What Is An 846 EDI Document And How Do Growers Use Them?
When large retailers want to receive information regarding inventory available from suppliers or what they have on hand, they will usually want the 846 Inventory Inquiry or Inventory Advice document to the supplier’s EDI provider like GrowerEDI. In turn, the EDI provider will transform the data into a format to send to the trading partner’s back end system or needs.
The 846 document can be especially useful for trading partners that have items listed in their online portals that can be directly drop shipped by the supplier.
Example Typical EDI Flow for EDI 846 Invoices Copyright Advanced Grower Solutions
EDI 846 Document – Inventory Inquiry / Advice
An 846 EDI document is the paperless version of an inventory report for specified items.
The 846 EDI document contains information on the supplier and trading partner as well as the list of items included in the inventory report.
Important Data Included in an 846 Inventory Inquiry / Advice
An EDI 846 document includes key information like identification fields, the date of the inventory, and various quantities related to the inventory situation being communicated. These can include:
- Product Identifier – PID
- Product Description
- Pricing information
- Quantities in various status or times - Available quantity - Adjusted quantity - Billable quantity - Quantity received - Quantity previous week
- Transaction totals
Important Uses for EDI 846 Document
The most important use of a typical EDI 846 document is for a customer to inform a supplier of defined goods and or services inventory or to inform the supplier of the inventory situation in the stores or Distribution Center (DC).
Additionally, some retailers supporting online ecommerce portals that allow supplier drop ship to customers use the 846 to be informed of supplier inventory situations.
Example 846 raw data examples Copyright Advanced Grower Solutions
Summary
When communicating with larger retailers for EDI like Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, Tractor Supply or others an EDI 846 document in general is used to communicate inventory situation for defined products and locations.
GrowerEDI provides a knowledgeable, experienced data partner that can ease the EDI process, improve data flows, automate interactions, and provide data transformations to give you actionable, usable data.
If you need EDI or currently use EDI to transmit data to and from your trading partners GrowerEDI is a concierge EDI service that can help you improve your EDI experience and automation. Contact us today to learn more.