What is EDI 856?
The primary purpose of the advance ship notice (ASN) is to provide detailed information about a pending delivery of goods. The ASN describes the contents that have been shipped as well as the carrier moving the order, the size of the shipment, ship date and in some cases estimated delivery date. The advance ship notice is typically sent from a third-party logistics provider to a retailer or distributor.
- Cut costs of receiving goods
- Reduce the need for safety stock
- Improve speed and accuracy of receiving goods
- Facilitate better labor and equipment scheduling
- Gain visibility into inbound shipments and make adjustments to plans to accommodate incomplete or late shipments
- Reduce order to payment cycles
- Get products on store shelves faster
- More easily track shipments en route
- Track any missing cartons and make claims accordingly
- Improve retailer relationships by reducing stock-outs, errors and missed deliveries
- Ship-to location
- Ship notice number
- Ship and/or delivery date
- Ship from/supplier
- Purchase order number
- Product/service identifiers such as UPC/EAN/GTIN with their respective quantities
- Ship-to location
- Ship notice number
- Ship and/or delivery date
- Ship from/supplier
- Purchase order number
- Product/service identifiers such as UPC/EAN/GTIN with their respective quantities
- Barcode labels: Issues with barcode labels, such as discrepancies between the barcode and the ASN, can occur. This often results in requiring the receiver to manually sort packages, leading to increased labor costs and potential chargebacks or penalties for suppliers.
- Completeness and Accuracy: If ASN data isn’t accurate or complete, there will be delays, lost productivity and customer service shortfalls. Validating the completeness and accuracy of the ASN data is important to avoid confusion and subsequent penalties and fines.
- Timeliness: Trading partners typically require an ASN to arrive prior to shipment. Understanding each trading partner’s requirements for ASN delivery will help prevent chargebacks.
The ASN for Distribution Center/ Cross-Dock Shipments
In the cross-dock fulfillment model, the 856 contains the end/mark for locations for the orders being shipped to a distribution center. The cross-dock model commonly utilizes barcode labels to assist with receiving reconciliation and allows for the product to flow through, removing the need for put-away and picking operations.
Key Data Elements for Cross-Dock ASN:
- Mark for locations
- Packaging structure (i.e. SOTPI/SOTI/SOPI)
- GS1-128 numbers to correspond to physical barcode labels
Additional Benefits for using the ASN for Cross-Dock:
- Provides visibility for planning warehouse resources (labor, equipment and space) when shipping to the retailer location
- Facilitates the movement of product through the warehouse through the use of the ASN data and GS1-128 labels
The ASN for Direct-to-Store/Warehouse Delivery
The direct-to-store/warehouse ASN allows retailers to better manage and automate their store/warehouse receiving processes. The use of the ASN data along with the barcode labels assists with product reconciliation and facilities automated receiving.
Key Data Elements for Direct Store/Warehouse:
- Packaging structure (i.e. SOTPI/SOTI/SOPI)
- GS1-128 serialized shipping container codes to correspond to physical barcode labels
Additional Benefits:
- Validation of how the cartons were packed
- Prepare for future automated receiving at the stores and DC
- Allows for faster recognition of item(s) not shipped to allow for quicker reordering
- Enables automatic capture of the GTIN and batch/lot numbers of each case for track and trace (also used to support FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, Drug Supply Chain Security Act)
The ASN for Dropshipping
The ASN is used in the drop-ship model to confirm items shipped to the end customer. Without the ASN, the retailer has no visibility to the shipping status and tracking information of the customer order. Labels are commonly excluded as the end consumer does not need a GS1 label. However, the packing slip is a standard requirement to provide consumers a list of products shipped, and the carrier carton label is also sometimes utilized. Both the packing slip and carrier carton label can be branded.
Key Elements for Drop Ship:
- Customer order number
- Small package carrier tracking number
Additional Benefits:
- Creates the “Goods Received” indication in the ERP system
- Facilitates the communication to the end customer that the product has been shipped
- Receipt of the ship notice data can trigger the collection of payment from the retailer’s customer
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