TAKING THE LEAD
Do you Suffer from SAOD?
D
Lewis Davis Senior Director of Technology and Research
o you suffer from Severe Acronym Overload Disorder or SAOD? I know I do on some days. If you read through any of the trade magazines you may have been affected at one time. Thank goodness, we have Google to help identify what each acronym means. fcB2B has a long list of numbers and acronyms that mean something. If you listen to members at our meetings talk, you might think they are part of a secret government agency. “I sent an 850 to you but you didn’t send me an 855 or an 856. What about the 997?” All of these numbers indicate a different electronic document. Let’s look at the acronyms and numbers used within the fcB2B language so we can eliminate a little of your SAOD.
Let’s start at the beginning and work our way through the fcB2B alphabet. fcB2B — This stands for Floor Covering Business to Business and is the group that manages the standards and helps suppliers become fcB2B compliant.
fcB2B has a long list of numbers and acronyms that mean something. If you listen to members at our meetings talk, you might think they are part of a secret government agency.
WS — Web service is a connection to a supplier’s computer that allows a software package to ask a question and get an answer in near real-time. The web services that fcB2B have defined are Stock Check, Order Status, and Price Check. New services in process or being reviewed include Reservation and fcB2B setup request and response. The Reservation Service will allow the reservation of a product in the supplier’s system electronically. The fcB2B setup request and response would standardize the process for a company new to fcB2B to request setup with their supplier. FTP or SFTP — File Transfer Protocol or Secure File Transfer Protocol is the communication method used by fcB2B to send and receive documents between the retailer and supplier. This is a direct connection and eliminates any third-party charges for managing the connections. EDI — Electronic Data Interchange is the computer to computer exchange of business documents in a standard format. X12 — Is chartered by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for more than 40 years. It develops and maintains EDI standards to drive business processes globally. fcB2B uses the X12 EDI standard to define the Price Catalog, PO/PO Acknowledgment, Advanced Ship Notice and Invoice.
26 Premier Flooring Retailer | Q1 2020
