Your EDI Is “Managed” - But Who Manages the Failures?

You Have an EDI Managed Service. So Why Are You Still Managing Your EDI?

Picture this scenario: your customer sends in an EDI 850 purchase order with an invalid UPC code, or customer material number, and the order will not create in your system.  

• Who monitors these failures?
• Who is responsible for understanding the error message?
• Who owns the resolution?

If these fall to your internal team, then you don't have a fully managed EDI service.  You just have someone setting up your mapping and connections.

With a fully managed service, these would be handled by your trusted provider. 

What Does “Managed EDI” Actually Mean?

Most managed service providers set up connectivity to your trading partner and set up the mapping, translating their data format to your internal data format. They ensure the platform is running and data can continue to come in and out.

Other providers actually manage the full end-to-end operation.  They will monitor for failed transactions, identify the failures, work with your business to get the right business data for the correction and ensure that the sales order does post in your system.  No finger pointing between your internal team and your service, it's all just handled by your provider - as though they were an extension of your team.

What Does This Mean for Your Team?

Less EDI expertise required internally. Your internal team doesn't have to become EDI experts just to figure out why an order failed.

Less time chasing failures. Your team isn't spending hours checking transactions, reading error messages, determining whether the problem is EDI or ERP, and coordinating with the trading partner.

Fewer interruptions to your ERP team. They can focus on your business instead of becoming the unofficial EDI support desk.

Less dependence on one person. You don't have to worry that the person who knows all the EDI quirks, partner requirements, and failure history is suddenly out of the picture.

Issues actually get resolved. The goal isn't simply knowing that an 850 failed. The goal is getting the order into your system and keeping the business moving. 

The Real Benefit

The real value of a managed EDI service, isn't that someone else hosts your EDI platform or maintains your maps. It's that your team doesn't have to manage the problems that happen around them.