WHAT DOES AN ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE ANALYST DO?
Published: Dec 18, 2024 - The Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Analyst researches electronic commerce issues, establishes and maintains partnerships, and creates transaction maps. The role involves scripting in Gentran proprietary language, documenting transactions, and monitoring data transfers. It also includes leading meetings with business process owners to elicit accurate requirements, analyzing information within system constraints, and documenting complex processes effectively.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Electronic Data Interchange Analyst
1. Electronic Data Interchange Analyst Duties
- Data Exchange Management: Run and maintain daily production in the exchanging of data with outside sources.
- Issue Resolution: Investigate and resolve issues and anomalies found in files and transactions.
- SQL Query Optimization: Maintain and optimize existing and new SQL database queries and stored procedures.
- Production Issue Analysis: Analyze, debug and resolve production issues including but not limited to application performance, system latency, and infrastructure and network products.
- Initiative and Innovation: Willing to take initiative, bring new ideas and fresh views on improving the existing product.
- Development Support: Provide development production support along with other team members.
- Report and Interface Writing: Write reports and interfaces for data conversion and reporting.
- Complex Query Design: Perform complex query design to avoid performance hits and/or deadlocking.
- Standardized Practices: Establish and maintain standardized practices and procedures set forth by the company.
- EDI Mapping: Mapping EDI documents and maintaining EDI processes.
- Business Requirements Gathering: Building relationships with business users to gather and refine requirements, perform analysis of requirements to determine the best solution for the business case, create EDI specifications and work with VAN partner to manage the implementation of the transactions.
- Testing and Go-Live Support: Perform testing with internal users as well as trading partners and support business owner acceptance testing, plan and coordinate go-live and post go-live activities.
- End-User Support: Support end users and business owners by handling questions, requests, EDI exceptions and troubleshooting potential problems.
2. EDI Analyst Details
- Relationship Management: Build and maintain relationships and processes with users, third-party vendors, and customers as the primary EDI contact for support, ongoing communication, and issue resolution surrounding the transmission and receipt of EDI transactions.
- EDI Support: Monitors and responds to EDI support requests including but not limited to retailer and vendor chargebacks, invoice processing, cost management, and reporting.
- Data Flow Analysis: Reviews EDI processing data to identify opportunities for improvement regarding data flows, errors, and overall trends.
- SAP IDOC Management: Review and modify SAP Intermediate Documents (IDOC) to meet customer or company requirements.
- Business Requirement Documentation: Document business requirements, assess the need for process changes and modifications, recommend changes and support EDI projects including documenting and assigning responsibilities while ensuring timelines are met within budget.
- Process Documentation: Maintains process documentation and functional specifications for new and existing EDI mappings and workflows.
- Testing Support: Supports EDI users in executing testing plans for system integrations and user acceptance.
- Issue Resolution: Research, troubleshoot, and resolve issues that pertain to EDI documents and communications for both external and internal customers including debugging code and the use of RPG programming experience.
- Label and Document Development: Develop UCC and OEM labels and other customer-specific documents and processes.
- Implementation Coordination: Coordinate implementation and testing of new customers and new document types with third-party vendors.
- System Documentation: Develop and maintain project and EDI system documentation.
3. Electronic Data Interchange Analyst Responsibilities
- Trading Partner Integration: New Trading Partner and document delivery.
- Requirement Interpretation: Receive and interpret business need/requirements from customer requests and trading partners.
- Gap Analysis: Identify business process and/or product gaps.
- Collaboration for Solutions: Interact with support services, engineering, and product management to find solutions.
- Mapping and Configuration: Create maps, configuration, and process flows.
- Testing and Validation: Test maps, configuration, and process flows.
- Documentation and Engagement: Create documentation and community engagement.
- Operations Management: Manage day-to-day operations.
- Mapping Oversight: Oversee mapping activities.
- Operational Support: Provide operational support for existing transactions.
- Change Request Management: Monitor and triage incoming change requests.
- EDI Initiative Support: Support various EDI initiatives within the organization.
4. Electronic Data Interchange Analyst Job Summary
- E-commerce Research: Researches electronic commerce issues.
- Partnership Management: Sets up new partnerships and maintains partnerships.
- Transaction Mapping: Creates maps for various transactions/versions.
- Customer Communication: Communicate with customers and documents transactions.
- Data Monitoring: Monitor data transfers and recover data.
- EDI Data Collection: Collects information for EDI processing.
- Scripting: Scripts in Gentran proprietary language.
- Documentation Management: Maintains records/documentation and exchanges document testing.
- Process Definition: Defines new processes in Gentran translation.
- Requirement Elicitation: Plans and leads meetings with business process owners and users to elicit complete and accurate requirements.
- Request vs Need Distinction: Distinguishes user requests from user needs.
- Information Validation: Uses multiple techniques and knowledge sources to identify and validate information.
- Information Analysis: Identifies and analyzes relevant information in the context of system constraints and capabilities.
- Requirements Documentation: Documents requirements for complex processes, choosing the templates and tools best suited to communicating the information.
- Elicitation Techniques: Is familiar with all requirements elicitation techniques and competently uses several techniques.
5. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Analyst Accountabilities
- CRP and Workshop Participation: Supports and participates in all CRPs, SITs, workshops, etc.
- Task Estimation: Develop a rough estimate of the duration, effort, and cost to complete a series of related tasks.
- Business Process Modeling: Competently uses standard business process modeling and analysis tools, selecting those best suited to the situation and audience.
- Solution Development and Evaluation: Develop solutions to moderately complex data issues.
- Solution Evaluation: Evaluate solution options and recommend solutions based on best fit to user requirements, business process analysis, and system capabilities, scope, and objectives.
- Solution Monitoring: Establishes criteria for assessing solution success and monitors the effectiveness and efficiency of the solution, making adjustments as necessary.
- Sustaining Support Plan: Assists in developing a sustaining support plan.
- User Training: Determines user learning needs and works with business super users to develop and deliver training materials.
- Learning Material Development: Assesses trends in user questions to use as input for developing learning materials.
- Release and Certification Knowledge: Understands release and certification processes.
- Test Case Preparation: Prepares moderately complex test cases/scripts and carries out moderately complex testing/validation.
- Issue Resolution: Troubleshoots and resolves moderately complex issues.
- UAT Facilitation: Facilitates User Acceptance Test (UAT) and reaches agreement among users on acceptance criteria.
- Functional Specification Development: Develops moderately complex functional specifications for interfaces and data conversions.
- Data Loading and Cleansing: Uses common data loading and data cleansing tools to perform moderately complex tasks.