What is an EDI 997?
An EDI 997, or Functional Acknowledgement, is an electronic receipt and sent to inform a supplier/retailer/warehouse that an EDI document was received. At the most basic level, the 997 will contain an acceptance or rejection notification.
How do I send/receive an EDI 997?
It is quite simple for a system to send/receive EDI 997s. For the most part, the transmitting is done through the Internet or Value Added Network (VAN). To keep EDI costs affordable, today most EDI transmission is done through the internet using AS2 or secure FTP, eliminating the need for an expensive VAN. The file is kept secure using encryption to keep the data safe.
Translating an EDI 997
Once an EDI 997 document has been received, it must be translated into a functional format for your system. The majority of organizations have their own standard set of definitions for EDI 997s, so companies use a platform like logicbroker to configure and translate these different documents. Once the EDI 997 is translated, the information can be synced to your internal system of record such as an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) or shopping cart – eliminating the need for manual data entry. Now that you have the shipping information you can quickly track the shipment, which suppliers find useful because their retailers can easily anticipate incoming orders. Also, suppliers and retailers find EDI 997s useful because they eliminates the need to send/receive warehouse shipment notices in several different formats such as email, fax or CSV.
