You’ve just secured a major contract with a national retailer. Congratulations! Then comes the email: “You’ll need EDI capability to trade with us.” Suddenly, you’re facing an unfamiliar acronym, tight deadlines, and the pressure to deliver without disrupting your current operations.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) integration the automated exchange of business documents like orders, invoices, and shipping notifications between trading partners, can feel daunting. But with the right approach and partner, it doesn’t have to be.
Drawing on over 30 years of EDI integration experience, Celtrino recently hosted a webinar to demystify the process. This article distils those insights into a practical three-step framework that sets realistic expectations and helps you avoid the most common pitfalls.
Why Companies Initiate EDI Projects
Most businesses start an EDI project for one of two reasons: they’re migrating to a new accounts package (like moving from SAP to Sage), or they’re switching EDI providers due to service or security concerns. Increasingly, companies are also driven by new trading partner requirements, your sales team lands Tesco or Marks & Spencer, and suddenly you need capabilities you’ve never had before.
Common Integration Challenges That Demand Action
Before diving into the three-step process, it’s worth understanding what drives the urgency:
- Security vulnerabilities: Outdated systems using protocols like FTP pose significant risks, as recent breaches at major retailers have demonstrated
- Business continuity threats: When orders, advance shipping notifications (ASNs), or invoices fail to process, your entire supply chain grinds to a halt
- Costly operational failures: Trucks turned away from depots, fines from retail partners, or worst case for fresh food suppliers, entire containers of stock wasted due to missing or incorrect ASNs
- Scalability limitations: Your current system might handle two retail partners, but can it manage ten? What happens when you need to integrate warehouse management systems or sophisticated handheld devices?
The financial and reputational stakes are high. Marks & Spencer’s supplier policy, for instance, holds suppliers liable for the full retail value of goods that can’t be delivered due to delivery failures.
Pre-Step: The Foundation of Fast EDI
Before any technical work begins, successful projects start with a clear-eyed assessment. Meet with your finance, operations, and IT teams to establish:
- What files your current system produces (CSV, XML, EDIFACT)
- Which trading partners you need to connect with and their specific requirements
- Your timeline and any non-negotiable deadlines
- Potential pain points in your existing data quality
This discovery phase isn’t administrative box-ticking, it’s where experienced EDI partners identify the pitfalls that could derail your project months down the line.
Step 1: Discovery & Scoping – Building Your Integration Blueprint
This technical phase involves a detailed examination of your ERP system (whether Oracle, Sage, SAP, or bespoke software) to understand what data you can produce and in what format. The good news? Most modern accounting systems have built-in EDI components; it’s often just a matter of activating and configuring them correctly.
Your EDI partner should map out your current file structures and create a technical blueprint tailored to your trading partners’ specifications. This isn’t one-size-fits-all; Tesco’s requirements differ from Morrisons’, which differ from Aldi’s.
Key takeaway: If you’re new to EDI, don’t panic. Most ERP systems can handle the technical requirements, the challenge is configuring them properly and ensuring data quality.
Step 2: Partner Onboarding – Testing Without Disruption
Here’s where many projects stumble: each retailer or wholesaler has unique file formats and testing procedures. Some use web portals; others require direct testing with their EDI teams. Response times vary wildly, you might set up Tesco in a month, whilst another partner takes six months.
Parallel testing is critical during this phase. Your existing system continues processing live orders and invoices whilst your new system operates in a protected test environment (a “sandbox”). This approach ensures zero disruption to business continuity. Only when testing is complete and verified do you switch connections, and by then, most technical issues have already been resolved.
Pro tip: Leverage your buyer relationships. If a trading partner is slow to respond, having your commercial contact push their internal EDI team can significantly accelerate the process.
Step 3: Go-Live, Handover & Post-Live Support
Orders typically flow smoothly from day one, it’s invoicing where most initial problems surface. Why? Testing uses small product samples with clean data. Going live exposes the reality of your database: missing barcodes, incorrect VAT rates, invalid location codes, or outdated purchase order numbers.
This isn’t a failure of the EDI system, it’s a data hygiene issue that becomes visible under automation. The critical factor here is rapid response times. Your EDI support team should be addressing file failures within one to two hours, helping you clean up data issues before they impact cash flow.
Expect a settling-in period where invoice rejections are more common, then declining rapidly as data quality improves. This is normal and manageable with proper support.
The Single Most Important Factor: Experience
Throughout the webinar, one theme emerged repeatedly: experience matters. Knowing which trading partners respond quickly, which data issues cause the most problems, and how to structure phased rollouts, this knowledge comes from years of hands-on project work.
When evaluating EDI partners, ask about their track record with your specific trading partners and their typical response times for support issues.
Final Thoughts: EDI is a Journey, Not a Switch
EDI integration isn’t instantaneous, but neither should it be the months-long ordeal some companies experience. With proper planning, parallel testing, and an experienced partner, most projects can progress from discovery to go-live in a matter of weeks.
The key is setting realistic expectations from the start, understanding that data quality issues will surface, that trading partners have varying response times, and that post-live support is where your EDI partner proves their worth.
Ready to start your EDI journey with confidence? Don’t guess your EDI timeline or navigate complex retailer requirements alone. Contact Celtrino today for a personalised EDI assessment. Our team brings nearly two decades of integration experience to ensure your project is built for success, from discovery through go-live and beyond.
Celtrino specialises in EDI integration for manufacturers and suppliers trading with UK retailers and wholesalers. Our approach combines technical expertise with practical, responsive support to keep your business flowing.
