This is a guest blog post from our partners at Crossfire, detailing the crucial steps for integrating your Cin7 system with EDI.
Quick summary
The core problem
Scaling with major retailers requires robust EDI for automating Purchase Orders and Invoices. A simple or flawed integration is a direct path to stock errors and costly compliance fines. Specialised, fully-managed providers like Crossfire are recommended to handle the technical complexity.
The 5 essential considerations
| # | Consideration | Key takeaway |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Understanding timelines & planning | Don't Rush. EDI projects require 12-14 weeks (4-8 weeks for Scoping/Discovery, 4-6 weeks for Testing/Deployment). Plan backward and avoid launching during peak periods to mitigate risks of failure and damaged trust. |
| 2. | Selecting the right EDI solution | Integration is driven by the need for Automation, Compliance, and Accuracy. You need EDI if volume is growing, accuracy is compromised, or a retailer mandates it. You are not required to use the retailer's provider, so choose a partner based on predictable costs and responsive 24/7 support. |
| 3. | Mapping out processes (The most skipped step) | Before technical work begins, you must have a deep understanding of your own business workflows (e.g., Order to Invoice process). This preparation ensures the integration caters to all specific business case scenarios. |
| 4. | System prep & access | Engage a knowledgeable Implementation Partner (like SMB Consultants) to finalise your scope. Be ready to provide your EDI provider with the defined scope and ensure your data is formatted and accurate for integration work to begin. |
| 5. | The internal resource ask: Project Owner | The single most critical resource is the Internal Champion/Project Manager. This leader must be empowered to own the project's success, coordinate all parties, and prevent the delays, disruption, and scale hindrance that result from fractured accountability. |
You've landed the dream deal with a major retailer, but scaling requires Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).
EDI is the backbone for automating Purchase Orders and Invoices. Yet, most businesses hit a wall when it comes to knowing how to leverage EDI with their systems, like Cin7. If EDI is not setup and monitored properly, integrations can break, orders and invoices can be missed, all impacting the bottom line.
That's why specialised expertise is crucial. Many smart businesses choose fully-managed integration providers, like Crossfire, to outsource the technical complexity of setup, monitoring, and hosting. Your team stays focused on core business while Crossfire handles the data.
As trusted partners of SMB Consultants, Crossfire ensures your connection is seamless and scalable. If you are considering EDI and B2B integration for your business, here are 5 key considerations before implementation.
1. Understanding timelines and planning ahead
Successful integration is all about foresight. Trying to rush an EDI implementation is the number one cause of costly errors and failure to meet retailer deadlines.
Don’t leave it until the last minute
- Launching during peak sales, a new catalogue release, or simultaneously with other major system changes (like a new 3PL provider) is more likely to cause delays and risk go-live success.
- Risk of failure: Without sufficient time for testing (often determined by the retailers), you risk not meeting your compliance deadlines.
- Integration quality: If the implementation is rushed and business case scenarios haven’t been tested or your data is not prepared, you risk integrations failing post go-live, which can cause more damage to your relationships and cash flow e.g. Incorrect orders, late shipments, or data discrepancies risk fines.
- Process drag: The total integration process can be delayed by weeks if key external parties (retailers or 3PLs) are slow to respond to testing requests, a factor outside your control.
The typical integration timeline
You should work backward from your go-live date and allow ample time. The typical integration, from project approval to go-live, requires at most 12 to 14 weeks.
Phase 1: Discovery & scoping (4-8 Weeks)
Define your internal workflow and data. Requires auditing Cin7 data, documenting business logic, and pre-aligning data with the retailer’s unique technical mapping requirements.
Phase 2: Testing & deployment (4-6 Weeks)
Build, Test, and Train. Involves the EDI specialist building connections, mapping fields, executing rigorous end-to-end testing (PO → ASN → Invoice) in a non-production environment, and training all relevant teams.
2. Selecting the right EDI solution for your needs
EDI software is the platform that sits between your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system (like Cin7) and your retailers/3PL to send, translate and receive messages in the correct formats.
The primary drivers to integrate tend to be one of three: automation, compliance or to reduce human error.
| Primary Driver | How to know when to integrate |
|---|---|
| Automation | Eliminating dozens of manual touchpoints to focus your team on value-adding activities. (Example: One customer saved 60-75 hours per month in manual entry). |
| Volume is growing | Order volumes are rising, and you are spending more and more time manually processing orders, causing delays, errors and high labour costs. |
| Compliance | Meeting requirements mandated by big box retailers, which is often a non-negotiable prerequisite for trading, especially with high order volumes. |
| Retailer Mandate | You are a supplier to a big box retailer where EDI is often a prerequisite. |
| Accuracy & risk mitigation | Achieving nearly 100% order accuracy, eliminating the risk of fines, and protecting cash flow that can be impacted by incorrect invoices or shipping information. |
| Accuracy is compromised | You are experiencing significant human error (e.g., 15% of orders are incorrect) that leads to costly rework and potential fines. |
| Efficiency/time savings | Reducing the processing time per order from hours to a couple of minutes. |
| Time savings are substantial | You are hitting the "low hanging fruit" – the two or three retailers that account for 85% - 90% of your total order volume. |
Note: Businesses are NOT required to use the same EDI provider as their trading partners. You have the flexibility to choose your EDI provider. Some of the reasons businesses select Crossfire are:
- Predictable costs: Flat, transparent pricing that doesn’t increase exponentially when volumes grow
- Responsive 24/7 support: Get access to superior customer support that actively monitor and resolve issues for you, without additional costs.
- Flexible, customisable integrations: Crossfire's ability to handle integration with a wide variety of trading partner standards, protocols and business use cases.
Use Crossfire’s Integration Considerations checklist to see which service model suits your business best.
3. Mapping out processes (Most businesses overlook this!)
Before an integration specialist touches your system, you must have a deep understanding of your own business workflow. This preparation is critical to ensure the integration can cater to all your specific needs.
This initial discovery and scoping phase typically takes two to three weeks with a consultant. You should consider all the business case scenarios, e.g. for an Order to Invoice workflow you would consider questions like, “How does the order enter the ERP?” or “What steps must it go through for packing, labelling, and invoice generation?”. With these processes mapped out, we can ensure the integrations have the correct business rules and logic woven in to ensure they are fully automated.
4. System prep and access to the Integration team
Use a knowledgeable Implementation partner
For clients who are growing rapidly, engaging an external consultant is highly recommended. They help you cater for the majority of the Discovery and scoping outlined in Phase 1 by ensuring your system (e.g. Cin7 Core) is correctly configured and your data is prepped for integration.
This will ensure there are no delays during implementation and testing, where data mappings fail due to incorrect data e.g. SKU codes incorrectly formatted.
5. The internal resource ask: Who is the Project Owner?
The single most critical internal resource for a successful EDI project is the Internal Champion or Project Owner. While you rely on expert partners like SMB Consultants for implementation and Crossfire for the technical integration, this internal leader ensures the project stays on track and aligns with your unique business goals.
- Dedicated ownership: They become the single point of contact who owns the project's success and coordinates between the consultants, software providers, operations, and the retailer.
- Empowered: They must be given sufficient time and resources to educate themselves, review the scope, and drive the project forward.
- Streamlining growth: Having this champion in place streamlines the process, especially when scaling to onboard multiple big-box retailers. This is because they can apply lessons learned and streamline processes for future integrations.
The consequences of lacking a champion
- Project delays: Lacking a single point of contact often leads to slow responses and missed communications, causing the project to drag out significantly.
- System disruption: Without an internal project owner, accountability is fractured across three or four people, impacting go-live success where things are dropped or orders do not come through properly.
- Scale hindrance: They are vital for championing the continuous review and reconfiguration of the tech stack, preventing small, quick manual data entries from becoming a massive bottleneck as the business scales and grows.
Ready for Cin7 EDI integration?
The technical experts are there to handle the technical heavy lifting, but the truth is, the system will only ever be as good as the preparation you put in.
As one of Crossfire's Cin7 implementation partners, SMB Consultants specialises in preparing your inventory system to meet the rigorous technical demands of EDI. They ensure your Cin7 configuration, data, and workflows are perfectly aligned for a seamless connection with the Crossfire platform.
