EDI Ordering Transaction Relationships
Ordering is the acquisition of needed products or services by the buyer. The basic transaction for buyer-driven purchasing is the Purchase Order (850), sent from the buyer to the supplier. This can be followed by the Purchase Order Change Request – Buyer Initiated (860) and the Order Status Inquiry (869).
The supplier can respond to the Purchase Order (850) with the Purchase Order Acknowledgment (855) and/or the Order Status Report (870). The Purchase Order Acknowledgment (855) is only a confirmation of the original order and cannot reflect any changes to the order. The Order Status Report (870) can be sent in response to the Order Status Inquiry (869), or it can be systematically generated by the supplier based on predefined conditions between trading partners.
In support of buyer-managed replenishment, the Product Activity Data (852) can be sent to inform the supplier of sales or other changes in inventory levels. The supplier can use this information for sales trend analysis. In supplier-managed replenishment, the Product Activity Data (852) is used for the reporting of inventory movement. The transaction allows for the notification of current inventory levels, sales, returns, inventory adjustments and demand for immediate unplanned replenishment.
The supplier uses the information to update model stocks, calculate replenishment quantities and ship product to the buyer. To inform the buyer that a replenishment order has been placed on their behalf, many suppliers use the Purchase Order Acknowledgment (855), also known as a reverse purchase order, as a replenishment advice.
In some replenishment programs, the buyer can request a change to a replenishment order using the Purchase Order Change Request – Buyer Initiated (860). It should be noted that the amount of checking and re-verification of proposed quantities, made with a Purchase Order Change Request – Buyer Initiated (860) and Order Status Report (870), depends on the sophistication of both the buyer’s and the supplier’s systems, the accuracy of the forecast, model stock, and product activity data driving the supplier’s replenishment system.
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