On 9/12/06, Mike Anderson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I am vaguely familiar with the EDI Standard (and there are many flavors > out there), and I do also understand that there is much homework to be > done on my end, before I can forge ahead with this project. > > With that said, I would love to get a jumpstart on this - so if anybody > could chime in on this thread, and offer any experiences or resources > they have on this topic, I would be eternally grateful.
Eternal gratitude is too good to pass up :) Please note that it's been 6 years since I did any EDI work, so company names may have changed, etc. Some suggestions: 1) See if Wal-Mart offers any kind of training for vendors on EDI. Sometimes the larger operations have vendor eduction programs available. 2) Get a good begginner's book for an EDI overview. I used Electronic commerce with EDI by Robert Sullivan, but I have no idea if the book is still in print (got it 7-8 years ago). 3) Chances are WM only requires you to use one EDI standard, (ASC) X12. You probably don't have to worry about others like UN/EDIFACT - Other places, or EIAJ - Japan unless you want to make a complete solution. 4) I don't know what your volume is like, so I'm not sure about which tools you might want. My experience was in a high-volume environment ($billions, 1000's of partners) and we had a set of customized and off-the-shelf solutions. I'm not familiar with Wal-Mart's setup, but I would expect that you will have to sign up with a VAN (Value Added Network) which essentially gives you mailbox-style connectivity with other VAN users. GXS is the one that comes to mind first, although I know we used another as well. WM may have a VAN you are required to join up with. Direct transmission of EDI data is also possible, so check with WM to be sure. You may also need/want to look into some mapping software, depending on your volume, source data formats, and desire to process incoming EDI data into another format. Mapping products basically provide format translation of data to/from EDI formats. I know that we used a couple, AI (Application Integrator) from GXS and a product called EDITRAN (which I would bet no longer sells). Hope that a little of this rambling helps. Adam -- Flexcoders Mailing List FAQ: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/flexcoders/files/flexcodersFAQ.txt Search Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/flexcoders/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
