EDI Applications

eBiz_Connect

• Business– commercial, industrial, or professional dealings
• Commerce – the buying and selling of goods, especially on a large scale
• Trade– the act or instance of buying or selling

These simple definitions make one thing very clear … to stay in business; a company must execute transactions with other parties. While all companies desire to engage in such transactions, advances in the use of certain technologies may actually present barriers to their doing so … especially with specific trading partners.

The dictionary mentioned above also defines e-commerce as “commerce that is transacted electronically, as over the internet.” As larger suppliers and retailers have advanced their use of certain technologies – specifically electronic data interchange (EDI) – they have been able to conduct business more efficiently. As these companies have mandated the use of similar technologies by their trading partners, many small to mid-market companies have become disadvantaged in their attempts to “trade” with such firms.

Breaking Through Barriers to EDI

Centre Pointe Consulting is making it possible for companies of all sizes to meet their trading partner’s demands for such technology by removing the barriers to EDI solutions. In the past, these have typically included:

• technology infrastructure
• expertise to integrate with existing ERP solution
• initial and ongoing costs

Technology Infrastructure

(scaleable, reduced training, easy to maintain) Centre Pointe’s solution is founded upon Microsoft’s .Net platform, utilizing industry standards such as … as its platform. Many small to mid-market companies already employ these products. And with Microsoft technology at its foundation, Centre Pointe ensures that its solutions can grow with your business.

ERP Integration Expertise

(pre-packaged for Microsoft Business Solutions - Great Plains) Historically, one of the greatest barriers to EDI implementation has been integrating the EDI tool with the company’s ERP software. As a Microsoft Certified Microsoft Business Solutions - Great Plains provider, Centre Pointe Consulting has chosen to specialize in the MBS Great Plains market by providing pre-packaged integration with the Great Plains software. This means that the connections with Great Plains have been built in advance. Ultimately, it means that implementing the Centre Pointe Consulting solution for Microsoft Business Solutions - Great Plains won’t require the long consulting engagement that many companies have come to expect.

Cost / Benefit

(lowest TCO) The Centre Pointe Consulting solution for Microsoft Business Solutions - Great Plains presents the lowest TCO primarily for two reasons. The first is mentioned above in that the consulting requirements are dramatically reduced due to the pre-packaged integration with Microsoft Business Solutions - Great Plains*. The second is our pricing model. While many companies will charge separately for each individual EDI document type, Centre Pointe Consulting has chosen a pricing and packaging strategy the delivers support for all types of documents – inbound purchase orders (850), outbound sales invoices (810), advance ship notice (asn) (856), functional acknowledgements (997), and order status (870) – in one integrated EDI solution. Our solution is not sold “ala carte”.

* support for other MBS solutions – Navision and Axapta - will be available shortly.