Overview
This document outlines the testing requirements to be considered "certified" to send purchase orders via LBMX EDI to your buying group.
Quick Links
Enhanced Routing Logistics (TD5 Enhancement)
- Transport and Service Level Codes
- Receiving Party Information
- Carrier Account Number
- Job Site Delivery
Purchase Order Types
A minimum of 8 Purchase Orders are required, and a series of scenarios must be completed across those transactions. During testing, you should also send PDF copies of your orders to your EDI Analyst so that they may compare the EDI files to what is currently being sent. This ensures all the data is included on your EDI orders.
All POs sent during the testing phase will remain in LBMX’s test environment and will not process through to any group vendor. You will not receive any return documents for these test files.
Standard (Stock) Orders
As part of your certification, you will be asked to send a series of standard (stock) purchase orders. We require a minimum of six standard purchase orders.
The standard purchase orders should each be from a different location (If you have fewer than six locations, then individual locations may be repeated.) and at least three different suppliers must be used.
Each standard order should also contain at least two line items.
Direct (Drop) Ship Orders
As part of your certification, you will be asked to send a few of Direct Ship (Drop Ship) purchase orders. We require a minimum of two direct ship purchase orders.
The two direct ship purchase orders should each be placed by a different ordering location (If you have one location, that location may be repeated.) and a different supplier must be used for each.
Each direct ship order should also contain 1-2 line items and should contain all shipping location name and address information, as well as the receiving party name and contact information.
Direct ship orders must contain the Ship To Number of the buyer location placing the order. For EDI within a buying group, suppliers use this Ship To Number to identify which buyer placed the order.
Purchase Order Requirements
Vendor Product Numbers
Vendor product numbers are required elements on all EDI purchase orders and it is the buyer's responsibility to keep this data maintained in their ERP system.
This requirement maximizes the efficiency and automation of EDI processing, as vendors rely on this information to match your order to their catalog products. Additionally, if the product number is not in your ERP system, there will be matching errors when processing the EDI POA, ASN and Invoice return documents.
Any order that does not contain vendor product numbers will be automatically rejected by our system and an email will be returned to the address we have configured for you. To resolve these, please see "How to address a PO Error Notification for a missing vendor product number"
Custom Products
If the product is truly a one-time custom build/configured product and there is NO vendor product number available from the vendor, then this product is not a candidate for EDI processing.
Please contact your vendor directly to place orders for custom products.
Commodity Products
If you purchase commodity products from multiple suppliers, please identify this to your EDI Analyst during testing.
An example of a commodity product is identical items - like a copper pipe elbow or a standard valve - that many suppliers could provide and does not have a specific vendor product number.
Cross References
Buying Groups will typically assign a specific Supplier Number to each supplier participating in the group, as well as a unique Member Location Number for each buyer's locations. This lets the group standardize the identification of suppliers and member locations across the buying group, allowing for clear and consistent communication regardless of individual systems.
LBMX can assist you with this by providing a "cross reference" service that matches your ERP system's supplier or location ID with the assigned group ID. The benefit of this is that you do not need to change your internal system to match the group's IDs. During your purchase order testing, your EDI Analyst will confirm that the cross references are functioning for both your suppliers and your locations.
The drawback of using cross references is that if you wish to add any new suppliers or locations, you will need to inform LBMX first (email support@lbmx.com) otherwise the transaction will fail and you will receive an error message. See "How do I respond to EDI Error Messages for Members?" for information on resolving these errors.
Test Scenarios
Across the series of Standard and Drop Ship orders, the following scenarios must be met.
- Future Requested delivery date
- Ship method “Best Way”
- Ship method “Next Day”
- Header level note
- Line level note
- Header level Promo Code
- Line level Promo Code
If you are unable to meet a scenario due to business or ERP limitations, please inform your EDI Analyst as soon as possible so an exception can be evaluated.
Future Delivery Date
During testing, you will be asked to send a purchase order with a future delivery date. This is a common business practice and this test ensures that this ability is functional with your EDI transactions, as well as that your purchasing team knows where the Requested Delivery Date is on the PO entry in your ERP system.
Ship Method
During testing, you will be asked to send two purchase orders with different Ship Methods, typically "Best Way" and "Next Day" or your equivalents. This is a common business practice and this test ensures that this ability is functional with your EDI transactions, as well as that your purchasing team knows where this is on the PO entry in your ERP system.
If you do not have the ability to send shipping information on your purchase orders, please speak with your EDI Analyst to determine if an exception may be made.
PO Notes
During testing, you will be asked to send two purchase orders with different types of Notes, a Header Level Note and a Line Level Note. This is a common business practice and this test ensures that this ability is functional with your EDI transactions.
Header Level Notes notify the supplier of specific information that relates to the entire purchase order.
Line Level Notes notify the supplier of specific information that relates to that line item.
If you do not have the ability to send either Header or Line level notes, please speak with your EDI Analyst to determine if an exception may be made.
Promo Codes
During testing, you will be asked to send two purchase orders with different types of Promo Codes*, a Header Level Promo Code and a Line Level Promo Code. These are typically transmitted in a very specific format to ensure the pricing is applied correctly to the order. This test ensures that this ability is functional with your EDI transactions and that your purchasing department is aware of the process.
* ”Promo Codes” (also known as Promotion Number, Quotes, Job Codes, etc) are conditional, special pricing references included on an order. Vendors may require these references to “auto-price” the PO with special pricing.
Header Level codes notify the supplier of specific pricing that relates to the entire purchase order.
Line Level codes notify the supplier of specific pricing that relates to that line item.
If you do not have the ability (or it is not part of your business practice) to send either Header or Line level promo codes, please speak with your EDI Analyst to determine if an exception may be made.
See this guide for details on How To Send Promo Codes for some common ERP systems.
Enhanced Routing Logistics (TD5 Enhancement)
Some suppliers require an additional purchase order certification to confirm certain enhanced routing requirements are transmitted on purchase orders. During testing you will be asked to send at least four purchase orders to meet these requirements.
Transport and Service Level Codes
These two code fields indicate the Transportation Method (ground, air, LTL, etc.) as well as the Service Level (standard, expediated, Saturday, etc.) request of the order.
The following table represents the codes that LBMX supports (X12 format).
Note: not all suppliers accept all codes. It is the buyer’s responsibility to know what order methods are valid with their suppliers before placing an order.
Receiving Party Information
The enhanced routing certification requires identifying a receiving party or contact person who will “take responsibility” for the order. These fields tell the supplier's delivery team who to contact in case there is an issue delivering the products.
LBMX requires these details in dedicated fields in the file layout otherwise LBMX will duplicate the Buyer’s contact information to the Receiving Party fields.
Carrier Account Number
This field conveys to the supplier a specific carrier account number to reference when placing the order. For example, the buyer may want the supplier to send using their FEDEX account for a discounted shipping rate.
This account relationship must be pre-established with the supplier ahead of ordering.
This requirement can be exempted from certification if this is not a business practice of the buyer.
Job Site Delivery
This field tells the supplier's delivery team not to expect the delivery location to be a standard receiving dock/warehouse. This means that they may need to bring or arrange for their own equipment (crane, forklift, etc.) to unload the project.
Buyers will need to know how to distinguish between job site and regular drop ship orders.
This requirement can be exempted from certification if this is not a business practice of the buyer.
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