Within the freight and logistics industry, there are a number of specific tasks to which EDI can be
applied very successfully. Data exchange between trading partners can deliver accuracy, efficiency and
productivity.
FCL has a long involvement with e-Commerce, from the early development of EDI links with UK customs,
through to a variety of unilateral and bilateral EDI solutions for customers, partners and carriers.
ForwardOffice incorporates facilities for data exchange through a variety of interfaces and
formats, including XML.
The Customer and Partner EDI module provides a bi-directional interface for the electronic exchange of
consignment information, with selected trading partners. Fully integrated with all Operational
transport modes, this add-on module allows for the transmission or receipt of Consignment Booking and
Status information.
The facility can be implemented in different ways for different trading partners, using XML, FCL’s
proprietory EDI, EDIFACT or even bespoke message types. Delivery can be achieved using traditional
VANs, FTP, or via Internet e-Mail.
With a single source of capture, data integrity can be improved and a faster throughput of information
achieved. This boosts productivity, and provides both a competitive edge and a means of “locking”
trading partners in to your organisation.
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 Key Features:
• General Features:
• Supports XML, EDIFACT, ANSI, CSV and proprietary message formats
• Transfer via FTP or e-Mail
• Trading partner-based mapping and code correlations
• Consignment bookings from customers
• Bi-directional partner movement exchanges
• Can handle messages for single shipments, consolidations and even entire voyages
• Includes support for bi-directional Status Updates
• Inbound status updates can trigger automatic Post- Shipment Confirmation, POD update, Milestone and Diary updates
• Direct FCL-to-FCL EDI, for simple, low-cost, implementation between sister companies
• EDIFACT and VAN delivery achieved via inte-gration with third-party translation and communications software
• Bespoke EDI interfaces for corporate, global, solutions
• Auto-notification to relevant user on receipt of inbound EDI Booking messages
• Inbound Booking messages validated within a “buffer- zone”, thus ensuring database integrity
• Sophisticated “Correlation Table” facility, which is built “on-the-fly”, aids the validation process enormously
• Incorporates Credit checks during creation of live jobs
• Optional integration with Consignment Tracking and Event Management:
• Consignments initiated via EDI immediately become available within Tracking
• When specific “Milestones” are reached, various “Events” can be optionally triggered for different parties
• Includes the output of EDI Consignment Booking or Status update messages
• In this scenario, ForwardOffice can become “one big message switch”
• Optional integration with FCL-ASP ForwardVision and WebTrack - information automatically becomes visible on the Web for any of the involved parties to view, anywhere in the world
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