Purchase Order Acknowledgement (POA)

EDI Document 855

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Related Information

Common EDI transactions

What is an purchase order acknowledgement document ORDRSP?

The primary purpose of the purchase order acknowledgement EDI 855 document is for the supplier to give feedback to the purchaser that has sent in an order as to whether they can fulfil that order in total or in part (typically, in the SPS supply chain network, this is a supplier giving feedback to a retailer). This feedback loop makes retail buyers aware of what they should expect to receive, and further allows accuracy in open-to-buy (money available to buyers to purchase merchandise for their stores).

There are two broad types of EDI documents, split between the EDIFACT and ANSI X12 standards. EDIFACT is the standard advocated by the UN, and is used in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and parts of Asia, and uses a purchase order acknowledgement document called ‘ORDRSP.’ The ANSI X12 standard is used in North America, and uses the EDI 855 document.

The key data elements included in the purchase order acknowledgement.

  • Number of products allocated by the supplier for delivery again that order, by SKU
  • Correct (including ‘corrected’) per-unit price by SKU
  • Correct (including ‘corrected’) logistics price and Incoterms
  • Scheduled data of despatch of consignment/s to the purchaser (retailer)
  • Backorder dates (if applicable)

Additional data that may also be included in the purchase order acknowledgement:

All detailers from the original purchase order are typically reiterated in the purchase order acknowledgement ORDRSP document.

Benefits

There are benefits to both the purchaser and the supplier of implementing electronic trading of the inventory advice.

  • Maintain more collaborative trading partnerships, by offering product availability transparency
  • Retailer can maximise use of open-to-buy
  • Handle disputes over unit price and logistics charges prior to them being incurred
  • Allows retailers to communicate ETAs more precisely to their end-consumer

Continue reading on our blog:

Advantages of Purchase Order Acknowledgement

Want to learn more about specific EDI files?

Here’s a long list of EDI transactions commonly used in retail.

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