Source: email from Amazon July 8, 2008 (and a reminder on July 25)
Analysis revised by UnitechEDI 08/10/08
Amazon.com will make an adjustment to the shipment dates communicated in the purchase order. These will be the dates between which Amazon.com expects to pick up the purchase order. For POs that are to be picked up on a specific date, the window will have the same date listed in both date fields.
This may require a change in your ERP system to be compliant. Today, some vendors use the first date in the window, which typically matches the order date, to trigger fulfillment events (pick and pack). In that case, a change must be made to your ERP system to ensure that the freight is ready at the expected pick up date.
The change from Amazon will appear on all new purchase orders on and after July 31st, 2008.
What does this mean to you?
Before doing anything, be sure to ask your Amazon buyer if this applies to you. It might not.
If it does apply to you, your ERP system is already set up to import the pick up start date. It does not currently have the ability to import the second date, which Amazon is refering to as the pick up end date. For this reason, the translator does not include the second date in the file that you import to your order processing system.
The two dates are printed on the PO Detail report (recv_rpt.ama) which is found in the \850 folder as follows:
==============================================================================
Sender ID: AMAZON PO Date: 07/07/08 Cancel Date:
Requested Date: 07/07/08
Don’t Ship After: 07/14/08
What must you do?
If your Amazon buyer tell you that this does not apply to you then you need do nothing.
Otherwise, beginning July 31st, 2008, you will need to review the PO Detail report for Amazon orders and possibly manually update the date in your order processing system if a field for it exists. We suggest that you use this manual method for at least a week or two. If after that time you would like to have both dates integrated into your ERP system, please let us know. The cost will be based on what you would like to have done. There would also probably be a charge from your ERP vendor should you want a program modification.
Technical info for ERP vendors
What EXACTLY is changing? No fields will be added or removed from the 850 EDI document itself. Currently, on the header of the 850 EDI document (purchase order) there are two dates in DTM 064 and 063 (see below). These dates had typically represented order date and a date 7 days after that. After this change, the two dates will be the window in which Amazon expects to pick up the freight. If you have agreed upon a specific day of the week for pick up, both dates will fall on that day of the week. If your pick up dates are not fixed, this window may vary.
DTM*063*20080721~
DTM*064*20080715~
This is our best thinking on this matter. For confirmation you should contact your Amazon representative. For more information contact (800) 330-4094 or support@unitechedi.com
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