Article #92 Solid EDI Set Up

The licensed feature Solid EDI™ (Electronic Data Interchange) is the easiest way to send sales/reporting data to suppliers, store chains, and other corporate groups (Distribution Groups). With a single key stroke, all sales information is sent by internet to Solid, where the information is automatically sorted through, and a report is generated for the Distribution Groups, so they can receive reporting on the information they need, without having to sort through any fluff. Once the additional EDI license has been purchased and activated, Solid EDI™ is now ready to be set up within the Solid Route Accounting™ system. Once a business is licensed for Solid EDI™, they can follow the steps below to implement this powerful feature.

In order for the EDI reporting to be sorted and sent to the desired Distribution Group, the company or supplier they represent must first be entered into Solid Business Central™ as a MultiVendor Supplier and Customer Record. This will allow Solid to be able to direct the EDI reporting to the appropriate Distribution Group. For assistance with creating MultiVendors, please view Article #88 How to Create a MultiVendor in Solid Business Central. The following steps can be used to configure Solid EDI™ within Solid Business Central™:

1. In Solid Business Central™, navigate to [System / Configure / Bill] and set the field 'Print Super Customer Ref # as Invoice #' to Y to turn this feature on, and save the change with [CTRL+END]. This 'Reference #' is a special encoded bill number that identifies your company from all other companies using Solid Route Accounting™ that also send EDI reporting, and will print in place of the usual Solid Route Accounting™ invoice number on MultiVendor invoices. The Solid Route Accounting™ invoice number will continue to print at the bottom of MultiVendor invoices, to the right of the company's name.
2. Navigate next to '[System / Configure / Company / Location]', and when asked to enter a specific cost center, leave the field as 999 and use [CTRL+END] to continue. The company's address information will then display, and in the 'Email' field, enter in a valid email address and save it with [CTRL+END]. Within a half hour of sending an EDI Export, an email will be sent from Solid to this email address to confirm that the EDI Export was received. NOTE: If after sending an EDI Export this email is not received within an hour, please contact a Solid Innovation Customer Service Representative.
3. The last step required to prepare the business system for Solid EDI™ is to adjust the MultiVendor Customer Record to use the special encoded bill numbers, and also set the correct Distribution Group for the report to be sent to. From the base menu, navigate to [Datafile / Customer / View] and display the MultiVendor Customer Record that represents the Distribution Group that EDI Reporting needs to be directed to. Once this customer is displayed, In the bottom left corner of the screen, just above the grey 'Menu Choices' box, the text [ALT+F3 - for Super Customer] will show by default. If this is the case, use this key combination to change the section just above this option from showing Sales History to show the 'Super Customer and Print Info'.
4. Use the [F2 – Edit] key to make changes to this record, and in the 'Super Customer and Print Info' area, change the 'Encoded Billno' field to Y, and in the 'Distrib Group' field, enter in the two character code for the Distribution Group to which reporting is to be sent to. This 'Distribution Code' will have been provided to you by Solid. If this code has yet to have been received, please contact a Solid Innovation Customer Service Representative who will be happy to assist you. When all is set, use [CTRL+END] to save these changes, and before leaving the Customer View screen, use the [ALT+F3] key combination once again to change this lower left area to show 'Sales History'.
5. We are now ready to add all customers whose transactions are to be sent for reporting when an EDI Export is run. This is done by adding them to the 'EDI Banners' area. In preparation to adding customers as EDI Banner records, especially if there are a lot of customers to add, it may be a good idea to print out a list of all the customers in Solid Business Central™ for easy reference by going to [Datafile / Customer / Report / List]. The EDI Banner records can be added by going to [Datafile / Customer / EDI Banners] and use the [Insert] key to create the new records. For more information on how to add EDI Banner records, please view Article #93 How to Add Solid EDI Banner Records.

To run an EDI Export:

EDI Exports can be run as frequently as needed, but at minimum should be run weekly. To run an EDI Export, navigate to [Accounting / EDI / Export]. Unless other instructions are given, leave the date range as it, and leave the 'Include previously exported records' as N. Use [CTRL+END] to continue, which will show a list of all transactions that will be included on the export. If all is acceptable, use [CTRL+END] to send the EDI Export, which will end, once again, with a list of all transactions that were exported. Use [Escape] to return to Solid Business Central™'s menus, and a confirmation receipt email from Solid should arrive to the email address specified above within an hour.