What is an EDIFACT ORDRSP Message?

The EDIFACT ORDRSP (purchase ORDer ReSPonse) is a message sent from a seller to a buyer, responding to a previously sent Purchase Order message (ORDERS) or Purchase Order Change Request message (ORDCHG). It follows the EDI message standard UN/EDIFACT and is a crucial message type for the retail and manufacturing industries' electronic purchasing process.

An ORDRSP message is sent by the seller to acknowledge the ORDER file's receipt and the understanding of its contents. When generated, this order response message could confirm that the seller can supply all the items required in the order, propose amendments or alterations to one or more individual requests, or highlight any (or all) parts that cannot be supplied, along with the reasons. The ORDRSP could refer to one or many separate orders; however, a single purchase order could be responded to via multiple response messages if business practice requires this.

These messages are typically generated via a sellers ERP system and exported into an ERP internal data format, for example such as a SAP IDoc. The data is then converted from this in-house format into the customer’s particular EDI ORDRSP structure via their EDI Solution. Once received by the customer, they will be able to see the feedback, and it will aid them with their planning and schedules.

The EDIFACT ORDRSP message can contain a wide range of information and appear very different in various scenarios. From an entire order being accepted with no amendments to an ORDRSP amending each of the items specific quantity and date, the content could be vastly different.

A typical EDIFACT ORDRSP Message includes:

When the prospective buyer receives an ORDRSP, which in turn has been generated off the back of a previously created ORDERS request, their EDI system would check the contents of the file against their EDIFACT ORDRSP specification and update their ERP system with the accepted or amended order details. They could then generate and send back a functional acknowledgment, confirming the receipt of the EDI message.

Within EDI, messages are exchanged between the business partners in a typical sequence of files, dependent on the specific industry they are working within. The below example shows a standard Retail workflow, highlighting when the ORDRSP would be generated and sent, and other standard messages.

Within the ANSI X12 format, which is widely used throughout North America, an 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgement would be sent in place of an ORDRSP. If the company uses TRADACOMS as their format, they would need to send an ACKHDR, an Acknowledgement message.

For state-of-the-art digital ordering process using EDI technology, you should check all your options to operate cost-effectively. SEEBURGER provides an EDI Cloud Service in the SEEBURGER Cloud or public cloud environments like the ones from Google, Azure, AWS, etc. as well as an on-premises software solution.

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EDI Operating Models: On-Premises, iPaaS or Full Service EDI