EDI integration into your own ERP system: How EDI implementation is quickly solved - Plug & Play
About Heimatgut
Heimatgut launched in 2014 with a promise: "We're ridding snacks of their bad reputation." No sooner said than done. The Hamburg-based food startup is shaking up the snack market with organic products without chemicals. In the meantime, 20 employees take care of the diverse assortment and have ensured that the Heimatgut brand can be found in every supermarket. Heimatgut promises: Always vegan. Always organic. Never artificial.
Besides the D2C business through its own online store, DM, Edeka and Alnatura are among the most important retail partners. As ERP system weclapp is in use.
Time-consuming processes slow down growth
Digitization and automation now seem to be nothing more than hackneyed buzzwords. Yet there are always processes that still have to be carried out manually for the most part. Heimatgut experienced the same thing when the first business relationships with food retailers were established. Orders had to be taken and manually transferred to the ERP system before a delivery confirmation could be sent to the customer. The subsequent invoicing also had to be done manually, which consequently resulted in an incredibly time-consuming process.
Errors cause annoying extra work
Due to all the manual data entry, errors are almost impossible to avoid. This led to curious and unfortunately also costly situations in which, for example, the wrong type of chips was delivered to Austria. Penalties and nerve-racking mails were the consequence. In addition, working with several open windows and spreadsheets is both tedious and monotonous. The desire to process orders only in their ERP system grew steadily.
As an interim solution, a CSV import was transferred into the system by hand. However, this meant that no outgoing messages could be sent. This process resulted in a lot of extra work for the operations team.
One of the few ways to automate this process is through the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) standard. EDI enables the exchange of order documents directly between ERP systems.
These requirements must be met
Since EDI is a proven standard, several service providers offer to build an EDI interface. For this reason, the solution should meet these requirements.
- 100% integration with weclapp - no manual data import or export
- New EDI connections possible with one click
- No lengthy IT project - smooth connection can be implemented at short notice
However, the search for a suitable EDI service provider was slow and ended frustratingly for Heimatgut. None of the offers could provide a simple connection to all trading partners that could also be mapped in the company's ERP system.
I was very sceptical about Procuros at first, having experienced that many EDI service providers could not meet our requirements. However, the EDI connection went smoothly right away. And that even though we only provided the API data 2 hours before the kickoff meeting.
Constantin Hasche
Project Lead
Just a few days until a smooth EDI connection
The Procuros Integration Hub was able to provide an immediate improvement in the ordering processes at Heimatgut. Since all trading partners are already connected to the Procuros Hub via EDI, only a one-time connection is necessary, which then enables a direct EDI connection to all important trading partners.
The decisive factor for Heimatgut in this solution: 100% integration with weclapp is possible and the implementation was solved in 2 days. Only the API data from weclapp was needed to set up the EDI connection.
New trading partners can be added and connected with just one click
All processes in one place
The impact that a smooth EDI connection has on daily work becomes clear in the Operations team. Whereas previously many spreadsheets and windows were open in parallel, now all that is needed is weclapp. All processes converge in weclapp and all tasks can be completed from here. Switching between Excel, supplier portal and co. is no longer necessary. All processes are mapped holistically in one place and can be handled from here.
Webinar Procuros x Heimatgut x weclapp