Tea bag manufacturer Tetley has updated its Electronic
Data Interchange facility to meet the AS2 communications standard
being demanded by Asda and its US parent company
Wal-Mart.
The project has also helped the firm meet HM Revenue and
Customs' deadlines for online filing of tax data.
Asda's move to AS2 dictated the timing of Tetley's re-evaluation
of its EDI platform, said Jo Puri, IT consultant at Tetley.
The company is using Seeburger's B2B Integration Server to link
into its SAP R/3 enterprise resource planning systems.
Migration from Tetley's Gentran EDI system to Seeburger is
almost complete, leaving the way clear for the older system to be
switched off next month.
Paul Kay, group business systems manager at Tetley, said the
deployment would allow Tetley to develop its relationships with
suppliers.
"Historically, EDI was for customers, but there are key
commercial benefits to improving systems on the supply side. We do
not want our supply chain to be held up at any stage - there is
little point being fast with our customers but not with our
suppliers."
Tetley is already using electronic invoicing with key suppliers,
and Kay said the firm also wanted to share business forecasting
information with them.
He added that the business integration platform should broaden
the firm's capabilities on three fronts. As well as presenting a
strategic opportunity to improve the supply chain on the supplier
side, it should also enable Tetley to link to the platforms of
customers and improve internal processes.
"Because of the platform's tighter integration with SAP, we can
transfer data in and out of the system far more easily, and
automated business rules can be applied to enable greater
automation of processes that previously required a lot of manual
interventions, including checking of inbound orders and invoices,"
said Puri.
The ability to process data for tax compliance was an unexpected
bonus, he added. "We were able to map relevant processes into
electronic documents suitable for the Inland Revenue well within
the deadline for online filing.
"The Inland Revenue adaptors required ad hoc daily, weekly,
monthly and annual information based on payroll, which is not only
complex but highly sensitive. The information has to be invisible
through the process, yet must have a full audit trail so that
information can be traced through every step," said Puri.