UnitechEDI explains what the latest EDI news means to you.

You may have recently received the letter below from Chapters:

 Dear Indigo Trading Partner,
 
The purpose of this letter is to advise you of changes that will be occurring at Indigo and will impact the manner in which EDI documents are traded between our companies. These changes are expected to be in place by August, 2010. A member of Indigo’s EDI team will be in contact with your organization to further elaborate on the changes, determine the specific implications  and develop the  testing and transition plans that will be required.
 
Background
At Indigo we are constantly focussed on improving service to our Customers and operating a more efficient Supply Chain. To deliver on both of these objectives we will be building a second distribution center adjacent to our current warehouse in Brampton, Ontario. This new warehouse will open with an expanded inventory assortment to be used to support our growing Online, Kiosk and corporate order business and will commence full operations in early August, 2010. The current warehouse will focus solely on supporting our retail stores.
In addition to new physical facilities, the Online warehouse management system will be SAP’s eWM application. Our current plans are to cutover to this system in early August, 2010. The current retail warehouse will remain on it’s legacy WMS for another year approximately, at which point it will also transition to eWM.
 
EDI Implications
As a result of installing the new eWM system there are five major changes that will be occurring.
a)                   A new purchase order type will be created. This will be a positive development for vendors as Indigo will now be able to distinguish between online customer orders (rush) and online replenishment orders.
b)                  A new shipping location with corresponding changes to Ship To addresses and SAN numbers will occur.
c)                   A requirement to transition to a much higher usage of pallet level ASNs. Although there are scenarios  where Indigo currently cannot receive pallet level ASNs (to be addressed in early 2011), there are many orders being shipped by vendors using case pack level ASNs rather than the more efficient pallet level ASN. This transition will be expected for both our Online and Retail store warehouses.
d)                  A change to the information that is contained in the MH10 label will be requested.
e)                  A change to the HU number range that is acceptable for your ASN and MH10 label will be made. Indigo will be able to accept HU numbers that fall within the range of  1 00000 00000 à 09999 99999 99999 99999. Our analysis of historical HU numbers received indicates this will affect very few of our trading partners, but please assess within your organization.
 
Rob Spence, Director, Master Data and EDI is leading this work for us.
 
The two steps he has already taken are:
1)                   initiated discussions with BookNet Canada to have the CBISAC EDI Document Specifications modified to reflect the changes where appropriate.
2)                    members of his EDI Team have been communicating with your technical personnel about this change in requirements. This work is progressing well.
Finally, our new warehouse management system will require accurate case quantities for efficient receipt and handling of product. If the case quantities are not accurate, your product will be captured in our quarantine process while the correct quantity is determined. If you have concerns regarding the accuracy of your carton quantities, please contact Indigo’s Master Data team so that this issue may be proactively managed.
Thank you for your support as we engage in these exciting changes. We believe this will be of significant benefit for our customers while also improving the Supply Chain relationship between Indigo and its trading partners. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
 
Regards,
 
 
Ross Marancos
 
EVP Supply Chain
Indigo Books & Music

What this means to you:UnitechEDI is aware of the upcoming changes, and will be working with Chapters on the implementation.   We will notify you when there is action required by you.