The EDI message type DESADV is one of the most important sub-processes in modern supply chain and logistics management supported by electronic document exchange. It is one of the most important EDI-supported processes in the retail, automotive, and logistics sectors. While the EDI traffic of the trade focuses on the goods receipt processes with DESADV NVE (shipping unit number), the attention of automotive suppliers with Global DESADV 4987 is especially directed to the representation of individual delivery and packaging material hierarchies which arise during the picking process. In the freight forwarding sector, it is primarily the operation of external warehouses where delivery and goods dispatch messages are mapped by the logistics business process DESADV.

The EDI business process ‘Delivery notification’ has different names in the various EDI formats:

All EDI application scenarios have in common that the individual specification catalogs define explicit requirements for the representation of the recipient-specific packaging material. These range from information on the items contained in a display to the number of packages per pallet.

The majority of those affected by these EDI requirements use ERP systems which generally offer standard interfaces for generating the data required for the EDI delivery note. The challenge arises from the fact that the interfaces relevant for EDI data exchange must also feature a standard representation of the packaging hierarchy. If the ERP logic does not match the packaging representation required by the recipient of the EDI delivery note, this results in very complex projects, since the requirements of the recipient of the electronic delivery note must already be taken into account in the ERP system. This often results in needing several individual ERP interfaces to map a global EDI process. In addition, the modern requirements for DESADV logistics are phrased very broadly so that a large number of suppliers with a wide variety of picking processes can be defined and mapped. Various different picking processes can also be in use within a company, each of which must be mapped separately in the DESADV EDI process to a document recipient.

To simplify this issue and enable the use of globally valid EDI process interfaces on the ERP side, Softzoll offers a specially designed rule level for this issue. This entity, abstracted to database level, enables process and partner-specific consolidations to ensure the requirements of individual EDI specification catalogs while enabling the use of standardized ERP interfaces. This technology is extremely important, especially with regard to maintaining the release stability of the various ERP systems and versions.