3.10. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

Last Updated 11/09/2023

Setting Up and Managing EDI Accounts

Many libraries use Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) accounts to send purchase orders and receive invoices from providers electronically. In Evergreen users can setup EDI accounts and manage EDI messages in the admin module. EDI messages and notes can be viewed in the acquisitions module. Multiple Provider accounts cannot share the same EDI account. A separate and unique EDI account is required for each Provider account that will be utilizing EDI.

Note: Please always submit a help ticket and wait to receive assistance from the NC Cardinal team before setting up or changing EDI accounts to avoid triggering unwanted orders submissions to your vendor for older POs that still have a status of 'on order'.

SANs (Standard Address Numbers)

For EDI to work your library must have a SAN and each of your providers must each supply you with their SAN.

A SAN (Standard Address Number) is a unique 7 digit number that identifies your library.

Configuring Organizational Unit SAN code

Look in Administration → Server Administration → Organizational Units.

This interface allows a library to configure their SAN, alongside their address, phone, etc.

Entering a Library’s SAN

These steps only need to be done once per library.

In Evergreen select Administration → Server Administration → Organizational Units.
Find your library in the tree on the left side of the page and click on it to open the settings.

Multi-branch library systems will see settings for each branch but should only enter their SAN in the system organization unit, not into any branch unit.
Click on the Address tab.
Click on the Mailing Address tab.
Enter your library’s SAN in the field labeled SAN.
Click Save.

Address is the last option in the top menu. Mailing address is the last option in the address menu. SAN is the 9th field in the Mailing Addresses page.

Entering a Provider’s SAN

These steps need to be repeated for every provider with which EDI is used.

In Evergreen select Administration → Acquisitions Administration → Providers.
Click the hyperlinked name of the provider you would like to edit.
Enter your provider’s SAN in the field labeled SAN.
Click Save.

Configuring EDI Accounts

Look in Administration → Acquisitions Administration → EDI Accounts.

Account	Vendor assigned account number associated with your organization
EDI Account ID	Assigned by Evergreen
EDI Attribute Set	Select from options in Administration>Acquisitions Administration>EDI Attribute Sets (required)
Host	Vendor assigned FTP/SFTP/SSH hostname
Incoming Directory	The path on the vendor’s server where "incoming" .epo files are stored
Label	The exact name of the Provider account tied to this EDI account
Last Activity	The date of last activity for the account supplied by Evergreen
Owner	The organizational unit who owns the EDI account
Password	FTP/SFTP/SSH password - vendor assigned
Path	The path on the vendor’s server where Evergreen will send it’s outgoing .epo files
Provider	This is a link to one of the "codes" in the "Providers" interface
Use EDI Attributes	Check this checkbox (required)
Username	FTP/SFTP/SSH username - vendor assigned
Vendor Account Number	Vendor assigned account number
Vendor Assigned Code	Usually a sub-account designation. Can be used with or without the Vendor Account Number

Note: It is recommended to not use the Library SAN for either the Vendor Account Number or Vendor Assigned Code to prevent invoices from attaching to the wrong Purchase Orders. However, Baker & Taylor prefers to use the library SAN as the Vendor Account Number, so it is strongly recommended to have a Vendor Assigned Code applied that distinguishes this account from any other.

Create an EDI Account

Note: You must create your Provider account before you create an EDI account for the provider. The owner of the provider account should be the system, not any branch library.

Contact your provider requesting the following information:
- Host
- Username
- Password
- Path
- Incoming Directory
- Provider’s SAN
In Evergreen select Administration → Acquisitions Administration → EDI Accounts.
Click New EDI Account. A pop-up will appear.

Note: This newer interface can be a bit buggy, so you may need to repeat attempts to open the New EDI Account. Click on the button just once. If you only see the Cancel/Save buttons and nothing else, hit Cancel and click just once on the New EDI Account button again. It usually opens correctly by the 3rd or 4th attempt.

Fill in the following fields:
- In the Account field, enter the EDI account name/number provided by your vendor.
- In the EDI Attribute Set, you must select the appropriate attribute set for your vendor. Example: There is a Baker & Taylor Default and a Baker & Taylor Enriched in NC Cardinal. The Enriched account is usually necessary when Baker & Taylor is pre-processing materials for the library.
- In the Host field, enter the requisite FTP or SCP information supplied by your provider. Be sure to include the protocol (e.g. ftp://ftp.vendorname.com)
- In the Username field, enter the username supplied by your provider.
- In the Password field, enter the password supplied by your provider.
- Select your library as the Owner from the drop down menu. Multi-branch libraries should select their top level organizational unit.
- The Last Activity updates automatically with any inbound or outbound communication.
- In the Provider field, enter the code used in Evergreen for your provider.
- In the Path field, enter the path supplied by your provider. The path indicates a directory on the provider’s server where Evergreen will deposit its outgoing order files.
  
  If your vendor requests a specific file extension for EDI purchase orders, such as .ord, enter the name of the directory, followed by a slash, followed by an asterisk, followed by a period, followed by the extension. For example, if the vendor requests that EDI purchase orders be sent to a directory called in with the file extension .ord, your path would be in/*.ord.
- In the Incoming Directory field, enter the incoming directory supplied by your provider. This indicates the directory on the vendor’s server where Evergreen will retrieve incoming order responses and invoices.
  
  Don’t worry if your incoming directory is named out or outgoing. From your vendor’s perspective, this directory is outgoing, because it contains files that the vendor is sending to Evergreen. However, from Evergreen’s perspective, these files are incoming.
Click Save.
Click on the link in the Provider field.
Select the EDI account that has just been created from the EDI Default drop down menu. Note: As mentioned above, a unique EDI account must be set up for each Provider account utilizing EDI.
Click Save.

EDI Messages

The EDI Messages screen displays all incoming and outgoing messages between the library and its providers. To see details of a particular EDI message, including the raw EDIFACT message, double click on a message entry. To find a specific EDI message, the Filter options can be useful. Outside the Admin interface, EDI messages that pertain to a specific purchase order can be viewed from the purchase order interface (See Acquisitions → Purchase Orders).

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