System Solutions LLC Business Central Vendor EDI User Guide

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Setup

• Vendor EDI Connector Connection Setup
  • Open the Vendor EDI Connector desktop application > Configuration > Connection.
    • Input the Business Central tenant ID. This is shown in Business Central on the Help & Support page under "Microsoft Entra tenant ID."
    • Select the environment. If you're connecting to a sandbox, you may enter its name into this field.
    • Click Load Companies and select the company. If you have yet to login through the application using your Business Central user credentials, it will prompt you to do so at this step.
    • If this setup is meant for a specific location in the company, click Load Locations and select the location. Otherwise leave this field blank.
  • Save the connection settings and go to Configuration > Vendors. Select the vendors that should be enabled with the application.
    • If you're interested in using a vendor with the app that's not currently listed, contact System Solutions.
• Business Central Setup
  • Open the Vendor EDI Setup page in Business Central. Set the general settings at the top. Additional settings for the Price Change Queue can be found at the bottom of the page.
    • New Item Template: Specifies the item template to use when a new item is created from vendor data.
    • Create New Items From: Specifies if the application is permitted to create new items from item data, invoice data, both, or none.
    • Update Existing Items From: Specifies if the application is permitted to update existing items from item data, invoice data, both, or none.
    • Automatically Calculate Profit Percent: Specifies whether the price change queue's profit percent fields should be automatically calculated when the page opens. These fields are hidden by default.
  • In the Vendor Settings list, add a new line for the vendor you're setting up.
    • If applicable, add a location code. This should match the location specified in the desktop application.
  • Click the vendor name in the list to open the full Vendor Settings card. Some settings will be listed for every vendor, while others only apply to specific vendors.
    • Business Central tab: Set the vendor, location code, and vendor number from Business Central.
    • Vendor tab: Details that allow the application to connect to the vendor in order to transfer data with it. This information is provided by the vendor.
    • Item & Categories tab:
      • Use Purchasing Unit Only: Specifies that, if the vendor considers there to be multiple units of measure for an item, only the purchasing unit will be used. With this option enabled, the unit used to purchase the item from the vendor will be considered the base unit of measure, which will be reflected in the item's price and cost. No additional units of measure will be added to the item.
      • Do Not Update Descriptions: Specifies that an item's description should not be changed when updating the item.
      • Do Not Update Order Modifiers: Specifies that an item's minimum order quantity and order multiple should not be changed when updating the item.
      • Set Category of New Items: Specifies that a category should be set for a new item based on the data provided by the vendor.
      • Set Category of Updated Items: Specifies that a category should be set when updating an existing item based on the data provided by the vendor.
      • Do Not Create New Categories: Specifies that only existing categories should be used. If the category can't be found, a category will not be set for the item.
      • Category Type: Specifies how the vendor's categories are created into Business Central item categories. An arrow signifies multiple levels of categories. The available options will change depending on the vendor.
    • Costs tab:
      • Cost Type: Specifies the type of cost to use from the vendor. Not applicable to all vendor settings.
      • Purchase Price List Code: Determines the purchase price list to use when adding or updating the vendor's item costs.
    • Prices tab:
      • Price Updates fields: Specifies what to do with retail price changes when received by the vendor from different data types. "None" will not update the prices of items. "Queue" will add the price change to the Price Change Queue page, so it can be manually approved or declined at a later date. "Auto" will automatically update the unit price of the item.
      • Update Purchasing Unit Prices: Specifies that, for items with multiple units, if the vendor provides a retail price for the purchasing unit it should also be updated. Not applicable to all vendor settings.
      • Calculate Purchasing Unit Prices:  Specifies that, for items with multiple units, if a retail price for the purchasing unit is not provided by the vendor, it should be updated by multiplying the sales unit price and the quantity per purchasing unit.
      • Price Type: Specifies the type of price to use from the vendor. Not applicable to all vendor settings.
      • Sales Price List Code: Specifies the sales price list to use when adding or updating retail prices for alternate units of items, including its purchasing unit.
    • Purchase Orders tab:
      • Receiving Invoices
        • Use Invoice No. as PO No.: Specifies that purchase orders should be created using the vendor's assigned invoice number instead of the provided purchase order number.
      • Receiving Direct Invoices
        • Process Direct Invoices: Specifies that direct invoices and dropship orders billed through the vendor should be added as purchase orders.
        • Find Items by Mfg. No. in Vendor No.: Specifies that the vendor's manufacturer numbers or their own vendor numbers match the vendor numbers in Business Central. This allows existing items to be found by searching for the manufacturer part no. under another vendor's vendor item no. or item reference in Business Central.
        • Do Not Create Items From Mfg. Part No.: Specifies that, when an item cannot be found by its manufacturer part number in Business Central, a new item should not be created.
        • Unknown Item Placeholder: Specifies that, when an item from a direct invoice cannot be found or created, a placeholder item should be added to the purchase order instead.
      • Sending Purchase Orders
        • New PO Prefix: Specifies that new purchase orders should be prefixed with this text. This setting is typically left blank.
        • Send Prices With POs: Specifies that the items' retail prices should be sent to the vendor when an order is placed through the Vendor EDI application. This is often used for tracking or labeling. Not applicable to all vendor settings.
    • Data Information tab: These fields specify information about when data was downloaded from the vendor. It will not normally need to be changed. Not applicable to all vendor settings.
      • Last Item File Modified: Specifies the date and time that sales data was last sent to the vendor.
      • Last Sales Data Sent At: Specifies the date and time that sales data was last sent to the vendor.When sales data is set up to run for the first time, set this to a recent date so it doesn't send too much data with the first file.
      • Last Inventory Data Sent At: Specifies the date and time that inventory data was last sent to the vendor. If this field is blank, it will send all inventory to the vendor.
  • Vendor EDI Setup actions:
    • Actions > Process Imported Vendor Data: Manually processes all vendor data that is waiting with the "ready" status. The job queue will do this automatically.
    • Actions > Import Data From Excel: Allows data to be imported from Excel and processed by the application. For more information, see the Operation section below.
    • Related > View Imported Data: Opens the list of the raw data added by the Vendor EDI Connector desktop application. The status field shows whether the record has been processed or not.
    • Related > Price Change Queue: Opens the Price Change Queue page, which shows queued prices waiting to be approved (if price updates are set to the queue option in the settings).
    • Related > Vendor Inventory: Shows a list of all recorded quantities on hand as reported by vendors. If no applicable vendor is set up with the application, this page will be hidden.
    • Related > Job Queue Entries: Opens Business Central's Job Queue Entries page, to set up or modify jobs used with the Vendor EDI application.
  • Vendor Settings Card actions:
    • Actions > Update Inventory Data: Update the recorded inventory data so it can later be sent to the vendor via EDI. This will happen automatically, but it can be used if the data is too slow to generate when inventory data is sent for the first time.
    • Actions > Clear Inventory Data: Delete inventory records for this vendor and location.
• Vendor EDI Connector Task Scheduling
  • The Vendor EDI Connector desktop application can be set up to download and upload data on a regular basis without any user interaction using Task Scheduler, which is a part of Windows. Multiple tasks can be set up, depending on the needed data and schedule.
  • Open Task Scheduler and click Create Task.
    • General tab
      • Name example: "[Vendor Name] - [Task Name] - EDI for Business Central"
      • Under Security Options, enable "Run whether the user is logged in or not"
      • Under Security Options, enable "Run with highest privileges"
      • At the bottom, set "Configure for" to the computer's OS.
    • Triggers tab
      • Click New to add a new trigger.
      • Set the desired schedule.
        • For example, it is often set to run daily every morning a couple of hours before the company opens for business. However, with the latest version of Vendor EDI, it may be permissible to run during business hours and even multiple times per day. Vendors may have specific times of day that they make data available, which can affect this decision.
        • It may be useful to create a standalone task for SendPurchaseOrders that runs often throughout the day.
      • Set "Stop task if it runs longer than" to 2 hours.
      • Verify "Enabled" is checked and click OK.
    • Actions tab
      • Click New to add a new action.
      • Action should be set to "Start a new program."
      • Program/script: click Browse and navigate to "Vendor EDI Connector.exe."
        • It is often located in this folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\System Solutions\Vendor EDI Connector
      • Add arguments: The arguments are an important setting that tells the application which data to download or upload. Each task should contain two arguments:
        • Argument 1: The vendor. Available options: ACE, Blish-Mize, Do it Best, Emery-Jensen, House-Hasson, Orgill, True Value and many other vendors.  Contact sales@syssolutionsllc.com if you would like to have a supplier added.
        • Argument 2: The type of data. Available options:
          • UpdateItems: Downloads item data from the vendor so items can be created or updated in Business Central. If the vendor has separate price data, it is typically included.
          • UpdatePricesOnly: If the vendor has separate price data, downloads it without other item updates. This is not typically used.
          • ReceiveInvoices: Downloads invoices from the vendor so they can be created or updated as purchase orders in Business Central. This also includes direct invoices and dropship orders if applicable.
          • SendPurchaseOrders: Looks for any purchase orders in Business Central with the "pending" sent status and uploads the orders to the vendor.
          • AllUpdates: The equivalent of running UpdateItems, ReceiveInvoice, and SendPurchaseOrders one after the other.
          • UpdateQuantitiesOnHand: Downloads the quantities on hand for the vendors' items, which can be viewed from the item card or purchase order. Only applicable for certain vendors, including Do it Best. This task should be timed to run based on when the vendor updates their file, which is usually multiple times per day.
            • As of 2026, Do it Best says that they update their quantity files at 4:30 AM, 12:00 PM, 3:00 PM, and 9:00 PM EST, so the task could run slightly after these times.
          • SendInventoryData: Generates and sends inventory data to the vendor. Only applicable for certain vendors, including Do it Best. This is typically set to run at the end of the day, after store hours.
          • SendSalesData: Generates and sends sales data to the vendor. Only applicable for certain vendors, including Do it Best. This is typically set to run at the end of the day, after store hours.
          • SendInventoryAndSalesData: The equivalent of running both SendInventoryData and SendSalesData one after the other.
          • More arguments may be added in the future.
        • Example: The arguments "Orgill UpdateItems" will download item updates from Orgill.
        • If you'd like to test a task without making any changes, you can use arguments "Orgill Test" which runs the application for 5 seconds and closes.
      • Start in: This should be the folder where the exe is location. For example: C:\Program Files (x86)\System Solutions\Vendor EDI Connector
• Business Central Job Queue Entry
  • Once raw data has been sent to Business Central using the tasks set up above, it must be processed by the Vendor EDI app in Business Central. This can be done manually by going to Vendor EDI Setup > Actions > Process Vendor Data, but it can also be set up to process automatically using the job queue in Business Central.
  • Open the Job Queue Entries page in Business Central and open the entry called 70372194 "Vendor Data Process Job SySo."
  • Set the desired schedule and then click "Set Status to Ready."
    • When this job runs, it will check to see if any data has been uploaded to Business Central and then process it. You can set it to run at a specific time or have it continuously check for new data on a regular basis. By default, the task will run every 30 minutes.
  • If a vendor is able to import item pictures into Business Central, another entry called 70372196 "Vendor Item Pictures Job SySo" is used to check for updated pictures. This functionality is currently only available for Do it Best, and the job will be added to the queue once pictures have been download with the Download Item Pictures action on the Vendor Settings Card. It is set to run weekly by default. Once the desired schedule is confirmed, click "Set Status to Ready."
• Integration With LS Express
  • When using LS Express POS, the additional extension from System Solutions called LSE Item Reference Barcode Sync is required. It copies the UPCs created by Vendor EDI in the Item Reference table to the barcode table that's used by LS Express POS. If this extension is not installed, the items will not be found by their UPCs in POS.
    • After installing, you can manually sync the barcodes by going to LS Expression Administration > Related > Inventory > Sync Item References to LS Express. From this page, click "Sync Item References to LS Express." The date on the page keeps track of when it last ran.
    • Set up barcode syncing in the job queue by opening the Job Queue Entries page and find 64445 "Barcode Sync SySo." It defaults to run every three hours, but this can be changed as needed. Click "Set Status to Ready" to start the job.
• Integration With Label Printer
  • Some fields are available to the System Solutions extension Label Printer including Mfg. Part No., Order Multiple 2, and Order Multiple 3.