Testing Inbound and Outbound EDI Documents

Prior to beginning the exchange of production EDI data, you should thoroughly test all documents that you plan to send and receive. Testing ensures that the intended party receives the transmitted data and that the data meets the needs of both you and your trading partner. There are prerequisites to consider prior to vendor or customer testing.

Note: We strongly recommend that you complete the EDI 101 training prior to doing any testing.

Prerequisites

After your company has made the decision to use EDI, you need to set up your system for handling EDI transactions. This includes the following:

Initiating the EDI Process

For each EDI trading partner you need the following information from them: their VAN, FTP, or HTTP method, qualifier, ISA and Group IDs, any test IDs, the EDI documents they use, and the version of EDI they are using.

Note: Eclipse maintains generic maps for most documents for versions 003020 and 004010. We recommend using version 004010.

For more information, see Initiating the EDI Process.

VAN Interconnect

You must also contact your VAN and request that they create an interconnect between your VAN and your trading partner’s VAN. If the interconnect is not present, documents are not delivered.

You must provide the following information to your VAN:

Trading Partner Profiles

Before you can begin testing you must set up a trading partner profile for the customer or vendor with whom you are exchanging documents.

Note: Trading Partner setup is also explained in the EDI 101 training materials and the Trading Partner EDI Implementation document.

Your trading partners may require that a Y be sent in the ISA 15 field to signify that the document is a test. The figure below shows the location on the EDI Trading Partner Profile Maintenance screen where the Y is entered. The default test status is N.

Note:  When testing is complete ensure that this field is set to N.  

For all non-specific trading partner fields, you can use the F10 key to display all possible entries for that field.

Note: You must list a vendor or customer name and account number or you will not be able to send documents via EDI.

For more information, see Trading Partner Profile Overview.

Group Profile Maintenance

Ensure that the correct mappers are in place on the Group Profile Maintenance screen and that the 997 flag is set correctly for each document.

Entering Document-Specific Information

If your trading partner utilizes a test ID, enter the test ID in the Alternate Interchange ID field on the EDI Add'l Doc Info screen for the document being tested.

Tip: Setting the Default Outgoing Transmission Status field for an outbound test document to HOLD allows you to control when the EDI program transmits the outbound test document. Set this flag on the EDI Add’l Doc Info screen for the document being tested.

For more information, see Entering Additional EDI Document Information.

Vendor Testing

Generally, the first document to test is the outbound 850 purchase order. After you test the 850 purchase order, you can test inbound documents such as the 810, 855, and 856 using the data sent in the purchase order.

Creating an Outbound 850 Document

Create an outbound test 850 document, as follows.

Note: For information on entering quotes and contracts, see Entering Quote or Contract Numbers on 850s.

To create an 850 purchase order test document:  

  1. From the Purchase menu, select Purchase Order Entry and create a purchase order for the trading partner.

Note: The system provides functionality for sending quote and contract numbers to your vendors. See Entering Quote or Contract Numbers on 850s.

  1. Click the Status tab to display the Status of the order.

  2. In the Print field, enter EDI or press F10 and select EDI from the menu.

If you cannot change the print status to EDI, do the following:

  1. Save and exit the order.

The system places the document in the Outgoing Status Queue. Unless previously coordinated it is recommended that you notify the trading partner prior to sending the test document. The document must be in Send status.

Sending the Test Document

If you set the Default Outgoing Transmission Status flag for the outgoing document to HOLD in the trading partner profile, you need to change the status of the document to Send status in the EDI Outgoing Status Queue. For more information, see Maintaining the EDI Outgoing Status Queue.

If the network call to the trading partner does not occur automatically on a scheduled basis, manually place the network call. If network calls are scheduled, but you want to send the test before the next scheduled call, make a network call now. There are two options: a background call and a foreground call. We recommend making a background call, which allows you to continue working in Eclipse. The foreground call displays a status screen detailing what is taking place during the call and prevents the user from accessing other Eclipse screens until the call has completed.

Receiving Inbound Documents

After you test the 850 purchase order, you can test additional documents such as the 810, 855, and 856 using the data sent in the purchase order. The system has a review queue for each of these each documents, which you can access from the System > System Programming > EDI > EDI Review Queues menu. For more information see, EDI Review Queues Overview.

A training class called EDI Review Queues is also available on the Eclipse website.

Customer Testing

Normally, the first document tested is the inbound 850 purchase order. When the system receives an inbound 850, it creates a sales order. After you process the sales order created from the 850, you can create the other test documents using the data received in the test document.

Note: You must have a trading partner profile set up for the company being tested, and within the trading partner profile define the documents that you want to create.

Processing a Received 850 Purchase Order

Access a received 850 purchase order from either the Remote Order Entry Review Queue or the EDI Activity Log. Use the following procedures to:

To access the order from the Remote Order Entry Review Queue:

  1. From the Orders > Queues menu, select Remote Order Entry Review. to display the Remote Order Entry Review Queue window.

  1. In the Branch/Terr/All field, enter the branch or All.

  2. In the Source field, enter or select EDI and click Updateto display the orders matching the search criteria.

  3. Select the test order and then select Order > View Order to display the order in Sales Order Entry.

To access the order from the EDI Activity Log:

  1. From the System > System Programming > EDI > EDI Maintenance menu, select EDI Activity Log Viewing to display the EDI Activity Log Viewing screen.

Note: If prompted, log on to the character-based system.

  1. Select the order and using the Edit hot key to display the order in Sales Order Entry.

To process the sales order:

  1. From the Remote Order Entry Review Queue or the EDI Activity Log, select the order and display the order in Sales Order Entry.

  1. Click the Status tab to display the Sales Order Entry Status window.

Note:  The trading partner must contain the map for the document that you are attempting to create.

  1. To create an 855, do the following:

  2. Change the order status to one of the open statuses, such as Call When Complete or Ship When Specified.

Note: The 855 is not a valid document if the order is in a Bid, Cancel, or Pick Up Now status.

  1. Press Escto process the order.

The system places the document on the EDI Outgoing Status Queue.

  1. To create an 810 and 856, do the following:

The system places the documents on the EDI Outgoing Status Queue.

Note: If the system does not accept EDI in the Print field, you need to make sure that the customer account is attached to an EDI profile with that outbound document set up in Group Maintenance.

To set up automatic 810 creation upon invoicing:

After the relationship is put into production, if you want to send 810 invoices automatically upon invoice printing from the Print Invoices menu (Orders > Printing > Print Invoices), add that functionality to the customer record file by entering E in the Invoice Fax Copies field.

  1. From the Maintenance menu, select Customer and display the customer record you want to flag for EDI invoices.

  2. From the Pricing menu, select Price Information to display the Customer Pricing Information window.

  3. In the Invoice Fax Copies field, press F10 and select E for EDI.

Note: For this option to be available, the customer must be assigned to an EDI trading partner.

  1. Save your changes and exit the customer record.

The system sends the invoice to the Invoice Preview Queue. After approved, the system sends a copy of the invoice to the customer through EDI.

See Also:

EDI Testing and Troubleshooting Overview