Retailer Solutions

Retailer Solutions

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SoftCare Trading Partner Certification & Migration Services

The Challenge:

One of the biggest hurdles to obtaining maximum value of EDI Enabled Hubs is rapid adoption of the new trading partners.

The Solution

SoftCare’s EDI Certification Process is designed to maximize the number of trading partners in your trading environment.  There is no cost to you and it provides your trading partners a simple way to become EDI enabled.

SoftCare’s EDI Certification process is based on years of experience in EDI and electronic commerce.  This experience helps ensures a minimum of disruption to business operations within your trading partner community. As the electronic transfer of business documents is a mature technology, many of your trading partners already have the capability to trade with you electronically. The final key to a successful EDI implementation is managing the connectivity of every partner. This can be a burden for most IT staffs.

The Process

Here is how the process works:

  • SoftCare’s Solutions Group will work with you to create company specific EDI implementation guidelines that closely mirror other industry players while ensuring that the necessary information required for your internal needs.  If you already have an EDI program, the Solutions group will meet with your staff to review your existing EDI processes. The Solutions group uses this review to become the outside “experts” in your EDI process. This allows the Solutions group to quickly and efficiently answer the majority of questions form your trading partners. This expertise is critical to reduce your internal efforts to support the certification process and to increase the satisfaction of your trading partners.
  • The Solutions Group will work with you to identify a target 20 trading partner to pursue. Once identified, they will work with your business staff to create an “EDI Readiness Survey”. This survey is used to determine the EDI capabilities of your trading partners including any unique considerations or requirements.
  • The Solutions Group will draft a letter on your company’s letterhead explaining to your Trading Partner community the endorsement of SoftCare to certify and test all new EDI trading partners.
  • Once completed, a copy of the EDI Readiness Survey, endorsement letter and your implementation guidelines will be forwarded to your trading partners
  • SoftCare will work with your group to identify an initial group to work with on the first implementation of EDI. It is recommended that a group of 20 suppliers be targeted initially. This small group will be used to ensure that all issues are addressed prior to a full rollout.
  • SoftCare will certify each supplier (at a fee of $500 per supplier which will be paid for the supplier for certification services) in this initial group can receive P.O.'s and that their Invoices match the EDI standards as defined by you. If there are any questions on the process, the Solutions group will be available to answer the questions. If there are any problems, the Solutions Group will contact your trading partner to rectify any problems.
  • The solutions group will provide you a weekly updated scorecard of the status of each trading partner.
  • Once the initial group is implemented, the SoftCare Solutions group will rollout implementation of the rest of the EDI capable suppliers as soon as possible to ensure that your company receives the highest possible value out of their EDI investment.