EDI Admin

An EDI admin or administrator is generally responsible for the daily operations and monitoring of the EDI system within a company. This person’s title can also be EDI coordinator. This means that the EDI admin has to be familiar with EDI software, EDI communications (VAN, FTP, AS2), business processes supporting EDI internally in a company and with trading partners. The EDI admin would also need to understand basic EDI messages and the meanings associated with problems that can arise from the EDI process.

The normal duties of an EDI admin are to monitor the EDI traffic, meaning the inbound and outbound documents, contacting vendors where there are pending functional acknowledgements (997 documents). The EDI admin normally contacts these trading partners via email or telephone. In addition, an EDI admin would maintain logs of all contact information for the trading partners (names, addresses, telephone numbers, emails, etc.).

Another major duty of an EDI admin would be the testing of EDI documents when implemented with a new trading partner, and also testing all EDI transactions with new trading partners. The EDI admin would need to be familiar with EDI requirements, policies and procedures of trading partners, as this can have significant financial impact on the company. One core aspect of the EDI admin’s job is to ensure that charge-backs are avoided.

In some companies, the EDI admin’s job includes ASN barcoding, although this would normally be restricted to reviewing and approving UCC128 carton labels.

The EDI admin would normally report to an EDI manager who would oversee several EDI administrators. The number of EDI administrators would depend on the size of the organization, the EDI transaction volume and whether the EDI software was integrated with the backend ERP or accounting systems of the company. Many organizations are now integrating the EDI transactions directly into their backend systems, sometimes removing the need for employing an EDI admin or coordinator. Generally when a company who has been transacting business using EDI decides to move to the next level and integrate their EDI, the EDI admin is moved to a more useful position within the company. In non-integrated EDI environments, the EDI admin often performs low-value data entry tasks. Often this would require some retraining of the EDI admin, but generally the effect of integrating EDI has a positive effect on the EDI admin and others in the company. Regardless, the EDI admin is an important person upon whom the major business of the company often rests. Health Care EDI

Many small businesses do not have an employee dedicated to EDI Admin . Do you need somone whose primary role is EDI Admin? The answer depends on several factors, including how dedicated to EDI Admin your business is.  The EDI Admin position can be a critical one in your organization.  An EDI Admin person is involved not only in managing your EDI Admin but also in selecting your EDI services.  Your EDI Admin person can help you select new EDI Software and determine the best EDI Solution provider for your business.  The role of the EDI Admin may or may not  be shared with other IT responsibilities; regardless, your EDI Admin employee should be primarily responsible for managing your EDI,  rather than for processing it.

The concept of an employee dedicated to EDI Admin may seem counter-intuitive, but it could be critical for the business. The EDI Admin employee should be responsible for maintaining and managing your EDI, not for processing it.  The EDI Admin role is best viewed in the same light as your IT Admin person– their primary job would be helping facilitate the use of the software rather than using it. Even for a small business,  the EDI Admin role must be separated from the user role.  This is important, since often it is the EDI Admin employee who has to act as overseer. The EDI Admin is the person monitoring EDI usage both within the company and with regard to interactions with your trading partners.  The EDI Admin would be responsible for notifying the company of improper use.  A conflict of interest could be created for the EDI Admin if the EDI Admin were also the main user.