The retail document flow
Lesson 2 of 22 8 min read
Follow one retailer purchase order from arrival to invoice, see where Supply Lens holds a document, and meet the other EDI document types you may come across.
Every retailer relationship follows the same basic rhythm: they order, you confirm, you despatch, you invoice. In this lesson you'll trace that rhythm through Supply Lens, so that when a retailer asks "where's our ASN?" you know which step to look at.
The flow at a glance
Once an EDI Integration is live, a typical retailer purchase order moves like this:
The EDIFACT names in brackets are what you'll often hear retailers' EDI teams use. Tradacoms and X12 have their own names for the same documents, but the steps are the same.
Step by step
- The retailer sends a purchase order to Supply Lens over the agreed channel (VAN, SFTP or API).
- Supply Lens validates the order against the cross-reference tables for that retailer: their product codes, depot codes and your supplier code.
- If any retailer code can't be matched, Supply Lens holds the order and raises an alert. It will not create a partial order in your ERP.
- If all codes match, Supply Lens creates a Sales Order in your ERP.
- Supply Lens sends an order acknowledgement to the retailer, if the retailer expects one.
- When despatch is confirmed in your ERP, Supply Lens sends an ASN (advance shipping notice, also called a despatch advice), telling the retailer what is on its way.
- Supply Lens generates and sends the invoice in the retailer's required format.
No partial orders, ever
If a retailer adds a new product to your range and it isn't yet in the cross-reference table, every order containing that product is held until the mapping is added. Tell the Supply Lens team whenever the retailer's range changes, ideally before the first order arrives.
How this maps to Supply Lens Documents
Inside Supply Lens each message becomes a Document of a particular type, and each arrow in the flow is a Mapping between Integrations (the prerequisite course covers Mappings).
| In the retailer's words | Supply Lens Document type | Direction from Supply Lens |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase order | Order | Received from the retailer, sent to your ERP |
| Order change | Order Change | Received from the retailer |
| Order acknowledgement / order response | Order Acknowledgement | Sent to the retailer |
| Despatch advice / ASN | Shipment | Sent to the retailer |
| Invoice | Invoice | Sent to the retailer |
| Credit note | Credit | Sent to the retailer |
Other EDI documents you may meet
Not every retailer uses every message, but the EDI Integration supports more than the core four. You'll see each of these again in the settings module.
| Document | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Proof of Delivery | The retailer's confirmation of what actually arrived against a despatch: an EDIFACT RECADV (receiving advice) or a Tradacoms delivery confirmation. |
| Remittance | The retailer telling you what it is paying. |
| Inventory | An inventory advice you send so the retailer can order against your availability. |
| Inventory Report and Sales Report | Periodic stock and sales figures, which some retailers send to suppliers. |
| Warehouse Order and Pick | Instructions to, and pick confirmations from, a warehouse that trades by EDI. |
| Functional Acknowledgement | A technical "we received your message" reply. Only X12 has one. |
Northfield Pantry's first Greenway order
Greenway Stores sends an order for 40 cases of Oat Bar Original and 20 cases of Honey Granola to its Leeds depot. Supply Lens looks up Greenway's code for each product and the Leeds depot code in Northfield's cross-reference tables. Both products match, so a Sales Order appears in Unleashed and an acknowledgement goes back to Greenway.
A month later Greenway orders a new Cocoa Granola that nobody told Supply Lens about. That order is held, and Northfield gets an alert. Once the Supply Lens team adds the product to the cross-reference table, the order flows through as normal.
Recap
- The core flow is purchase order, acknowledgement, despatch advice (ASN), invoice.
- Supply Lens validates every inbound order against the retailer's cross-reference tables first.
- If any code can't be matched the whole order is held and an alert is raised: there are no partial orders.
- Each message becomes a Supply Lens Document, and Mappings route it between the retailer and your ERP.
- Proof of delivery, remittance, inventory and sales reports, warehouse messages and functional acknowledgements are also supported where a partner uses them.
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