EDI 846 Inventory Inquiry Specifications

The EDI 846 Inventory Inquiry/Advice transaction set is used to communicate inventory information between manufacturers, their suppliers and resellers. It is used in a number of ways, including:

• By sellers of goods and services to provide inventory information to a potential customer
• By a seller’s representatives to supply the seller with inventory information
• By one seller’s location to supply another location with inventory information
• By a seller to inquire on the availability of inventory

Manufacturers and suppliers often use 846 transactions to notify trading partners of on-hand inventory in various inventory holding locations, such as warehouses, outlets, stores, distribution centers, etc. One common situation is where a manufacturer uses an 846 to advise a trading partner of overstocked inventories available at discounted prices. Information included in the 846 transaction set includes inventory location identification, item or part description, and quantities. The quantity of an item may be presented in a number of ways, including:

• Quantity in float
• Quantity on hand
• Committed quantity
• On order quantity
• Returns
• Backorder quantity
• Quantity in transit

In some cases, the item quantity information in an 846 document may trigger shipment of materials, if an automatic replenishment agreement exists between the trading partners. Such a replenishment agreement would be established separately, via an 850 Purchase Order transaction. If your trading partner communications require complying with the AS2 protocol, let 1 EDI Source help. AS2 Complete, our advanced AS2 software, makes it easy for you to send secure EDI or other data. Download the FREE AS2 Complete trial now, and you’ll see.