How to connect EDI and Saphety

What is it for?

EDI is the exchange of documents between computers, without paper or email. Many retailers ask their suppliers to receive orders and send shipping notices and invoices by EDI, through an operator. In fiscaldoo, the operator is Saphety. This article prepares the company and the customer for that exchange. EDI only transmits the documents: the invoice, the delivery note and the order are still issued by fiscaldoo, as always.

In this version, only the Saphety test account

In this version, fiscaldoo only connects to the Saphety test environment: the program refuses the connection to the real (production) environment. The orders, responses, shipping notices and invoices exchanged by EDI do not reach the retailer, even when the screen shows “Accepted”. Use this article to prepare and test the connection with the test account Saphety gives you. Until the real connection is available, receive the orders and send the retailer the invoices and documents through the usual channel.

When to use it?

• A retailer has asked you to start working by EDI.
• You are adding a new EDI customer to a company that already exchanges EDI with others.

Where to find it?

• Saphety credentials: Accounting › Configure › Credentials vault › Credentials.
• Company GLN: Settings › Users & Companies › Companies, EAN/GLN field.
• Customer: Billing › Customers and items › Customers, Electronic invoicing (EDI) tab and EAN/GLN field.
• Products: Billing › Customers and items › Products, Barcode field.
• Test: the EDI › Receive messages app and EDI › External communications.

Before you start

• Your profile is Administrator. The steps were done from start to finish with this profile. The Certified accountant, the Accountant and Billing see the customer tab and the EDI app, but cannot save credentials: with the Certified accountant, New in the vault opens “Access Error — You do not have permission to see these credentials. Ask to be given “View” for this company and portal in the credentials vault. Who gives it: a Tax administration user who already has “Edit” permission in the vault, …”.
• The company has a contract with Saphety and a test account, with the user name and password Saphety gives you. fiscaldoo does not sign contracts on the customer's behalf. In this version, only the test account works (see the warning in “What is it for?”).
• The company and the retailer have a GLN, the 13-digit GS1 number that identifies the company, the stores and the warehouses. You request the company's GLN from GS1 Portugal; the retailer gives you its own and its stores' GLNs, and the supplier code.
• The products you sell to the retailer have a barcode (GTIN).

How to use it

1. Credentials. Open Accounting › Configure › Credentials vault › Credentials and click New. Fill in Description, Company, Portal Sharing (choose “Saphety - EDI and e-invoicing (test account)”, the only Saphety type: use the test account credentials), User name and Password / secret, and save. The password is encrypted and is not shown again.
2. Company GLN. In Settings › Users & Companies › Companies, open the company and enter the GLN in EAN/GLN. Save.
3. Customer and store GLNs. In Billing › Customers and items › Customers, open the retailer and enter the GLN in EAN/GLN. Do the same for each delivery address (store or warehouse) on the Contacts tab.
4. Turn on EDI for the customer. Still on the retailer's form, open the Electronic invoicing (EDI) tab and, in the THIS CUSTOMER EXCHANGES EDI WITH THIS COMPANY block:
   • tick EDI active;
   • in EDI operator, choose Saphety;
   • in Our supplier code at the customer, enter the code the retailer gave you.
5. In the MESSAGES ASKED BY THE CUSTOMER (ORDERS AND INVOICES ALWAYS) block, tick the messages the retailer asks for: Order response (ORDRSP), Shipping notice (DESADV) and Receiving notice (RECADV). With the shipping notice, also choose whether it is sent on its own (Send the shipping notice automatically) and whether the customer asks for the pallet code (Customer asks for the SSCC of the pallets). Save.
6. Products. In Billing › Customers and items › Products, check that every product sold to the retailer has its Barcode (GTIN). That is how the retailer's orders find the product.
7. Test. Open EDI › Receive messages. The message “Messages received. 0 new message(s).” (or the number of new messages) appears and the EDI messages list opens. In EDI › External communications, each receipt is a line with the Service “EDI exchange (receive)”, the State and the Environment.

Expected result

• The retailer has the Electronic invoicing (EDI) tab filled in and, from then on, its orders arrive in Sales › Orders › EDI orders: see How to receive and respond to EDI orders.
• In the demo, Retalhista Exemplo (EDI) has GLN 5609999000012, the store Loja Exemplo - Lisboa has 5609999000036 and the company has 5609999000029; the products [EDI001] Bolachas de água e sal 200 g (EDI) and [EDI002] Sumo de laranja 1 L (EDI) have the barcodes 5609999110018 and 5609999110025. These are example numbers, with no real validity.
• In EDI › External communications, the test receipt has State “Accepted”, Transport “Simulated” and Environment “Test”.

Important notes

• Each company has its own contract and credentials. The fields on the EDI tab are also per company: the same retailer can exchange EDI with one company and not with another.
• There is no Saphety in the demo. The messages come from a simulator and the demo credentials vault is empty (“No credentials in the vault yet.”). This documentation never made a connection to the real Saphety, so steps 1 and 7 with the real Saphety were not seen. Confirm each retailer's message format and the connection method with Saphety. In this version, in EDI › External communications, the Environment is always “Test”.
• Costs. Saphety charges per document and for other services. Ask Saphety for the price; the company pays it.
• Pending validation by a certified accountant: the data processing agreement (GDPR) with Saphety, as a processor.

Common problems

“EDI cannot be turned on: the GLN of the customer … is missing”

• Symptom: when you save the customer with EDI active, Validation Error opens: “EDI cannot be turned on: the GLN of the customer Padaria Aurora, Lda is missing. What happened: every EDI message names the buyer and the supplier by their GLN. How to fix it: fill in the GLN (field “EAN/GLN”) and try again.”. Nothing is saved.
• Cause: the customer (or the company) has no GLN.
• What to do: click Close, enter the GLN in the customer's EAN/GLN field (or the company's, in step 2) and save again.

“Access Error” when you click New in the vault

• Symptom: “You do not have permission to see these credentials. Ask a tax administrator to give you “View” for this company and portal in the credentials vault.”.
• Cause: your profile cannot save credentials.
• What to do: ask the Administrator to do step 1.

I don't see the “Electronic invoicing (EDI)” tab or the EDI app

• Cause: your profile does not have EDI exchange. The demo profiles that have it are Administrator, Certified accountant, Accountant and Billing.
• What to do: ask the Administrator to give you the right profile.