Innovations in EDI Workflow Automation

  July 12, 2012       By Ray Atia
Users seeking to capture and employ information for the purpose of improving the quality and timeliness of data to track and manage all transactions will need to use automated data capture technologies. On the most basic of levels, keyless data entry is executed by an automated data capture. You will need radio frequency equipmentm a bar code printer, or a scanner when you wish to perform automated data capture. On their own, these devices do not really add an enormous amount of value but they do provide a tremendous amount of benefit whne the acquire data and the data is integrated with applications and soon after apended with EDI. The secret to getting the most out of the automated data capture would be to interface the captured data with an application system. Bar coding is most frequently employed with EDI and an ASN which is an advance ship notice. In the more commonly employed systems, information will be compiled and then sent forward for data entity as the products have been selected in their warhouse location. A process of this nature is known to be highly inefficient since the inventory level will soon become outdated the minute you enter the requisite data. The process will be transfered away from the warehouse the minute bar code technology is used and this means all products and invoices are ascertained and the pallets and cartons can be quickly weighed, packed, and put in line for immediate shipping. Necessary relevant data will be logged and inventory numbers and accounts-receivable systems are updated. Consumers will have the option to scan their package bar code labels and match the items which can be procured with the ASN info in order to ID any discrepencies which may be present. As soon as the info is reconciled, the customer has generated a record of accounts-payable which can start the payment process. The potential to maintain accurate, current information on the inventory would be among the top assets an organization can maintain access to. Distributors and manufacturers will commonly lose sales due to the fact they are not able to respond efficiently to what their customers demand. Technology of this nature will allow a sales force to respond in an appropriate manner a lot quicker when a customer makes such a request. Drawing a connection among the warehouse and the sales force is of critical importance. Since many companies wil use a third-party warehouse, to integrate inventory information is another tremendous factor as far as accuracy. Bar codes have been used to a great degree for well over 25 years. In recent times, bar codes can be employed for anything and everything from IDing those attending a conference to an insurance focus group. Most importantly, the use of bar codes have been widely used for more than 25 years. Today, bar codes are used for everything from identifying conference attendees to insurance focus. Using automated data capture tools cuts down on errors and speeds up turnaround time.