ECI² PSN Services

Take the next step forward in vendor communications: the ECI² PSN (Private Supply Network) Service.

What is the PSN?

The ECI² PSN Service is a collection of Internet-based services that let dealers exchange data and conduct electronic transactions with suppliers and other trading partners.

What Kinds of Service Does the PSN Offer?

The ECI² PSN provides several services today, and more are in development. We design all PSN services with speed, efficiency, and convenience in mind. PSN services fall into two broad categories:

• General services: Standard features available to all ECI² customers who use PSN-compliant software.
• Private services: Custom features developed to the specifications of a sponsoring vendor. Availability and requirements are determined by that vendor.

Which Vendors Offer Which PSN Features?

The current general PSN services are standard features of ECI² Ensite Pro business system software and there are no charges for them, either in the form of setup fees or transaction charges. Premium services carry specific charges that may vary by vendor. Requirements for access to private PSN services may vary also, as each service is controlled by the sponsoring vendor.

With most wholesalers and manufacturers listed below, you can communicate purchase orders (P/Os) and request acknowledgements, check stock availability and pricing, and receive electronic invoices via the PSN at no charge, unless otherwise noted:

1. is.group PSN services are available at no charge to is.group members.
2. S.P. Richards' electronic invoicing also processes freight charges and vendor credits.
3. S.P. Richards' advance shipping notice (ASN) automates processing of short ships, carton IDs, third-party carrier tracking IDs, and carton counts.
4. Trade Services O/PUS PSN is available at no charge to OPdb® and BPIR™ subscribers.
5. TPA PSN services are available at no charge to TriMega members.
   

How Can I Benefit from Each PSN Feature?

Use PSN today to take advantage of these services:

Internet Purchasing

Internet Purchasing allows you to use the Internet to transmit purchase orders and receive acknowledgments from participating vendors. When the vendor has pre-received and allocated inventory for your order, or final-received and shipped your order, you can pre-receive and print an acknowledgement. Using acknowledgments from major wholesalers (S.P. Richards and United Stationers), you can skip the pre-receiving process and automatically final-receive purchase orders. This feature integrates with Auto Short-Buy to further automate your purchasing flow.

Internet Purchasing is faster and more efficient than conventional dial-up communications. It replaces point-to-point communications using conventional dial-up modems or EDI transactions through third-party value-added networks. It eliminates the speed limitations of point-to-point modem-based transmissions and can dramatically reduce the time required to transmit purchase orders. It also eliminates the need to maintain dedicated telephone lines for transmitting purchase orders, further reducing your operating costs.

Online Stock Check

The PSN enables you to check stock levels with supported wholesalers in real-time. You can view the wholesalers inventory positions from within the DDMS order entry application of your DDMS business system. This allows you to respond immediately to customer inquiries about item availability, improving both fill rates and customer satisfaction.

Online Price Check

This feature lets you view your most current wholesaler cost, in real-time, from within the DDMS order entry application of your DDMS business system. This feature enables you to instantly verify item costs and adjust sell prices accordingly before placing them on an order.

Electronic Invoicing

This feature lets you receive and process electronic invoices from trading partners who offer that service via PSN, instead of via paper, email, fax, value added network (VAN) or a direct connection such as a dial-up modem, virtual private network (VPN), file transfer protocol (FTP), or EDI over the Internet (EDIINT).

O/PUS Downloads

The O/PUS PSN service lets you download O/PUS item and price files over the Internet. Compared to the traditional method of downloading these files via modem, the PSN is dramatically faster and more reliable.

Learn More About PSN

For a more detailed explanation of PSN, refer to our PSN FAQ.

You can also view or download PSN documentation.

Privacy Policy

Your proprietary information (including any information specifically identifying any of your customers) will not become public by using the PSN. ECI² and DDMS do, however, reserve the right to use, disclose, market and sell aggregate or summary data on transactions (including service use) compiled from multiple PSN users that do not specifically identify such users or their customers.

Starting a New PSN Account

To set up a new PSN account, follow these steps.

Adding New Vendors to Your PSN Account

If you have a PSN account, and want to communicate via PSN with additional vendors, simply contact your vendor for the appropriate login ID and password and follow the setup instructions according to the vendor's PSN documentation.