Setting Up EDI Ordering

Innovative Interfaces offers a separately-licensed set of services for setting up, implementing, and supporting Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) ordering and invoicing. EDI services include support for Enriched EDI orders, shelf-ready items, and Advanced Shipping Notices (ASN). If you are interested in implementing EDI ordering through Polaris Acquisitions, contact your Polaris Site Manager.

Once you have implemented EDI with a supplier, your library can send electronic purchase orders and receive acknowledgments and invoices electronically (and advanced shipping notices, if the supplier produces them) using electronic data interchange (EDI) and Polaris Acquisitions.

After the supplier receives the EDI order, an electronic order acknowledgment is put into the library’s account folder on the supplier’s FTP server. If the supplier can produce Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN) files, an ASN is also put into this folder when the order is prepared for shipment.

Then, when the order is filled, the electronic invoice is put into this folder. The SQL job PolarisEDIAgent retrieves the files from the supplier’s FTP server and loads them into a directory in Polaris,creating an invoice with the suffix EDI. The purchase order acknowledgment file (POA) is used to create the Electronic Purchase Order Acknowledgment report, the ASN file is used to receive shipments in bulk, and the invoice file is used to create the EDI invoice record in Polaris.

See also:

• About the Polaris EDIAgent Job

• EDIAgent and EDIFTP Logs

• Prepare for EDI Ordering

• Setting Up Importing and Bulk Adding

• Specify the EDI FTP transmission mode

About the Polaris EDIAgent Job

Tip:
You can change the EDIAgent schedule through SQL Server Enterprise Manager. For more information on the EDIAgent and SQL jobs, see the Polaris Permission Groups - Default Permissions Reference.

The SQL job, Polaris EDIAgent, runs on a default schedule of 8:00 a.m. every morning and scans the supplier’s FTP server looking for files in the library’s directory. The EDIAgent identifies the supplier’s FTP server by the address in the FTP Address field and the library’s directory by the Username and Password fields in the Supplier record.

The first time the EDIAgent is run, it creates the EDINew directory (C:ProgramData\Polaris\[version]\datalink\EDIAgent\EDINew) and the EDIDone directory (C:ProgramData\Polaris\[version]\datalink\EDIAgent\EDIDone). (The datalink portion of the file path depends on how your library server is set up.)

When the EDIAgent finds electronic purchase order acknowledgment, invoice, or advanced shipping notice files in the library’s account directory on the supplier’s FTP server, it retrieves them and loads them into the EDINew directory (or any other directory specified in the Polaris Administration Acquisitions profile Default directory). Once the files are loaded into the SQL database, they are moved to the EDIDone directory. If any of these steps fail, the errors are logged in the event viewer.

If available, the files retrieved by the EDIAgent are used as follows:

• Purchase Order Acknowledgments - The purchase order acknowledgment data is used to generate the PO Acknowledgment Report, a standard report available from the Polaris Shortcut Bar. See Acquisitions Reports.

• EDI Invoices - The invoice data automatically creates EDI invoices in Polaris, and you can search for these invoices by the suffix EDI. You can select the Hold partial shipment invoices in the EDI Defaults profile in Polaris Administration to prevent EDI invoices from being created automatically if the number of copies received does not equal the number of copies ordered on any of the line items in the invoice. You can generate these partially received invoices using the Process EDI Invoices workform. See Set up EDI invoice defaults.

• Advanced Shipping Notices (ASN) - The ASN (X12 transaction set 856) is composed of data related to the shipment, orders, packages or cartons, and the items inside the cartons. When the shipment arrives, the user opens the Receive ASN Shipments workform and receives the purchase order line items by scanning the UCC-128 barcode on the outside of the carton. See Receive using the Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN).

EDIAgent and EDIFTP Logs

The EDIAgent and EDIFTP log files are saved in the following location: C:\ProgramData\Polaris\[version]\Logs\SQLJobs.

When the EDIAgent runs, one file for each EDI-enabled Polaris supplier record will be created (or overwritten if already created for the supplier) and saved in the EDIFTP folder. If the EDIAgent log reports a connection failure, a Polaris representative or authorized library staff member can use the supplier ID to find the file in the EDIFTP folder.

EDIAgent Log and FTP Message Examples

If the FTP transmission is successful and files are retrieved, the EDIAgent log provides information regarding the date and time the EDIAgent ran, the information retrieved for each supplier, and the EDI Invoice e-mail sent to the library staff member. If the FTP transmission is successful, but no files were available for retrieval, the EDIAgent log indicates that the transmission was successful, but no files were retrieved. If the FTP transmission is unsuccessful, the EDIAgent shows the error, and the EDIFTP file for the supplier contains more details regarding the problem.

• EDIAgent Log - FTP transmission successful and files retrieved

Began Executing 2017-04-30 10:35:13

Start EDI expired data cleanup [SQLSTATE 01000]

Errno     0

finished EDI expired data cleanup [SQLSTATE 01000]

Run the EDIAgent executable [SQLSTATE 01000]

output

Accessing FTP Server ftp.polarislibrary.com for Supplier ID: 77

InternetConnect - File Transfer on FTP Server ftp.polarislibrary.com successful.

Accessing FTP Server ftp.polarislibrary.com for Supplier ID: 234

InternetConnect - File Transfer on FTP Server ftp.polarislibrary.com successful.

Accessing FTP Server ftp.polarislibrary.com for Supplier ID: 296

InternetConnect - File Transfer on FTP Server ftp.polarislibrary.com successful.

Processing files AudioBookR2.txt

Copying file AudioBookR2.txt to Done directory

Processing files AudioGoR2.txt

Copying file AudioGoR2.txt to Done directory

Processing files BrodartR2.txt

Copying file BrodartR2.txt to Done directory

Processing files BTR2.txt

Copying file BTR2.txt to Done directory

Processing files FindAwayR2.txt

Copying file FindAwayR2.txt to Done directory

exiting EDIAgent

There were no errors in the EDIAgent process, invoice creation starting [SQLSTATE 01000]

Emailing file at location: "C:\ProgramData\Polaris\[version]\EDIAgent\EDIInvoiceResults_FindawayWorld_SAL.log" To = staffone@polarislibrary.com; stafftwo@polarislibrary.com From = yourlibrary@polarislibrary.com [SQLSTATE 01000]

Apr 30 2017 10:35AM ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Polaris\[version]\Bin\PolarisEmailer.exe" Newman-R2 "staffone@polarislibrary.com;stafftwo@polarislibrary.com" "yourlibrary@polarislibrary.com" EDIInvoiceResults_FindawayWorld_SAL.log "C:\ProgramData\Polaris\4.1R2\EDIAgent\EDIInvoiceResults_FindawayWorld_SAL.log"" [SQLSTATE 01000]

output

(null)

Apr 30 2017 10:35AM Edi Agent Invoice Creation Successful [SQLSTATE 01000]

Apr 30 2017 10:35AM Edi Agent completed with no errors. [SQLSTATE 01000]

• EDIAgent Log - FTP successful, but no files retrieved

Starting EDIFTP - 4/17/2017 9:24:56 AM

Number of files retrieved: 0

Finishing EDIFTP - 4/17/2017 9:24:57 AM

• FTP message - FTP successful, but no files created in Polaris

• EDIAgent Log - FTP unsuccessful

Starting EDIFTP - 4/17/2017 9:30:21 AM

This EDI Agent FTP experienced the following error.

Exception Message: The remote server returned an error: (530) Not logged in.

Response Status: 530 Not logged in.

If error code = 530, check username and password.

Number of files retrieved: 0

Finishing EDIFTP - 4/17/2017 9:30:22 AM

• FTP message - FTP unsuccessful 

Prepare for EDI Ordering

To enable EDI ordering with Polaris, your IT staff verifies that orders can be sent via FTP; your administrator grants permissions, sets EDI invoice defaults and verifies the library SAN is in the Branch workform; and your library staff member contacts the suppliers that accept EDI orders, contacts your Polaris representative, and sets up supplier records.

Prepare for EDI Ordering - IT Staff

• Verify that your library can send and receive files via FTP - Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) orders are sent via File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and purchase order acknowledgments and invoices are received via FTP. Therefore, your library must be able to send outbound files and receive inbound files via FTP, and staff members who send EDI orders must have the appropriate administrative settings to send an order via FTP from their workstations.
•  Determine if EDI files should be transmitted in active or passive mode - When you transmit or receive files via FTP in active mode, both the server and client are required to open up ports to check for incoming traffic. This can cause problems when you are working behind a firewall. However, when you transmit or receive files via FTP in passive mode, only the server is required to open up ports for incoming traffic. If you are working behind a firewall, transmitting and receiving via FTP in passive mode gives you a better chance of being able to connect to an FTP server. 

Prepare for EDI Ordering - Polaris Administrator

• Set the transmission mode to active or passive in Polaris Administration - Your IT staff determines whether the transmission mode should be set to active or passive. Then, the Polaris Administrator sets the Acquisitions/Serials parameter Transmit EDI files in passive mode FTP to Yes for passive mode or No for active mode. The parameter’s default setting for all new installations of Polaris is Yes (passive mode). See Specify the EDI FTP transmission mode.
• Grant permissions to staff who send EDI orders - Any staff member who sends EDI orders requires the permission Send electronic purchase orders. Additional permissions are required for importing, receiving shelf-ready materials, processing EDI invoices and receiving via the Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN).
• Enter the library SAN in the Branch workform - The library SAN must be entered in the Branch workform for each branch that sends EDI orders.
• Set up EDI invoice defaults - Select the EDI Invoice Defaults Acquisitions profile in Polaris Administration. See Set up EDI invoice defaults.
• Verify call number setup - If you will be generating on-order items with call numbers pulled from the linked bibliographic records, verify that the Polaris Administration Cataloging profile Bring call number fields from bib to item record when link is made is set to Yes. If this profile is set to Yes, call number information is copied from the linked bibliographic record to the on-order items according to the settings in the Item Create Call Number Hierarchy database table. The system checks the On-order Item template's shelving scheme and assigned branch to determine the Item Create Call Number Hierarchy table settings to use. The call number information in the bibliographic record supersedes any call number information that may be in the On-order Item template. However, if the item template contains call number subfields that are not in the linked bibliographic record, the data in the template is used. For example, if the bibliographic record has a class and cutter number but no prefix or suffix, and template does contain a prefix and suffix, the resulting on-order item will contain the class and cutter number from the bib and the prefix and suffix from the template. See the Cataloging Administration PDF Guide, Copying Bib Data to Items.

• Add links to supplier databases - (Optional) You can add a link from Polaris to your suppliers’ Web databases so you can access them directly from Polaris. After setting up the links, you can go to Utilities, Acquisitions Processing, Link to supplier databases and select the supplier. You will still need to log in with a username and password on the supplier’s site. See the Acquistions Administration PDF Guide, Add links to supplier databases.
• (Optional) If your library receives shipments via ASN, set option to print workslips. To allow purchase order line item workslips to be printed in batch from the Receive ASN Shipments workform, set the PO line item workslips: Batch print during ASN receiving Acquisitions parameter to Yes in Polaris Administration.

Prepare for EDI Ordering - Library Staff

• Contact your suppliers that accept Polaris EDI orders - Tell the supplier your library will be sending EDI orders (X12 format) via the Polaris Integrated Library System. If you are a new Polaris customer who previously sent EDI orders using a different ILS, tell the supplier your library now uses Polaris. Then get the following information from the supplier, and record it so that you can enter it in the Supplier record in Polaris.

Tip:
You may also want to check the supplier’s limit for the number of characters in an EDI purchase order number. Polaris automatically checks the purchase order length and blocks the release of the order if it exceeds the supplier’s limit.

Note:
Some suppliers use the account number in the EDI transmission, while others use a SAN as the account number.

• Supplier’s Standard Address Number (SAN)

• Library’s Account number

• Username

• Password

• Supplier’s FTP address

• Supplier’s purchase order directory for incoming EDI orders

• Supplier’s POA/ INV directory for outgoing purchase order acknowledgments and invoices

• Supplier’s purchase order file extension

• (Optional for libraries interested in shelf-ready materials) Verify that the supplier accepts Enriched EDI Orders - If your library is interested in getting “shelf-ready” materials from the supplier, verify that the supplier accepts Enriched EDI Orders. Enriched EDI orders include additional branch-specific information so the supplier can provide embedded holdings data in the full MARC records it returns. When the MARC records are imported into Polaris, the brief bibliographic records are overlaid, and the on-order item records are updated so that the materials are ready for circulation with minimal processing. The cataloging services offered and the costs differ among suppliers. See Enriched EDI Orders and Shelf-Ready Items.
• (Optional for libraries interested in receiving via the Advanced Shipping Notice) Ask if the supplier can send an Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN) - If the supplier can produce an ASN, you can receive cartons of materials by scanning a barcode on the outside of the carton. See Receive using the Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN).

Important:
If you are implementing ASN processing with a supplier to whom you have already sent EDI orders, before you enable ASN in the supplier record, make sure the Hold partial shipment invoices are created for the day when ASN processing will begin by following these steps:

• Ask the supplier the exact date when they will start producing ASN files.
• In the morning of the day the ASN processing will begin, wait until the Polaris EDIAgent has run and all remaining EDI invoices for that supplier have been created automatically. If your library does not process partial EDI invoices separately (the Hold partial shipments box is unchecked in the EDI Invoice Defaults profile), skip the next step.
• If the Hold partial shipment box is checked in the EDI Invoice Defaults profile for your library organization, go to the Process EDI Invoice workform as soon as the EDIAgent runs, and create the invoices for this supplier.
• After the invoices are created automatically via the EDIAgent, or manually via the Process EDI Invoices workform, enable ASN processing by checking the ASN box in the Supplier Record workform. See Enter the supplier’s EDI ordering data.

• Contact your Polaris Implementation or Site Manager - After getting the information from the suppliers to whom you are sending EDI orders, contact your Polaris Implementation Manager or Polaris Site Manager and tell them the names of the suppliers to which you plan to send EDI orders; whether you plan to send enriched EDI orders and receive shelf-ready materials; and whether you plan to use the Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN) for any of the suppliers that offer this functionality. Then request a license from Polaris to enable EDI ordering.
• Set up supplier records for EDI ordering - With the help of your Polaris Implementation or Site Manger, enter the supplier’s account information in the Supplier record in Polaris Acquisitions. See Enter the supplier’s EDI ordering data.

Setting Up Importing and Bulk Adding

Importing bibliographic records with 970 subfield data and then bulk adding them to a purchase order is the most efficient way to create purchase orders in Polaris, whether or not the orders are sent via EDI. When bibliographic records are bulk added to a purchase order, the bibliographic title-level information creates each purchase order line item, and the following subfield data in the 970 tags creates the distribution grid, or segments, for each line item:

Note:
The collection information, material type, and non-public note are not required to create a segment.

Tip:
The subfields can be in any order in the 970 tag.

• $l - location (Polaris branch abbreviation)

• $q - quantity

• $f - fund (Polaris fund name or fund alternative name)

• $c - collection (Polaris collection abbreviation)

• $p - price

• $m - material type (Polaris material type name or code)

• $n - non-public note (appears on the Instructions to Supplier view of the Purchase Order Line Item workform)

• $h - item template code. If the supplier supports copy-level information in subfield h, it is used in the creation of on-order items. The library creates item templates with the copy-level code in the template name. When the purchase order is released, the item template codes in the purchase order line item segments are matched to the template code and create the on-order items. For more information, see Matching With Item Template Codes.

If a price is not in the MARC record’s 970 $p, the system checks for the price in the following tags:

• 020 - If an ISBN is present in 020 $a, the corresponding 020 $c is checked for a price. If both are found, the ISBN is copied to the purchase order line item’s ISBN field, and the price is copied to the purchase order line item’s Unit price field.

• 024 - If no price is found in the 020 $c, the system checks for a 024 $a with a first indicator of 3, and if present, the corresponding 024 $c is checked for a price (in OCLC records, the 13-digit ISBN and the accompanying price are in the 024 tag, if the first indicator is a 3). If both are found, the number in the 024 $a is copied to the purchase order line item’s ISBN field, and the price is copied to the purchase order line item’s Unit price field.

To set up importing and bulk adding in Polaris, the Polaris Administrator grants permissions for importing and bulk adding, and sets up Administration profiles and parameters. Library staff members set up the distribution grids at suppliers’ web sites and set up import profiles for acquisitions.

Set Up Importing & Bulk Adding - Polaris Administrator

• Grant permissions to staff who manage import jobs - The Cataloging permission Manage import jobs for this organization: Allow should be granted to senior-level cataloging staff to allow them to stop import jobs and specify blackout times for the system or branch organization.
• Grant permissions to staff who manage import profiles - The Cataloging permissions Import profiles: Access, Create, Modify, and Delete should be granted to senior-level cataloging staff. It is important to limit the permissions to modify import profiles because the correct settings are essential for successful creation of the purchase order line item segments. To copy an existing profile, a user must have the permissions: Import profiles: Access, Create, and Modify.
• Grant permissions to staff who import records - Staff members who import records can be granted either of the following permissions:

  • Import bibliographic, item and authority records: Allow - Staff members can make changes to settings on any tab in the Polaris Import Setup window. They can access the Polaris Import Setup window by selecting Utilities, Importing, Full Import.   

  • Express importing: Allow - Staff members can make changes to settings on the Profile setup and the Record set tabs in the Polaris Import Setup window, but they cannot make changes on any other tab. They can access the Polaris Import Setup window by selecting Utilities, Importing, Express Import. This permission allows staff members to import records without full cataloging permissions.

• Grant permissions to staff members who bulk add records from record sets and create purchase orders. For information on the permissions required to order materials, see Order Materials Permissions.

Set Up Importing & Bulk Adding - Library Staff

• Copy the Polaris read-only profile Acquisitions bibs - Select Utilities, Importing, Profile Manager to open the Profiles Manager. The Acquisitions Bibs profile is already set up to: ignore MARC validation (because the incoming records are brief); check duplicates and if duplicates are found, retain the 970 tags from the brief records while keeping the full bibliographic records. Select the Acquisitions bibs profile, right-click, and select Copy. Then, for each of your suppliers, type the supplier’s name or abbreviation in the Name box and a description for the profile in the Description box. For more information, see Setting Up Import Profiles.

• (Optional) Copy the Enriched EDI Orders profile - If you are importing records from a supplier that provides shelf-ready cataloging, select the Enriched EDI Orders read-only import profile, right-click, and select Copy. Then, name it with the supplier’s name. The Enriched EDI Orders profile is set up to import full bibliographic records containing embedded holdings data. The holdings data automatically updates on-order items to fully-cataloged items.
•  Set Up Bulk Add in Polaris - Use the following Polaris Administration parameters:

Note:
You can clean up 970 tags that are marked as processed using the Polaris Administration profile $9 Cleanup Utility. See Set up the Subfield 9 cleanup utility.

• Bulk Add to PO: Replace Invalid Fields with Default Data - This parameter specifies default information that is used to create segments if data is missing in the imported records’ 970 tags. If you are using a Web-based selection tool at your supplier’s site, you can set this parameter to No so missing or inaccurate information appears in the import log, rather than creating default segments in your purchase orders.
• Bulk add to PO/SL: Mark 970 data as processed - Set this parameter to Yes so that each 970 tag is updated with a subfield 9 ($9) indicating the date and time the tag was used to create a line item segment. If the title is ordered again using the same bibliographic record, the previous 970 tags will not be used again and new 970 tags will be used to create the purchase order line item segments. it is recommended that you leave this set to Yes (the default setting).
• Bulk Add to PO: Add Alert to PO line item for multiple ISBNs
  This parameter specifies whether the Alert checkbox is automatically checked for purchase order line items created from bulk-added bibliographic records with more than one ISBN. We recommend that you leave it set to Yes (the default).