Introduction to EDI

Electronic Data Interchange, commonly called EDI, is a means of sending and receiving documents electronically between companies doing business together. With EDI you can replace most paper-based communications with transaction sets. Each transaction set is the EDI equivalent of a paper document, such as a purchase order or invoice.

You can use the EDI features in TMW Operations to produce a flat file for the EDI 210 Invoice and EDI 214 Shipment Status transaction sets. Each flat file has a standard layout that is used to extract relevant information from your system and send it to a company, referred to in EDI as the trading partner.

  1. The following licensed add-ons comprise the EDI feature. Each module is purchased separately.

    • EDI 214 Shipment Status SmartLink

    • Auto 214 Scheduler

    • EDI 210 Invoice Inbound SmartLink

    • EDI Scheduler

    • Load Tender SmartLink 2.0

    • EDI 204/990 Load Tender SmartLink

    • EDI 997 Acknowledgement SmartLink

    • EDI 820 Remittance Advice SmartLink

  2. For further details, contact Trimble Sales at 216-831-6606.

You can perform the following EDI transactions from TMW Operations:

  • Process Inbound 204 load tender messages

    A 204 (inbound from the carrier’s perspective) is an electronic order from a shipper. TMW’s Load Tender SmartLink (LTSL) 2.0 application receives translated 204 flat files from your customers and creates pending orders in TMW Operations. You can accept, decline, or view details for the order in the Planning Worksheet’s EDI grid or in the Trip Folder. The system generates 990s automatically based on decisions made on the load tenders.

  • Manually create 214 data for an updated order

    A 214 is an outbound document that informs the shipper or consignee of the order’s status.

    If you are licensed for the EDI 214 Shipment Status SmartLink add-on, you can create 214 data for an order manually from the Planning Worksheet or Trip Folder. The data is stored in your TMW Operations database.

  • Transfer 214 data into a flat file

    Each 214 flat file contains electronic update data from your database. Flat files are sent to your internal or external mapping service, which forwards the 214 to your trading partner.

    If you are licensed for the EDI 214 Shipment Status SmartLink add-on, you can create 214 flat files manually from the Planning Worksheet or Trip Folder.

    If you are licensed for the Auto 214 Scheduler, you can set up the system to transfer data automatically from your database into 214 flat files.

  • View archived 210 invoices and 214 trip status documents

    A 210 is an outbound billing document sent by your company to a Bill To. A 214 tells you an order’s current status.

    If you are licensed for the EDI 210 Invoice Inbound SmartLink and EDI Scheduler add-ons, you can create 210 invoices in the TMWSuite Invoicing application, store the 210 data in the TMWSuite database, and transfer it into a flat file. In TMW Operations, you can view a list of archived 210 invoices and 214 trip status documents in the EDI Archive window.

  • Process Inbound 214 status updates

    An Inbound 214 status update file tells you an order’s current status.

    If you are licensed for the EDI 214 Shipment Status SmartLink add-on, you can actualize each stop and update the date/time and reason code automatically. In TMW Operations, you can review 214 data in the Process Inbound 214s window and update a trip’s status manually.

  • View all EDI history for a selected order

    In TMW Operations, the Order Brokerage EDI History window allows you to view all EDI history for a selected order. History includes the following transaction sets:

    • 204 Load Tenders

      A 204 is an electronic order from a shipper. If you are licensed for the Load Tender SmartLink 2.0 application and the EDI 204 Load Tender SmartLink add-on, you will receive translated 204 flat files from your customers. These will create pending orders.

    • 990 Load Tender Responses

      A 990 is your company’s response to a tendered load. If you are licensed for the EDI 204/990 Load Tender SmartLink add-on, the Load Tender SmartLink application returns 990s to the customer, indicating whether the order was accepted or declined.

    • Inbound 214 Status Updates

      An Inbound 214 Status Update file tells you an order’s current status. If you are licensed for the EDI 214 Shipment Status Inbound SmartLink add-on, you can actualize each stop and update the date/time and reason code automatically or manually.

  • Validate Outbound 204 load tender messages

    If your trading partners require your Outbound 204 load tender messages to include specific information, you identify each carrier that requires validation of the 204 data. You use a customized stored procedure to identify which key fields are required in Outbound 204 load tender messages.

Setting up your system for EDI

Before you can start using EDI to produce EDI data successfully, you must perform the following setup tasks in TMWSuite.

General Information

Configure global settings that determine how EDI transactions work:

  • Your company’s SCAC codes

  • Method used to send your data

  • EDI codes for reference numbers, units of measure, rate units, and revenue types

  • Your trading partner’s TMWSuite Bill To company ID

  • Wrapper records that are required to group all documents for a trading partner

Information specific to each trading partner

Create the following for each trading partner:

  • Trading partner ID and starting batch number

  • Requirements for 214s and 210s

  • EDI codes for TMWSuite commodities, reference numbers, and accessorial charges

  • Store location ID codes

  • Status and reason codes

  • Events required by each trading partner on a 214, and the correct ID code for each event

Information specific to 214s and 210s

Create the following to use 214s and 210s with TMWSuite:

  • Path for the 214 data folder

  • Path for the 210 data folder

  • Setting that specifies whether 214 and 210 records will have spaces added
For details, see Setting up TMWSuite for EDI.