What is an EDI 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgement document and how does it work

What is an EDI 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgement?

The EDI 855 is an electronic document that is used in B2B transactions to provide suppliers with purchase order acknowledgment information. Standard EDI formats include X12, EDIFACT, ANSI and its subsets. The EDI 855 is also known as the Purchase Order Acknowledgement document. It is typically used by suppliers to confirm that they have received a purchase order from a buyer and to provide information about the order's status, including expected delivery dates, pricing, and other relevant details.

The EDI 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgement document provides the buyer with important information about the status of their purchase order, including whether the supplier is able to fulfil the order as requested or not. If the supplier is able to fulfill the order, the EDI 855 will typically include information about the expected ship date, which allows the buyer to plan for receipt of the goods.

If the supplier is unable to fulfill the order as requested, the EDI 855 may include information about the reason for the rejection, such as being out of stock or not agreeing to the terms of the purchase order. This allows the buyer to take appropriate action, such as finding an alternate supplier or adjusting their own plans accordingly.

How is an EDI 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgment used?

After the supplier sends the EDI 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgement document to the buyer, the buyer's system will typically generate an EDI 997 Functional Acknowledgement document to confirm that the 855 document was received and processed successfully.

The EDI 997 document is used as a simple acknowledgement that the EDI message was received, but it does not provide any information about the content of the message. The 997 simply indicates that the transaction was successfully transmitted, received, and validated.

By using the EDI 997 Functional Acknowledgement document, the buyer can ensure that they have received the EDI 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgement document from the supplier, and that it was processed correctly.

What makes up the EDI 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgement?

The EDI 855 typically includes the following segments:

1. Header Segment: Contains identifying information, such as the document control number and the date and time the document was created.
2. Acknowledgement Details Segment: Provides information about the purchase order being acknowledged, such as the purchase order number, issue date, and type of acknowledgement (i.e. acceptance, rejection, or modification).
3. Order Information Segment: Contains details about the order, such as the buyer's name and address, the supplier's name and address, and the requested ship date.
4. Item Detail Segment: Provides information about the items being ordered, such as the product description, quantity, and price.
5. Summary Segment: Contains a summary of the information provided in the document, such as the total quantity and dollar amount of the order.
6. Trailer Segment: Contains identifying information about the end of the document, such as the total number of segments and the control number.

How is an EDI 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgement?

In order to process EDI documents such as the EDI 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgement received from trading partners, an EDI solution is typically required to convert the electronic messages into a format that can be read and understood by an ERP or accounting system. This may involve mapping the data from the EDI document to the appropriate fields in the system, and applying any necessary business rules or validations. Each trading partner will typically provide an EDI Implementation Guide (also known as an EDI

Trading Partner Agreement) that outlines the specific segments, data elements, and values that are accepted, as well as any applicable business rules or guidelines to be followed. The Implementation Guide serves as a reference document to ensure that both parties are using the same standards and formats when exchanging EDI messages.

To know more on how we implement EDI and integrate into any of their internal systems, contact our sales department at +1 888-339-0722 or email us at sales@infoconn.com.