OrderChief EDI, without the EDI project.
Electronic Data Interchange is how Europe's large retailers and wholesalers do business: a strict, standardised message format instead of email and portals. OrderChief is the layer that speaks it for you.
Why retailers require it
Chains like Ahold Delhaize, Jumbo, Hornbach and Intergamma run thousands of suppliers through the same warehouse and finance systems. EDI is how they keep that manageable: every order, confirmation, shipment and invoice arrives in one predictable structure, machine-readable the moment it lands.
For a supplier, that means every trading partner has its own rulebook — its own message versions, its own reference numbers, its own penalty clauses for a late despatch advice. Getting it wrong is not a warning, it's a deduction on your next payment.
Where OrderChief sits
OrderChief sits between your ERP and every trading partner's EDI gateway. It translates outbound documents into each partner's exact specification, and inbound messages into records your ERP already understands — a sales order, not a text file.
You keep working entirely inside Exact Online, AFAS, Exact Globe or Dynamics 365 Business Central. The EDI conversation happens without anyone needing to open it.
The documents we handle
These four cover the full order-to-cash cycle. Most trading partners also require a few of the variants below, which OrderChief supports per-partner.
| Message | EDIFACT code | Direction | What it carries |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchase order | ORDERS | Inbound | What the retailer wants, in what quantity, by when. |
| Order response | ORDRSP | Outbound | Your confirmation of quantities, prices and delivery dates. |
| Despatch advice | DESADV | Outbound | What actually shipped, on which pallets, with which barcodes. |
| Invoice | INVOIC | Outbound | The invoice, structured to match the PO and despatch advice exactly. |
| Product data | PRICAT | Outbound | Price and product catalogue updates ahead of listing or reordering. |
| Inventory report | INVRPT | Outbound | Stock positions for vendor-managed inventory arrangements. |
Live mappings, ready to switch on
OrderChief already maintains certified mappings for these trading partners. A new one is typically a matter of weeks, not months, since most retailers build on the same EDIFACT foundation.
Custom / other trading partner
Runs on the ERP you already use
Exact Online & Exact Globe
Sales orders, shipments and invoices sync directly against your existing item and relation codes — no duplicate administration.
AFAS
Native connection into AFAS order and logistics modules, including support for AFAS-specific reference fields retailers expect back.
Dynamics 365 Business Central
EDI documents map onto standard BC sales orders and posted shipments, so your finance team's reporting doesn't change.
Something else?
If your ERP exposes an API or import format, we can generally connect it. Tell us what you run and we'll confirm feasibility on the first call.
Onboarding a new EDI partner?
Send us the trading partner's EDI specification — we'll tell you exactly what's involved before you commit to anything.