New IDEA and IDEA IRD Customers

IDEA announces one new IDEA customer and three new IDEA IRD customers. Read more about these companies and how you can begin trading with them electronically to expand your business.

New IDEA Customer

Blazer Electric Supply Company, from Pueblo, CO, became an IDEA customer on July 6, 2009. Blazer Electric sells products from contractor supplies to factory automation equipment. They will rely on Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) for their product and pricing needs. Welcome aboard!

Interested in reducing costs with IDEA? Contact at .

New IDEA IRD Customers

IDEA, a 1SYNC Data Pool On-Board Solution (OBS) partner, implements suppliers that subscribe to the 1SYNC data pool using IDEA's IRD CERICOMX® application. IDEA was recently assigned three suppliers:

• Baccus Global
• Prestige Cosmetics
• Better Sleep

These companies will be trained to use IRD CERICOMX®, an IDEA branded product for supporting and uploading supplier product information into the GS1 Registry® and GDSN via the 1SYNC Data Pool.

If you would like to find out more about the CERICOMX® product, please contact , IRD Product & Customer Support Manager, at .

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Promotion: Mapping through Summer Traffic Never Sounded so Good, or Cost so Little

IDEA is continuing the July 4th celebration with major Industry Data Exchange (IDX) savings for new and existing customers. IDX users can enjoy a great deal on IDEA’s custom mapping service and great extras to reduce traffic expenses during the month of July. The ongoing July 4th promotion will help lower costs so that companies can increase their electronic activity with more trading partners.

Based on your status – you could be eligible to take advantage of some of these deals by July 31:

• 2 for 1 maps*
• Free month of document specific transactions**
• Free month of IDX traffic ***

*Order by September 15, 2009 (limit 10 maps per company)
**First time senders of specific documents can sign up by September 15, 2009
*** Must be in production by September 15, 2009

Mapping is an essential aspect to communicating with trading partners. The ability to seamlessly converse (i.e. via EDI - for communication of purchase orders, invoices, and pricing) with trading partners is critical to operating a successful business in today’s environment. Utilizing maps gives the ability to access more information quicker, faster, and better.

IDX allows you to exchange these electronic documents with your trading partners faster, easier and more securely with significant savings over traditional Value Added Networks (VANs).

IDEA's mission is to drive costs out of the electrical channel by delivering standards-based solutions that are not only extremely affordable, but also reduce the errors and process inefficiencies that take the attention away from growing a business.

To take advantage of this great promotion, IDEA customers can contact their account managers and non-customers can contact at today to find out the deals they qualify for.

Not sure who to call? Send an email to and we will direct you to the right person.

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Forum Raffle Fever and Extended Early Bird Rates

IDEA would like to congratulate the June raffle winner, Matt Hartman of MRH – Tour de Force. Matt will receive 25% off his hotel room rate during the Forum! The summer excitement is still in the air through July with an early bird extension and additional raffle opportunities.

If you register between now and July 15, you will automatically enter to win a complimentary room upgrade during your stay at the Forum, from a regular room ($195) to a luxury one bedroom suite (FREE!). The winner will be randomly selected and notified personally. Here are some great uses for the extra space in the luxury suite:

• Conduct one-on-one meetings with your suppliers and customers
• Get important work done during breaks
• Hold company meetings to discuss lessons learned from Forum sessions

In addition to the new raffle opportunity, you now have until July 31st to save $100 on your registration fee.

Register today!

A must-see opening session

Bob Gaylord, president & CEO, IDEA, and Ron Schlader, V.P. Operations & Quality, Crescent Electric Supply, will open the Forum with a discussion on IDEA’s new services, concepts and future direction during their keynote presentation. This session is a must-see for all IDEA customers and partners.

8:00AM, Wednesday, September 23
The Evolution of a New Era of IDEA

IDEA’s organizational stance is to draw inspiration from the past to drive with confidence into the future. On the heels of a first decade in serving the industry as its leading provider of synchronization and eCommerce solutions, IDEA has incorporated new services and a new direction to its business model. IDEA spent the past year researching and developing services that were determined by the unique requirements of its customers - these needs paved the way for new and developing services. Come find out what’s new and how IDEA can help your company “lead the change” with cost savings and increased sales in 2009.

About The Speakers

Brigadier General Robert E. Gaylord (Retired) has been the President and CEO of IDEA since December 2007. Prior to IDEA, Gaylord served as President and CEO of the Leader to Leader Institute. He retired from the United States Army on January 1, 2005 after a long and distinguished career culminating in his assignment as the senior Public Affairs Officer in the Army. Robert Gaylord is a graduate of The Ohio University with a degree in Fine Arts, and was a Distinguished Military Graduate commissioned as a Signal Corps Officer. He subsequently earned a Master of Technology degree from Georgia Southern College and a Master of Science degree in Public Relations from The American University.

Ron Schlader has been working at Crescent Electric Supply since graduating from college. He has since worked his way up to become Vice President Operations and Quality. Schlader spearheaded the initiative for ISO9000 certification in the mid-90’s and now oversees Purchasing, Inventory Management, Auditing, SPA Processing, Product Database Management, Traffic, and efforts to improve efficiencies through data synchronization and operational initiatives with vendor partners. Schlader is heavily involved with NAED and is currently the Chairman of the IDEA Board of Directors.

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Updates on Net Pricing Exchange Methods

IDEA wants to help you choose the best method to electronically exchange net pricing with your trading partners. We offer four methods that are currently being utilized by many in the industry including B2B document exchange with the EDI 845 - the recommendation for EDI-capable trading partners.

Here are your options and things to consider while choosing your method:

B2B Document Exchange
The Special Price Authorization document (EDI 845) allows you to send all your net pricing information to a trading partner through a traditional electronic data interchange (EDI) process.

Steps in the Process:

1. The supplier transmits an EDI 845 to Industry Data Exchange (IDX)
2. IDX routes the document to the appropriate trading partner
3. The trading partner receives the EDI document in their IDX mailbox

Requirements and Considerations:

• The sender and receiver must be EDI capable
• Kilocharacter charges are incurred (take advantage of the IDX July 4th promotion to save big on these charges!)

Recommended for:
Manufacturers and distributors who are EDI capable

Benefits:

• Increases efficiency, reduces errors and use of redundant tasks
• Increases ROI for those who have invested in EDI
• Can be used for all methods of net pricing including: unit pricing, multipliers, into-stock, rebates, job-specific special price authorizations

“We use the EDI 845 for both into-stock and ship & debit SPA agreements for over 120 locations. This method syncs our into-stock pricing with our vendors ensuring more accurate purchase orders. This then drives efficiency in the processing of EDI invoices. Receiving our SPA’s via the EDI 845 ensures precision in items picked up by our SPA system and in our dollars claimed. The EDI 845 has a multitude of benefits for both us and our vendors.” said David Keck, Programmer Analyst, Crescent Electric Supply Co.

IDEA EDI to Flat File Translation
This method gives you the option to send net pricing to trading partners who are not EDI capable. This gives you more flexibility in the types of net pricing you exchange and provides a way for non-EDI capable customers to receive confidential pricing files through IDX.

Steps in the Process:

1. The supplier transmits a simplified EDI 845 document to IDX
2. IDX translates the data in the EDI 845 document into a simplified Flat File format (SPA v1.06)
3. IDX delivers the Flat File to the trading partner’s IDX mailbox

Requirements and Considerations:

• The supplier and receiver must be an IDX customer
• Facilitates use of a EDI 845 for sender
• The receiver does not need to be EDI capable
• EDI 845 fields must match simplified Flat File fields
• Kilocharacter charges are incurred (take advantage of the IDX July 4th promotion to save big on these charges!)

Recommended for:
Manufacturers who wish to use the EDI 845 document with distributors who are not EDI capable

Benefits:

• Increases efficiency, reduces errors and use of redundant tasks
• Increases ROI for those who have invested in EDI
• Standardized Flat File for those not capable of EDI
• Can be used for all methods of net pricing including: unit pricing, multipliers, into-stock, rebates, job-specific special price authorizations

Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) Storage
This method gives you the option to load a Simple Net Flat File into Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) for a specific trading partner.

Steps in the Process:

1. The supplier loads pricing data into IDW for a specific trading partner using the Simple Net Flat File format
2. The trading partner extracts the net price sheet from IDW during their normal download process

Requirements and Considerations:

• Item-specific unit pricing only, no job-specific
• Data is stored in IDW along with other pricing data
• The sender and receiver do not need to be EDI capable
• No kilocharacter charges are incurred
• May require manual processes by sender and receiver

Recommended for:
Manufacturers who use unit pricing only or are not capable of EDI to meet the request of their distributors who want net pricing from IDW

Benefits:

• Facilitates the standardized exchange of item-specific net pricing through IDW for those distributors who prefer to receive all pricing through IDW

IDEA FTP Net Pricing Solution
This method gives you the option to send net pricing to trading partners who are not EDI capable without storing it in IDW. This gives you more flexibility in the types of net pricing you exchange and provides a way for IDW customers to receive confidential pricing files directly in their IDW FTP folder. (Note - this file is not appended to IDW downloaded files).

Steps in the Process:

1. The supplier transmits a simplified EDI 845 document to IDX with a special IDEA assigned Net FTP ID
2. IDX translates the data in the EDI 845 document into a simplified Flat File format (Net FTP v1.0)
3. IDX delivers the Flat File to the trading partner’s IDW FTP folder

Requirements and Considerations:

• The supplier must be EDI capable
• The receiver must be an IDW customer
• Only Net Into-Stock – no job-specific special price authorizations
• Facilitates use of EDI 845 for sender
• The receiver does not need to be EDI capable
• Net price data is not stored in IDW
• Unit price or multipliers can be sent
• No kilocharacter charges are incurred

Recommended for:
Manufacturers who wish to use the EDI 845 document with distributors who are not EDI capable

Benefits:

• Increases efficiency, reduces errors and use of redundant tasks
• Increases ROI for those who have invested in EDI
• Standardized Flat File for those not capable of EDI
• No kilocharacter charges incurred

How to get started using methods described above:

• Watch IDEA’s president and CEO, Bob Gaylord discuss your net price options and submit your response at www.highvoltageideas.com
• Request an IDW Net Pricing training session with
• Contact your account manager for consultation and to get set-up – extra perk: you can use the ongoing IDX July 4th promotion to save on the B2B document exchange and IDEA EDI Flat File Translation methods!

If you have additional questions about these four methods contact the Standards Director, at .

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IDW Hot Fact: Ways to Send Marketing Data

There are three ways to provide marketing data (e.g. images, brochures, spec sheets, etc.) to Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) – EZ View Pipe, Simple Catalog Flat File, and EDI B3 or B7 views. Your method for delivering catalog content will depend on what format your database can output, as well as the catalog data fields you want to provide. For example, you might not be able to output in an EDI format, so you would need to choose between EZ View Pipe and Simple Catalog Flat File. EZ View Pipe is an ideal method for companies already using it for transactional loads, but the Simple Catalog Flat File allows you to populate a wider selection of catalog data fields.

We offer flexible solutions to help manufacturers market their products to distributors and consumers with as much information as possible. Contact your account manager to select the option that works best for your company.

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