when things go wrong or key events occur, so you can take immediate action. EDI/HQ stops errors in their tracks before the transactions are transmitted. The advanced business rule validation allows you to avoid duplicate transactions coming in and duplicate application data going out. Each time this happens, EDI/HQ automatically alerts you via email or SMS text message. Finding and correcting errors is easy with EDI/HQ. The View EDI Data window allows you to view error details and the EDI transaction data simultaneously. You can also add error widgets to your Dashboard so you always see them first. EDI/HQ also gives you the power to specify events to trigger automated processes and critical activities. You can schedule EDI/HQ to take care of it for you, automatically. Set alerts to notify you whenever these key events occur, or add a widget to your dashboard so you see them every time you log on. EDI/HQ handles most common communications protocols including FTP, sftp, FTPs and AS2. Set triggers to establish when jobs get executed. Configure EDI/HQ to handle exceptions on your behalf or leverage advanced alerting to let you know when you need to intervene. 7

1EDI Source: BEYOND THE INITIAL CONNECTION TRADING PARTNER SETUP Get connected without getting buried. Complying with trading partner requirements is the constant challenge of any EDI operation. New trading partners are set up automatically from a single inbound or outbound transaction. You can even be alerted every time this happens via email or SMS text messaging. Once a trading partner is added, simple tools allow you to override settings at the system level, trading partner level, or document type level to ensure compliance with minimal effort. From there, a host of features support the ongoing effort of keeping you and your trading partners on the same page. A built-in Validation Engine ensures that the syntax of all inbound and outbound transactions is correct. Advanced Data Conversion Tools allow you to manage how specific terms or other variables in your inbound data are replaced with terms your internal system understands, and vice versa. Say goodbye to custom programs to update internal versus external part numbers or matching a store number to a shipping address. See everything about your trading partners and transactions. 8

We re Flexible. Choose Your EDI Management Option. 1 On-premise Implementation Take complete control of your EDI operations. With EDI/HQ, you are put in the driver s seat to manage your EDI operations on your schedule and on your terms. The EDI/HQ software solution allows you to deploy the software in your data center with complete control over the infrastructure and management of the environment. 2 Hosted SaaS Solution Your virtual EDI SaaS solution, with an emphasis on service. Leverage a self-service EDI solution without all the IT and security hassles, not to mention those ongoing costs. EDI/HQ SaaS combines the power of EDI/HQ but is hosted virtually in the cloud. You can exchange data and manage trading partner relationships through EDI/HQ without having to install, support or update the software at your location. 3 Fully Managed EDI Complete EDI solution managed by EDI experts. Fully outsource your EDI we can take care of everything including hardware, software, staffing, security, trading partner relationships and more. With 24/7 dedicated support, you ll achieve higher productivity with lower IT investment, translating in a higher ROI. 9

1EDI Source: BEYOND THE INITIAL CONNECTION WHAT S NEXT? Once you ve solved automation, it s time to drive value through your entire organization. CUSTOMERS Our IntelligentXchange solution easily puts EDI data at the fingertips of accounting, finance, customer service and other business stakeholders, minimizing mistakes and decreasing research time. z ERP EDI TRANSLATOR The software simply clips onto EDI/HQ or other legacy EDI solutions and transforms complicated data into meaningful business milestones and metrics, highlighting significant opportunities to enhance business relationships. Advantages Automatically detect operational issues before they cost money Enhance supply-chain visibility and control Gain efficiency by enabling business users with self-service tools Reduce Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) through accelerated invoice acceptance Improve profitability by assisting deduction management practices Browser-based solution supports quick, easy deployment IntelligentXchange provided instant insight into a pricing issue causing a 5 percent variance on a key customer s invoices. And 1 EDI Source highlighted revenue opportunities, such as an additional $95,000 related to ongoing business and process issues. Laura Keck, VP of Finance, Winston Products LLC Find out how IntelligentXchange helped Winston Products LLC find an additional $95,000 in revenue. Weary that EDI was putting a considerable strain on the day to day relationships with key trading partners, Winston Products took advantage of the free, no-obligation assessment. The findings immediately moved Winston Products to deploy the SaaS solution of IntelligentXchange. Read more about Winston Product s experience by downloading the complete case study at 1edisource.com/casestudies. 10

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1EDI Source: BEYOND THE INITIAL CONNECTION 1 EDI Source, Inc. is the leading provider of EDI software and SaaS designed to help organizations transform business-to-business operations. For more than 25 years, companies ranging in size from startups to Fortune 500 corporations in various industries have come to rely on 1 EDI Source for innovative, easy-to-use software and cloud-based solutions to improve customer relationships and drive operational excellence. 31875 solon road solon, ohio 44139 1.877.334.1334 1edisource.com 12