Thanks to Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) piles of paper created in communications between retailers and manufacturers are a thing of the past now that business partners exchange orders, delivery notes and invoices electronically. 
Which EDI channels does METRO Group use to communicate with its suppliers?
METRO Group offers suppliers three different ways of exchanging electronic data: first: EDI Classic – for high volumes of computer to computer data transfer; second: WebEDI from MEC (METRO Group EDI Center) – for a one-to-one relationship between suppliers and the METRO Group; third: WebEDI assisted by independent EDI providers on the Internet. A METRO Group EDI Team, founded in 1996, helps industry partners select the right path. The work group offers assistance to companies implementing electronic data exchange.
Classic: tried and tested
The longest-established method of exchanging data is EDI Classic. METRO Group started exchanging information with its partners back in 1989, then applying the national Sedas standard. Today METRO Group mainly applies EANCOM message formats in its data interchange. In the case of EDI Classic METRO Group and the respective supplier draft business documents such as orders, delivery notes and invoices in their own IT system and store them in a defined company file format. A so-called EDI Gateway (converter) transforms this file into the EANCOM standard format. Business partners exchange EANCOM messages via a mailbox system such as Telebox 400 / IBM IE MAIL or via the internet using EDIINT AS2. The tried and tested classic may be slightly more expensive in initial purchase and implementation, but remains to be the best alternative when it comes down to larger data volumes. METRO Group uses EDI Classic to communicate with its larger suppliers.
Beating the internet track
Comparatively steep initial investments demanded by EDI Classic have kept several suppliers from changing over to EDI. But the fact remains that companies who are not processing their business electronically today are surrendering their competitive edge. METRO Group therefore enables its suppliers to tap the advantages of EDI in two ways, without having to invest heavily in new IT systems.
Online translation
The first option is MEC
– METRO Group EDI Center. Business partners can use this internet based EDI tool, which was developed by METRO Group, to exchange data online. Suppliers either input their invoices in MEC or transmit them as ASCII files. ASCII is the abbreviation for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. This standard code is the most popular data set to show binary (two digit) data. MEC forwards this ASCII file to the METRO converter, which transforms it into the standard international EDIFACT format and sends the invoice file to MGP METRO Group Account Processing. Orders by METRO Group sales divisions for suppliers are sent from the sales division to the MEC application via the EDI Service Center. MEC receives the EDI files from the retailing company which have already been converted and makes these available to manufacturing partners in the application. They can then either print out the orders or download them into their IT systems as ASCII files. Suppliers can then generate invoices right in MEC in the so-called turn-around procedure from the orders provided. The MEC application is making more documents available step by step, such as the delivery notification DESADV, which has been available since January 2004.
Joining forces, reducing work
Numerous EDI providers currently offer so called WebEDI platforms. These Internet sites enable the supplier to receive, record and send electronic messages. Electronic data exchange via WebEDI platforms is particularly aimed at suppliers who also deliver to firms outside the METRO Group . This option is also suitable if implementing EDI Classic is not a cost-effective solution for the industry partner.
