C1000 upgrades P2P process with Descartes’ Validation Service

On November 24 2011 supermarket chain C1000 was acquired by another supermarket chain, Jumbo. And together they now form the largest business retailer in the Netherlands. It isn’t surprising then that C1000 needed to enhance its purchase-to-pay process by improving the accuracy of the data flowing through its supply chain. And there was no better candidate for this job than Descartes, because they have closely cooperated with C1000 for many years. C1000 is now using Descartes’ new Validation Service.

Syntactical and content validation

Descartes Validation Service allows EDI messages to be validated both syntactically and as content. Upon receipt, EDI messages are checked against the GS1 standards, the most widely used supply chain standards system in the world, and the parameters which the individual customer wishes to use. Different retailers can use different parameters. Any EDI messages which do not fulfil these requirements are subsequently rejected and then automatically returned with an indication of all the errors in question.

Responding proactively

The service’s reporting functionality makes it straightforward to find out how an EDI partner is performing. This allows retailers to eliminate errors in collaboration with their suppliers. C1000 expects the final error reduction rate to be 90%. By using Descartes’ Validation Service, C1000 is now able to proactively respond to problems which might arise as error messages in its back-office system. This saves C1000 a great deal of time and also improves its relationship with suppliers and the level of service which it offers its shops.