On another one of My readling places - the EDI-L group on Yahoo - and the topic came up about "who pays" for what... The topic-starter was looking for some kind of "best practices" in the EDI world when it comes to new implementations. I think a lot of the people are viewing this from the "dating" point of view - that the person who asks for the date is the one that pays for the date... Basically, if I was to call you up and ask you to go out with Me to dinner and a movie - or drinks and dancing - or supper and se... wait, keep that one quiet... anyway, if I'm doing the asking, I should be doing the paying...
But that's not truly the case when you're talking about EDI. When it comes to EDI, I'm doing the asking - "Hey! I'd like to send you our PO and get an ASN and an Invoice back, electronically. Are you game?" - but you're doing the paying... At least in My world - the world of retail trade. I'm requesting you to change the way that we do business and accept My orders for your products electronically - instead of via fax or mail or carrier pigeon or crazy, downtown bike ...