What is EDI integration?

EDI integration connects your own systems to your trading partners' systems through EDI, so orders, delivery notes and invoices arrive and leave as standard electronic messages instead of emails and PDFs. In a warehouse it means an EDI order turns into a pick, and a shipment turns into a despatch advice, without anyone retyping it.

Is BizBloqs an EDI provider?

No. BizBloqs is not an EDI message bus. It processes EDI messages in its own warehouse and order flows. The exchange of those messages with your trading partners runs through the EDI partner Transus.

Which EDI messages can BizBloqs work with?

That depends on what your trading partners require, and it is settled during the implementation. In retail and wholesale the usual set is the order, the despatch advice, the receiving advice and the invoice.

Why do retailers insist on a despatch advice with SSCCs?

Because it tells their goods-in team exactly what is on each pallet before the truck arrives. With an SSCC on every pallet, the receiving warehouse can check the pallet against the despatch advice instead of counting every carton. Under GS1 rules, the despatch advice must be sent before the goods are delivered. BizBloqs generates SSCC labels for single-SKU and mixed pallets.

Do 3PL warehouses need EDI?

Often, yes. A 3PL that ships for a client to large retailers usually has to send the retailer's required despatch advice on the client's behalf. That is why EDI comes up in most 3PL tenders.

EDI integration for your warehouse

In brief

EDI is the exchange of business documents, such as orders and delivery notes, between companies' systems in an agreed standard format.
In retail and wholesale the common messages are the order (ORDERS), the despatch advice (DESADV), the receiving advice (RECADV) and the invoice (INVOIC).
The despatch advice must arrive before the goods do, and GS1 recommends identifying every pallet or carton in it with an SSCC.
BizBloqs processes EDI messages in its own warehouse and order flows. The exchange with your trading partners runs through the EDI partner Transus.
BizBloqs generates SSCC labels for single-SKU and mixed pallets. The EDI module is added at a charge from SME+, and included at Enterprise.

Who it is for

Suppliers, wholesalers, manufacturers and 3PL operators whose customers require EDI orders and despatch advice, or who want to receive supplier deliveries by EDI. Not for you if your trading partners order by email or webshop only.

A large customer sends you an order. It does not arrive as an email or a PDF. It arrives as a structured message that their system produced and that your system is expected to read. When you ship, they expect a message back before the truck arrives, telling them exactly what is on each pallet.

That exchange of business documents between companies' systems, in an agreed standard format, is called EDI: electronic data interchange. EDI integration is what connects it to the place where the goods actually are, your warehouse.

The four messages around one delivery

Most EDI in retail and wholesale uses the GS1 EANCOM standard. Around a single delivery, four messages do most of the work:

The order (ORDERS). The customer tells you what it wants, how many and where to deliver.
The despatch advice (DESADV). You tell the customer what you shipped, per pallet and per carton. GS1 is clear that this message must be sent before the goods are physically delivered.
The receiving advice (RECADV). The customer confirms what arrived, and flags any difference from the despatch advice.
The invoice (INVOIC). You invoice, with a reference to the despatch advice it covers.

The despatch advice is the one that makes or breaks the relationship with a retailer. GS1 recommends identifying every pallet or carton in it with an SSCC, a serial shipping container code printed on the pallet label. With an SSCC on each pallet, the receiving warehouse can scan the pallet and check it against the despatch advice instead of counting every carton by hand. A despatch advice that does not match the truck creates exactly the work it was meant to remove.

FIGURE 1The four EDI messages around one delivery

Scroll sideways to see the whole figure.

What BizBloqs does with EDI

With the EDI module, BizBloqs processes EDI messages in its own warehouse and order flows. An incoming order becomes an order in BizBloqs and a pick on the scanner, with nobody retyping it. What the warehouse picks and ships is what the outgoing messages are built from, so the paperwork follows the goods. BizBloqs generates the SSCC labels for the pallets, both for pallets that carry a single product and for mixed pallets.

The messages themselves travel through Transus, the EDI partner BizBloqs works with. Transus handles the exchange with your trading partners. BizBloqs is not an EDI network or message bus, and it does not need to be: the exchange is Transus' job, and the warehouse flow is BizBloqs'. See Transus for the partnership.

Which messages you exchange, and in which version, depends on what your trading partners require. That is settled during the implementation, partner by partner.

Where your ERP fits

EDI touches three systems: your trading partner's, your warehouse system and your ERP. A clean split avoids double work. The warehouse system runs what happens to the goods. The ERP keeps finance and raises the invoices. The messages between BizBloqs and your ERP are documented in the ERP–WMS message reference, and the ERP systems BizBloqs connects to are on the integrations page.

EDI in a 3PL warehouse

A 3PL that ships for a client to large retailers usually has to send the retailer's despatch advice on the client's behalf. That makes EDI a standard question in 3PL tenders. With the EDI module, the 3PL warehouse processes those messages in its own flows. For logistics service providers, BizBloqs has a separate 3PL module, charged on top, also at Enterprise. See 3PL software.

The same applies to wholesale operations supplying retail chains, and to groups whose own companies trade with each other through EDI. For the group case, see intercompany logistics.

New to the terms? The glossary entry on electronic data interchange explains them in plain language.

How the module fits

The EDI module is not part of the SME solution. From SME+, it is added at a charge, plus its configuration. At Enterprise, all modules are included and you pay for the configuration. How BizBloqs is billed, without prices, is on the WMS cost page.

Bring your largest customer's EDI requirements to a demo, and we will walk through what the warehouse does with each message. Book a BizBloqs demo.

What is EDI integration?: EDI integration connects your own systems to your trading partners' systems through EDI, so orders, delivery notes and invoices arrive and leave as standard electronic messages instead of emails and PDFs. In a warehouse it means an EDI order turns into a pick, and a shipment turns into a despatch advice, without anyone retyping it.
Is BizBloqs an EDI provider?: No. BizBloqs is not an EDI message bus. It processes EDI messages in its own warehouse and order flows. The exchange of those messages with your trading partners runs through the EDI partner Transus.
Which EDI messages can BizBloqs work with?: That depends on what your trading partners require, and it is settled during the implementation. In retail and wholesale the usual set is the order, the despatch advice, the receiving advice and the invoice.
Why do retailers insist on a despatch advice with SSCCs?: Because it tells their goods-in team exactly what is on each pallet before the truck arrives. With an SSCC on every pallet, the receiving warehouse can check the pallet against the despatch advice instead of counting every carton. Under GS1 rules, the despatch advice must be sent before the goods are delivered. BizBloqs generates SSCC labels for single-SKU and mixed pallets.
Do 3PL warehouses need EDI?: Often, yes. A 3PL that ships for a client to large retailers usually has to send the retailer's required despatch advice on the client's behalf. That is why EDI comes up in most 3PL tenders.