nfusion and a costly choice when it came to communicating with their trading partners. So early use of EDI tended to be “in-house” rather than between companies, and was limited to those who could afford to develop and maintain extensive internal electronic networks.Implementing EDI in a business does not need to be difficult, and the benefits can be tremendous. It is important to understand that EDI is a tool, and not a cure-all. EDI is an undertaking requiring a partnership; nothing can stop its potential. A good example would be between Kroger and it’s vendors and the exchanging of electronic invoicing, and automatic fund transfer for payment helps Kroger reduce the cycle of their account receivables. In this case, everybody goes home a winner.For start-up EDI projects, limited objectives with visible benefits should be sought out. If Kroger had selected, for its first project, an ambitious plan to completely overhaul their entire retail distribution process, they may well be attempting too large a first step. Kroger selected a more realistic initial project this was computer assisted ordering (CAO).CAO assists the retail store in ordering product when the purchased product is scanned at the checkstand. The CAO system keeps track of all daily product movement within a certain time frame (usually twenty-eight days). The CAO system produces a recommended order of products for store personal to review. They verify accuracy of on-hand product level, future promotions and adjust accordingly. The one draw back to CAO is the cashier. For instance, if the customer buys six different flavors of Kool-Aid, and the cashier scans all as cherry, CAO will recommend buying just the cherry flavor; when in fact cherry is not the only flavor needed.An important aspect of implementation planning is involving all concerned parties at all steps of the project. Good communication is essential, so that newly installed EDI capabilities will...
