I can't believe it's been almost a WHOLE MONTH since I last posted a blog and My thoughts...  geez.  But, anyway, I was reading - gee, shocker! - another website (actually, My daily mailing of questions posed on the EDI-L group over on Yahoo!) - and the following question was posed: "I'm working through a client situation where multiple internal SKUs correspond to a single customer item number. Before I get on my high horse and insist that they always ship a complete customer item in a single shipment I thought that I'd ask if it is possible to send a valid ASN or Invoice in this case. To be specific: Client offers internal item numbers P0001a, P0001b and P0001c for sale as A0001. It is murphy inevitable that the shipping department will eventually ship P0001a, P0001b and P0001c in separate shipments (on separate days). Is it even possible to: send an ASN that 1/3 of unit A0001 shipped on June 16, 2008 or send an Invoice that 1/2 of the cost of unit A0001 is now due for that 1/3 A0001" Now, here's the thing to consider - how was it ordered...?  If the trading partner sent a PO for 100 of P0001a, 100 of P0001b and 100 of P0001c, then you need to ship 100 of each item.  If the ...

That's a pretty simple and straightforward kind of thing to say, isn't it?  I mean, it ... says ... what it means...   and if we follow the concept, life would be so much easier for all of us...  No more lying politicians or smarmy sales-pitches...  No more "hey, this product was supposed to do this, but it doesn't" kind of problems.  No more hurt feelings because you answer "does this (dress, shirt, tie, bathing suit, whatever) make me look (old, fat, ugly, whatever)" kind of questions truly - yes, your butt looks like a Buick in that silver sequin thing.  Sorry - a digression. But you get My meaning, right?  I mean it would be so much easier if we said what we mean and meant what we said and we weren't mean about it, either. For example - I've been away from the office for about a week, helping My mom - My dear, 73 year old mom - move.  She semi-retired from being a programmer/analyst last year.  I say semi-retired because now she works for the same company - but as a consultant instead of as a salaried employee.  But she also works remotely, with a nice little wifi/broadband modem card stuck out of the side of her laptop.  We're moving her from Las Vegas, Nevada ...

Over on the EDI-L Yahoo group, a poster was talking (ranting?) about some issues they were having with possibly having to change their client's EDI ISA/GS IDs and all the "trouble"(?) that would cause.  It was a long and convoluted tale about Company A selling a division (that did orders via EDI) to Company B and maintaining that EDI connectivity and activity - using the same ISA/GS qualifier and ID - and something about another division of Company B now going EDI and what ID and . . . well, it was very confusing to read and is still a bit muddled in My head, so maybe go and read it for yourself, here.  Oh, BTW, the ID in question was the DUNS+ ID - where you use your DUNS number and add some number to it.  I don't know about that, as we use a phone number for our EDI ID. Company B has also purchased other "divisions" over the years - some EDI, and I guess, some not.  And now some of these divisions may be trading with a whole new set of clients - and maybe even some of the same? - as the original division acquired oh-so-long-ago from Company A. But I had replied to the original post with the concept that, "way back ...

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"Ch-ch-changes... Turn and face the strange..." - David Bowie belted out back in 1972.  Well, 1971, actually, but the song wasn't released until 1972.  And, as usual, I digress in the details.  But still, some of the lyrics are quite appropriate today.  And especially in the world of EDI.  Good ol' Ziggy Stardust (aka Bowie) sang out:                                    "Still don't know what I was waiting for.." That's something we hear a lot in the EDI world - once somebody finds out how well EDI can help them.  They don't know what they waited for - or balked against - when given the option of EDI.  Once they've seen-the-light, it suddenly becomes a no-brainer.  But at the time, it was strange and unknown and a change.  And we all know what people can be like when it comes to change.. Don't we? Change is hard! What's wrong with the way we've always done it? Oh, great!  Now what do I have to learn? Right now, I'm working with our Accounting group in getting them to embrace and accept the 810 EDI Invoice.  And, for the most part, I'm lucky that they're open and willing to "face the strange" and go with it..  However, where it's making My life a living hell is that they expect everything to be done.  Now.  2 Minutes ago.  ...