RE: Ideas for implementing EDI

1. If you want to use FTP then you most likely would not need a VAN.
My Healthcare division exchanges EDI 82* or 83* documents and it is done
via FTP.

2. I would recommend getting the ERP vendor to explain in great
detail what exactly the edi module does for you. You may not need
translation s/w. Then again, you might.....Why? In my very distant past,
I used Premenos and GenTran. Both are translators. I setup the
translation maps and then I used that formatted/translated/extracted
data files in my ERP application and I got my edi data from a VAN.
TODAY, the healthcare s/w vendor provides a translator that they wrote
that basically reads the raw EDI ANSI X12 8** record and processes it
through the healthcare claims system. Since we use FTP to move the files
between us and our customer and since the s/w vendor created their own
translator, we have no need for a commercial edi translator and no need
for a VAN service.



I think you need to start with the s/w vendor, then find out how your
trading partner will want to exchange the edi documents and then and
only then will you be able to more clearly define your process.



Bentley Pearson

Vice President - Information Services

Southland National Insurance Corporation

1812 University Blvd

Tuscaloosa, Al

35403

205 345 7410

bpearson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Grizzly Malchow
Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 10:32 AM
To: midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Ideas for implementing EDI



I'm looking into ways I can implement EDI at our company. This is my
first foray into EDI and I'm pretty much in the dark about what my
options are.

Our ERP package offers an EDI module (at an extra charge), and they
suggest using Inovis. Due to the fact that Inovis appears to be
expensive, I will consider using them as a last resort.

I'm looking for a solution that will handle the EDI translation and VAN
requirements, but communicate with me using some other form of
technology(HTTP/FTP). The ability to FTP xml files back and forth would
be an example of how I'd like to communicate with the EDI company.

Does something like this sound possible?

Thanks,

Griz