Your vendor compliance manual sets out how every supplier must acknowledge orders, build ASNs, label cartons and invoice. The rules are clear on paper. In practice, each new EDI vendor is tested by email, one thread at a time, and a vendor that was rushed through goes live with documents your receiving and accounts payable teams can’t use.
The cost shows up later: a missing or inaccurate ASN slows receiving at the distribution center, an invoice doesn’t match the PO, and the dispute becomes a chargeback conversation that strains the vendor relationship. Meanwhile, many of your vendors aren’t on EDI at all, so the same requirements reach them as a PDF manual and a lot of follow-up.