EDI Remote Administration – a way to raise the effectiveness of EDI outsourcing
EDI Remote Administration is another benefitial solution for companies that decided to outsource their EDI process. To learn about other ways of EDI outsourcing, please, refer to our posts EDI Service Bureau and EDI Web/Desktop Access.
EDI Remote Administration features
1. Remote monitoring. The service provider will monitor your in-house EDI system on a daily basis via remote access. All EDI communications are monitored to ensure the correct flow of documents from sender to receiver. A trading partner will be contacted, when necessary, to help troubleshoot a problem with a transmission.
2. Error handling. If an error has been detected, the service provider will review the system logs to determine the nature of the error and take appropriate action.
a) If there is an error in the workflow of the system, it will be corrected.
b) If there is an issue with your business application, then you will be engaged to help correct the problem.
c) If the error is in the EDI data coming from the trading partner, the trading partner will be contacted.
d) If the problem is with one of the software products in the EDI system, the software vendor will be contacted.
Regardless of the cause, the service provider will maintain ownership of the error until it has been corrected by the appropriate parties.
3. New setups. As your company’s EDI program expands, the service provider will develop and test new document maps for existing trading partners, and set up and test new trading partner relationships. Once the testing is complete and ready to go live, the new documents and trading partners will become part of the daily monitoring routine.
4. Integration. The responsibility for integrating the EDI system with your business application can remain with your company, or it can be passed on to the service provider. The service provider has experience with many different business applications, and understands your workflow.
EDI Remote Administration advantages
1. Provide a single point of contact. The service provider becomes the single point of contact with your trading partners, software vendors, Value Added Networks and any other parties involved in the process. You do not have to dedicate any staff towards dayto-day operations.
2. Offer full or partial outsourcing. You do not have to outsource your entire EDI operation if you are not comfortable with that idea. The service provider can play any role you require, and work in conjunction with your existing staff. You could maintain control of the portion of your EDI system that deals with customers, for example, and outsource the portion that deals with suppliers.
3. Fit your installation size. EDI Remote Administration can be applied to a company of any size, with any-sized EDI installation. A smaller installation might require only one hour per day of monitoring, while a larger installation will require more.
4. Match your applications. The service provider has expertise in the various combinations of data transport, data translation, data transformation and data integration software that are available in the marketplace. They also have a good understanding of many popular business applications.
5. Allow you to change your mind. Your company ultimately maintains control over your inhouse EDI system, and if you are unhappy with your service provider, you can change providers. You may also decide over time that outsourcing is no longer part of your strategy, and you can easily resume control of the day-to-day operations.
EDI Remote Administration benefits
1. Cost is considerably less. The cost for a service provider to remotely administer your EDI system is up to 50% less than the cost of doing it yourself.
2. Original investment is retained. By outsourcing the administration, you retain your company’s initial investment in hardware and EDI software.
3. EDI is ‘off your plate’. EDI is just one of many responsibilities being juggled by IT staff. Remote Administration frees up valuable time by passing the EDI responsibilities on to the service provider.
4. Losing a resource is no longer an issue. Losing a resource that looked after your in-house EDI system can be difficult and costly to replace. The service provider looks after staffing needs, and if they happen to lose a resource, a replacement with equal experience is available.
As we see, EDI Remote Administration as well as other EDI outsourcing methods can bring many advantages to your business and make your everyday workflow much easier. EDI Academy courses cover the information about the best ways of implementing EDI at your company. You can sign up for our seminars and become EDI capable to meet the needs of modern market.