Duoplane Retailer accounts
Available on Professional, Premium, and Enterprise plans
X12 EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is a standardized format for electronically exchanging business documents, such as purchase orders and invoices, between systems. Duoplane supports integration with X12 EDI, enabling seamless data exchange between your ecommerce platform, Duoplane, and your vendors' systems.
In this article, we’ll cover the basics of X12 EDI, why it’s useful, and how to set it up in Duoplane.
What is X12 EDI?
X12 EDI is a widely used standard for electronic communication in business. Duoplane supports the below EDI document types:
- 850 Purchase Orders (POs): Communicate order details to vendors
- 810 Invoices: Facilitate billing and payments
- 856 Advance Ship Notices (ASN): Notify the recipient of shipment details
- 846 Inventory Advice: Update inventory quantity available
Why Use X12 EDI with Duoplane?
Duoplane's job is to connect and automate, and we've seen retailers who may have dozens of vendors who use different systems and requirements, EDI being one of them, and a popular choice. Vendor compatibility is a very important part of this business, so when a vendor requests to use EDI to connect with their system, we want to provide retailers with a way to do that, among many other reasons:
- Vendor Compatibility: Work seamlessly with vendors who require or prefer EDI transactions
- Automated Data Exchange: Eliminate manual data entry by automating the transfer of key business documents
- Improved Accuracy: Reduce errors caused by manual processing
- Scalability: Handle high transaction volumes efficiently
How are X12 EDI Files Transferred?
It is a requirement that EDI files are transferred via Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), which is secure and reliable. The retailer or vendor may already have an SFTP server which files can be uploaded to or downloaded from, in which case credentials must be shared to provide access to the other parties.
If no party currently has an SFTP they'd like to use, one can be provisioned from Duoplane, which would just require a few extra steps on Duoplane's end.
Requirements for EDI
EDI document transfer is also a feature available on the Duoplane Professional plan or higher.
Other requirements for EDI include a one-time setup fee per document type, per supplier, as well as communication from both the retailer and vendor in help getting initial setup and testing completed.
Setup can take anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks, depending on the speed at which tasks are completed and information is shared between teams during setup. We ask that a member from both the retailer's and vendor's teams be assigned as a designated contact to move the project forward quickly.
There is more thorough information about EDI specifications and requirements in our documentation here >> Duoplane X12 EDI Specifications and Implementation Guide
How to Set Up X12 EDI with Duoplane
EDI setup in Duoplane is a process which requires some configuration to be done by Duoplane. These are the steps on how to move forward
- Both the retailer and vendor should review the EDI documentation here so there is an understanding of requirements and functionality
- The form in Appendix A of the documentation (page 57) must be completed and shared with Duoplane, it can be sent to sales@duoplane.com or support@duoplane.com
- A Duoplane EDI specialist will confirm and send a payment link for the setup fee
- Most of the setup and testing at this point by the Duoplane EDI specialist, with some requests to the retailer or vendor including:
- Creation of test POs
- Creation of test shipments or inventory changes
- Confirmation of file receipt
- Various settings changes
- SFTP credentials (if applicable)
- Setup is concluded when successful tests have been passed
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