EDI Implementation Initiative

Electronic Data Inter-exchange (EDI) is a well-established standard
that enables machine to machine communication between trading
partners. EDI has been widely used in the grocery supply chain, but the meat and poultry supply chain has historically limited the use of EDI to
purchase orders and invoicing. Data transmission needs have continued
to evolve in response to both government regulatory requirements and
more sophisticated business practices.  The meat and poultry supply
chain is making greater use of the different order to cash messages,
including the Advance Ship Notice, and is beginning to recognize EDI as a critical communications platform that can be leveraged for our benefit.

mpXML began our first EDI Guidance project in 2006. The initial
document reviewed was the EDI 856 Advance Ship Notice (ASN). mpXML proceeded to create guidance documents for all aspects of EDI Implementation in the meat and poultry industry. Guides can be downloaded in the sidebar for Purchase Order, Purchase Order Acknowledgment, Purchase Order Change, and Invoice. mpXML evaluates both VICS and UCS versions.

In March of 2010, mpXML published the 856 Ship Notice/Manifest with batch level reporting for trade items in support of product traceability. (See sidebar to download this and other guides). mpxML continues to review all existing guidance documents with an eye toward capturing COOL and Traceability requirements.