4 May 2017

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) for Microsoft Dynamics 365

EDI for Dynamics 365 F&SCM

Although it’s possible to find several EDI tools available for Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP users (and a handful that are stamped with the Microsoft Preferred Solution badge, like To-Increase EDI Studio), what stumps most of these users is the effort they need to take in integrating the EDI solution they purchase with their Dynamics platform (be it Finance & Supply Chain Management or Business Central). With EDI gradually becoming a necessity rather than an option, this effort turns out to be complex, costly, time-consuming, and resource-intensive—in short, unnecessarily complicated.

One way out of this conundrum is to consider an EDI solution that’s already been embedded in Microsoft Dynamics 365. As opposed to a stand-alone EDI solution that needs to repeatedly send or receive EDI messages via the ERP network (due to non-integration of the EDI transactions with the ERP), an embedded EDI solution is guaranteed to give you a better user experience, due to the fact that it is already built within Dynamics 365, and therefore, naturally adapts to the ERP—giving you a significant advantage over an externally connected solution.

In this blog, we will take a look at how EDI can be successfully implemented on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management. We have taken our own product, EDI Studio, as an example here.

Let’s look at the steps you need to take to implement EDI for Dynamics 365.

3 Simple steps to implement EDI communications on Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&SCM with EDI Studio

EDI Studio is an electronic data interchange solution embedded within Dynamics 365 F&SCM, and built on top of our integration engine, Connectivity Studio. (If you’re interested, you may read more about the features, benefits, and limitations of EDI Studio here).

By using To-Increase Connectivity Studio and EDI Studio, you can enable electronic document interchange (EDI) in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance & Supply Chain Management in three simple steps. Given how often EDI is used to handle computer-to-computer exchanges of business documents in standard electronic formats, this practice can help you save time as well as resources.

Step 1: Choose and set up an EDI format

Since the business documents must be processed by computers, you have to use a standard electronic format. There are several standards, including EDIFACT and X12. However, business partners can decide to use their own format or language. Standard electronic formats are certainly comparable to languages.

You can set up and manage standard electronic formats using To-Increase Connectivity Studio. Connectivity Studio is one of the most advanced systems integration solutions available for Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&SCM. Connectivity Studio enables EDI integrations with different types of standard electronic formats, including X12 and EDIFACT. You can also define your own standard electronic format, for instance, using XML.

Step 2: Set up EDI partners

There are many reasons why business partners decide to exchange business documents using EDI – reduced costs, speed, and accuracy being the most common.

To-Increase EDI Studio simplifies the setup of business partners because it’s completely integrated with the standard of Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&SCM. This means, for example, you can set up a customer for EDI just from the standard Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&SCM form.

Set up EDI Partners with EDI Studio for D365 F&O

Step 3: Set up EDI document flows

Business partners can exchange any type of business document (for example, orders, invoices, and advance shipping notices). You can simply manage documents per business partner, using the document flows of EDI Studio. EDI Studio triggers document flows at the right time. If you have set up an outbound sales confirmation, for instance, EDI Studio checks during the confirmation of the sales order whether the customer has been enabled for outbound sales confirmations and then initiates the document flow.

Set up EDI Document Flows with EDI Studio for D365 F&O

Optional Step: Staging

When it comes to inbound documents, EDI Studio provides a resource to verify them. EDI Studio provides staging journals to validate inbound sales orders, purchase order confirmations, inventory orders, and transfer orders.

Staging Journals for Validation in EDI Studio for D365 F&O 

We hope that we have left you a little more confident about managing EDI in your Dynamics 365 environment. As an EDI service provider that has helped over 600 customers worldwide, To-Increase can guide you in implementing EDI with zero coding efforts—with success, and within a shorter time frame.

Built exclusively within Microsoft Dynamics 365 and available for purchase on Microsoft AppSource, To-Increase EDI Studio can help you automate your supply chain functions and increase your ROI. EDI Studio can also help you achieve faster business transactions and automate procure-to-pay processes for full financial supply chain transparency. 

To learn more about EDI Studio, download your copy of the solution factsheet below!

Eager to learn how our unique, no-code EDI solution can help you implement EDI in D365?

EDI Studio for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management
Pieter de Jong
Pieter de Jong,
Pieter de Jong,
Technical Solution Architect

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