Utility Industry Group Implementation Guideline for Electronic Data Interchange

1

Introduction

1.1

Purpose of Guideline

The purpose of this guideline is to enhance the capability of a purchaser and a supplier of material and services to communicate on a computer-to-computer basis by means of Electronic Data Interchange.

1.2

Scope and Applicability

Because of the wide range of user industries, the ASC Xl2 Standards were created to be as broad as possible and to accommodate all business needs. The generic result, although usable, has much more information than is of interest to any particular group. In a practical sense, in order for the Standards to be used in an efficient and effective manner, the scope needs to be defined in more selective terms.

This guide was prepared for use by the electric utility industry and is intended to serve as a general guideline to achieve consistency in application within the electric utility industry and with our customers and suppliers for the processing of ASC Xl2 Transaction Sets.

It is anticipated companies involved in implementing EDI will utilize this guideline in developing their own guides to meet their specific needs.

1.3

Responsible Entity

EDI is a partnership. It takes at least two organizations to do EDI. EDI is also a new way of conducting business that involves several individuals or functional groups within each organization. For EDI to be successful, all that are involved must work together in an open and informed environment.

There are specific functional groups within your organization that will need to be involved in the exchanging of EDI. The organization needs to have one individual assigned as the EDI Coordinator. Each functional group needs a contact person from its personnel to assist in the implementation process and the ongoing operations.

Some areas of accountability are:

• Accounts payable
• Information services (MIS)
• Accounts receivable
• Sales organization
• Purchasing group
• Financial group

There may be other functional groups within a company, and they should be included in above list.

The UIG Guidelines Task Group developed this Implementation Guide. Any comments or questions concerning this guide should be directed to the UIG Guidelines Task Group.

1.4

Introduction to EDI

EDI is defined as the electronic transmission of business documents in a standard format between two companies. The definition can be expanded further to include the electronic transmission of business documents from the application program of one computer to the application program of another computer within the framework of a standard format. The key elements in the definition are business documents and standard format. EDI is a technique that reduces costs and errors associated with a paper document environment. EDI replaces the mail delivery and reentry of documents with the electronic mailbox and the delivery of your business document directly to your computer application program.

1.5

How to Use the Implementation Guideline

Chapters 1 through 9 of this Implementation Guideline should be reviewed prior to working through the detail of the transaction sets (business documents) contained in Chapter 10. A review of Chapters 1 through 9 will provide insight into the various issues and requirements (i.e., business considerations, translation software, formats, legal issues, terminology, and communications considerations) which are not covered in the detail of the transaction sets.