When extending an EDI system to the rest of the trading partners, many large buying organisations put together EDI education and training programmes for their suppliers. VANs have also taken a lead by providing support to their customers in getting trading partners online. These programs, sometimes called ramping suppliers or community enablement, are seen as a key process to deploying an EDI system successfully amongst trading partners in a supply chain.

Hub and Spoke Supply Chain Model

Under the hub and spoke approach, the large customer, the hub, moves its EDI program out to its suppliers, the spokes. The amount of hand holding that large organisations undertake to suppliers varies, as does the amount of leeway they give suppliers. In many instances, suppliers receive the message that EDI is a requirement for continuing the business relationship.

As is the case for any change, suppliers may be reluctant to begin EDI, The hub must overcome this inertia or resistance by describing the effect of EDI on the business relationship and by overcoming possible objections. Suppliers may fear the unknown. Possible objections may include:

• Belief, sometimes correct, that the setup costs may be substantial
• Assumption that the license fees for EDI software may be of the same order of magnitude as those of the order processing systems
• Budget or cash flow concerns
• Other MIS related priorities, eg network or PC upgrades
• MIS workload and planning cycles
• Scarcity of consultants or employment candidates with EDI experience

Establishing a Trading Partners Conference

Providing EDI education and help are two ways for an organisation to increase the number of trading partners and the speed with which a given trading partner complies. These two factors increase the return of the hub’s EDI investment. Education tends to overcome trading partner resistance to EDI and the more trading partners that conduct business by EDI, the greater the savings. Whether a large organisation plans to provide EDI education itself or contract with a VAN is another decision for the EDI co-ordinator.

If the hub is a purchasing organisation, it may host supplier conferences to explain their EDI program to suppliers. Suppliers learn about the benefits of EDI and their options for getting on the system. Tips for a successful supplier conference are as follows:

• The invitation comes from a high level business person (not technical) known to the suppliers
• The conference should be opened by the high level person, and they should be able to relate to the suppliers and the business objectives
• Suppliers should be told that any speakers from EDI networks and software companies will be educating and not selling
• The requirements of the suppliers should be clear and concise, including what is expected and by when

If for some reason a company is unable to hold a suppliers conference, may be due to geographically dispersed suppliers in different countries then companies could adopt one of the following approaches:

• Introductory chapters in booklets that had formerly been devoted to format guidelines
• Increased staffing and performance of EDI telephone support groups
• VAN and other enabling services
• The U.S federally supported Electronic Commerce Resource Centres (ECRCs)
• EDI training companies.

Testing the EDI System

Leading hubs and VANS in the late 1990s reduced effort for rapid , large scale implementations. The first reduction takes the form of a test procedure. Prior to testing a written procedure of 1 or 2 pages explains to the trading partners what to expect. During testing they serve as checklists for trading partners and hub or VAN test personnel. Use of such procedures allows hub or VAN personnel to be trained on specific procedures rather than broad EDI standards and concepts. Thus new hub or VAN personnel may have little need for the formerly required years of EDI experience. In addition to procedures, Hub or VAN testers use tools. Some hubs and VANs automatically retrieve generic purchase order data and apply the trading partner’s receiver ID. Others set a flag in the supplier database that copies production purchase orders.

If the Hub chooses to outsource testing to a VAN or service provider, the hub must realise that it can only outsource a portion. This is because the VAN or service bureau uses generic data, generic ship to and product codes for example. Thus the tests are tests of the trading partners’ EDI systems only. Testing of the accuracy and business meaning of hub data is a task for the hub itself. For example, it is production data that must move through the supplier’s EDI systems into its order processing or ERP system as a thorough test for the hub’s product data files.

Phased Implementation of the First Transaction

Implementation with a broad base of suppliers may take a phased approach. The organisation decides how many new trading partners it can handle at once and then works through the same procedures it used during the pilot test. Timetables for dual testing and dual operations should be specified and strictly followed. Selection of groups of new trading partners is done according to the objectives of EDI. If the objective is to reduce inventory, high dollar trading partners take priority. If the objective is to reduce processing , as in accounts payable, then high paper volume trading partners are the ones to implement first.

Additional Transactions

Once the first transaction has been implemented with a significant percentage of its trading partners, the next transaction is selected and viewed as a separate project. It has some surprising characteristics. Technical members of the first transaction’s EDI team may be free to work on the second transaction much sooner than the team members involved in implementation and deployment. The second transaction usually needs to interface to a different application. Thus, there is considerable technical effort.

The second transaction usually needs to involve a different user department. Thus, it has the analysis, motivation, and education challenges first. One organisation question is,’When is it best to free the EDI co-ordinator from the first transaction?’. The second transaction may or may not involve the same trading partner community. If it is the same, then the pilot and deployment will be simpler but not necessarily trivial. Some of the trading partners may have assumed that the EDI requirement had been complete and permanently met.