How do you prevent and avoid EDI errors in the future?

The most common error I seen, was incorrect UPC in the product table. Making sure that you are using the correct format tht your customer requires. Example is some customers uses UPC 8, while other customers require UPC 10, so I would maintain both in the product table and make sure before the data is sent to your customer that the correct data is in the correct format. I also found a common error on the product table was incorrect UPC check digits which could cause rejections and cause payments to be late because of incorrect data

Bonjour, tout d'abord je trouve que c'est très bon article, il faut sans cesse répéter que l'étude des cas d'usage et la validation de données est primordial pour établir une bonne communication EDI efficace. J'ajouterais qu'il faut dissocier 2 types d'erreur : - les erreurs techniques causant le rejet directement de votre transactions (formats, normes, protocol, etc) - les erreur fonctionnelles qui peuvent avoir un impact sur les opérations a posteriori si elles ne sont pas contr?ler par la partie qui re?oit l'information (données manquantes, erronées ou hors référentiel, hors périmètre fonctionnel)

One thing I found helpful was to keep a log of transactions by customers and make sure that you have the correct acknowlegments and any difference should be customer rejections. Any rejections should be corrected in a timely manner so rejections are not compounded before they are corrected. Also if rejections are not fixed right away, it can effect payments not being paid on time and also affect cash flow

Also make your service provider aware of any errors, so they can help you resolve the problems in a timely manner. Once the errors are resolved, see if your service provider has a faster way to resend transactions. If you have alot of errors for a specific partner, I would hold off on sending any new transactions until the problems are fixed to prevent any new rejections

Training your backup is very important especially since they will be covering your job when you take time off and gives you assurance that your job will be done correctly with minimal errors. I would get your backup involved when you are correcting errors or when you are bringing a new customer on board. I would let my backup do all of the work for a period of time while I shadow them to make sure it is done correctly and answer any of their questions that they may have.

Your trading partner should make you aware of any changes that they require, hopefully in a timely manner so you can communicate with your service provider and it is tested before it goes into a live environment and any errors are fixed

Stay in constant communication with your service provider and your trading partners to make sure any changes or errors are corrected in a timely manner. Also inform anyone on your team or anyone in your company that is impacted for any errors and how long it will take to resolve the issues

Larger companies sometimes require their partners to test transactions that they (and the trading partner) know aren't going to be used once they go live. This is unnecessary at best and silly at worst. Some companies use third parties to handle the testing process - new partners upload EDI test documents to a 3rd party web site. While this allows for verification of segments and elements, it is no substitute for end-to-end testing using the communications protocols that will be used in Production.

The credit department is the most impacted on any errors as it will slow payments down, so it is important they are made aware of these situations so they are not spending time trying to collect on transactions that have errors as it is not the customer's issue and will not be paid until the errors are fixed