Your company has decided to outsource some of the distribution to a 3PL, and now the task that lies ahead is how to seamlessly integration this into your R/3 or S/4 SAP System. From EDI transactions and IDoc types and output condition records and configuration required for an ASN, this post aims to give you an overview of what you will need to do this successfully.

HOW TO INTEGRATE A 3PL INTO SAP ECC OR S/4HANA

The key piece of this integration lies in the EDI set up with your 3PL partner, as well as the integration of IDocs into SAP to send and update your business process data. To do this you will need an EDI system or service provider and an SAP functional analyst.

WHAT EDI TRANSACTIONS AND IDOCS ARE USED IN AN SAP 3PL INTERFACE

There are many transactions that can be used in a 3PL interface. The most common ones are:

EDI and IDOC Transactions for 3PL Integration

SAP Document	IDoc	X12 EDI Transaction
Warehouse Order	DESADV	940
Warehouse Confirmation	SHPCON	945
Warehouse ASN	DESADV	943
Warehouse Receipt Confirmation	WMMBXY	944
Goods Movement	WMMBXY	947
Inventory Advice	INVRPT	846

There are additional transactions that can improve your 3PL process. You can read more about them in this blog post.

WHAT ARE THE KEY STEPS TO A 3PL EDI IMPLEMENTATION IN SAP ECC OR S/4HANA?

1. Gather and analyze business and 3PL requirements
2. Agree on the EDI Transactions to be exchanged based on capabilities
3. Agree on the EDI fields and mappings
4. Develop and unit test the mapping
5. Integration testing with your 3PL
6. Migration to production and go-live support

WHAT CAN AN SAP EDI 3PL INTEGRATION SOLUTION DO?

With the right solution, such as the CONTAX Arcus EDI Managed Service Solution, you have an SAP EDI Expert working through all of these steps on your behalf, ensuring you have a robust EDI solution for worry-free communication with your 3PL.

As you embark upon your 3PL journey, or look to improve the processes you have, the key to success will be a thorough understanding of your business processes and how the 3PL's capabilities can achieve the results you need to be successful in your business. Having the right team of people involved who have experience in this area will help prevent you from falling into common pitfalls that can easily be avoided.