Below is a list of tips and tricks for the Procurement course. Click one of the items below to see information that may be helpful to you as you take the course.
The EDI exercises are meant to be performed in a single database, using two different sites within the same company. In order to perform the exercises, the following data must be entered in advance in IFS/Connectivity:
Enter a database site in the Installation Site window. No database link is needed.
Add two receiver addresses in the Message Receiver window. The addresses should be linked to the database site entered earlier. These addresses are used as sending addresses for the message function via Message Handling System (MHS).
Open the Configuration/Parameters window and select ON in the Value field for Connectivity Inbox process available and Connectivity Outbox process available. Also indicate a startup interval for the inbox and outbox; the interval values are stated in seconds.
Open the Message Class window and populate. Click True in the Send and Receive lists for the relevant messages.
The following EDI messages are available in IFS Applications for IFS Distribution:
| EDI Message | Description |
| ORDERS | Purchase order message sent from the customer to the supplier. |
| ORDCHG | Purchase order change message sent when the customer wants to add or update any data on the previously sent purchase order. |
| ORDRSP | Customer order confirmation message, sent from the supplier to the customer as a confirmation on the received purchase order. |
| DIRDEL | Delivery note message, sent from the supplier to the customer indicating that the ordered parts are dispatched. |
| DESADV | Dispatch advise message, sent from the supplier to the customer, indicating that the ordered parts are dispatched. |
| INVOIC | Customer invoice message, sent from the supplier to the customer that could be used as a regular invoice. |
| DELSCH | Supplier schedule message sent from the customer that gets converted to customer schedules at the supplier site. |
| RECADV | Receiving advice message sent from the customer to the supplier as a confirmation of arrived and approved quantities and dates. |
| SBIINV | Self-billing message sent from the customer to the supplier that informs the supplier about invoiced price, quantity and dates. |
If you are running an environment that already uses a company with VAT functionality, you do not need to create a new company, delivery address, and site. Just verify that the Use Tax Type VAT check box is selected in theCompany/Invoice window.
If applicable you can use Company 15 (IFS Racing Sweden AB), which is set for VAT handling. You can connect your site to this company and make sure that your site is set as the default site for your user.
It is extremely important that you set up and work within your own site to maintain data integrity. Your site should be linked to company 10. The objective should be that you should never process data in sites 1 or 2 as these are the reference or teacher sites.
If you work within any other site, you will compromise your own exercise data as well as the data of other students. Predictable exercise results require that each student's data be isolated in a unique site.
If you have not created your own site in the current course database, see the general exercise for Site for instructions.
If you are an instructor, additional information is available about the Racing database, which is the database used by all IFS Training Materials.
The Racing database contains different data layers, including the following two layers that form the foundation of the database:
To see more information about the Racing database including a link to documentation for the RTUBE data layer, see Racing Database in IFS Training Help.