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Association
of American Warehouse Control Officials Electronic Data Interface
(EDI) Specifications
Revision Date: April 11, 2000
Background April 2000 marks 5 years since the establishment of the AAWCO EDI Standard. Since that time, at least 10 grain accounting software firms have incorporated AAWCO EDI capability into their software products. On the other side of the equation, five states currently accept EDI data from warehousemen on a regular basis during the examination process. At many locations, examiners have been performing EDI exams for 5 years. Thus, the AAWCO EDI standard has and will continue to save AAWCO member states and the grain industry time and effort during the examination process. AAWCO recognizes and commends the participating grain companies and grain accounting software vendors for their support of the standard and for their cooperation in increasing examination efficiency. AAWCO remains committed to building on our present success as well as expanding the appeal of EDI examinations to all member states and their clients. To this end, we present the 2000 revision of the AAWCO EDI. Overview The first, and perhaps most important, aspect of the 2000 revision does not mandate any changes to those EDI programs now up and running. No software revisions of existing EDI software are necessary (for warehouseman or examiner) to operate under the 2000 revision. Instead, the 2000 revision focuses on adding capabilities to the standard that were not defined originally in 1995. The major additions are:
1. New EDI Code 45 (First Purchaser Assessment Record) The Computer and Technology subcommittee has been at work on this project since October of 1998. The project was undertaken because several AAWCO members were performing SPARC audits and the committee felt that a Uniform Checkoff Audit Procedure (UCAP) for AAWCO members would provide the opportunity for uniformity, consistency, and automation via AAWCO EDI for those AAWCO members providing checkoff audit services now and in the future. At AAWCO's spring 1999 meeting in Indianapolis, Ms. Janice Grauberger, Executive Director of USB addressed members and offered the assistance of USB and the various state QSSB 's in developing the SPARC implementation of the (UCAP). In March of 2000, QSSB's approved the AAWCO implemenation of UCAP for the SPARC audit. Although the most specific need was for SPARC (soybean) checkoff audits, the committee's goal was to create an underlying set of principals that could be applied to any commodity checkoff audit. However, a significant complication arose. Some checkoff audit situations are routine, while others involve greater levels of scrutiny based on the customer's wishes. It was resolved that for the 2000 revision AAWCO would design and specify a so-called "Level I" or "routine" audit with more complicated "response" audits to be developed in the future. Attached to this document is the proposed Uniform SPARC audit for AAWCO members. Upon approval it is expected that each AAWCO members state shall adopt these procedures for performing SPARC audits for their respective state USSB. Note that this document describes SPARC audit performed without the aid of AAWCO's EDI (AEDI). The committee and USB both recognize the tremendous potential for AEDI system to gather checkoff information. To that end, the T&C committee has designed a specification for AEDI, a new 45th record type. It is our hope that grain software vendors will update their AEDI specification as soon as practical to include this information.
2. & 3. Purchased unapplied Price Later & Basis Contract Record (#46 & #47) In some states, it is acceptable practice for the grain dealer to hold producer-delivered grain with the intention to apply the grain to a Price Later (Basis) contract within a specified period of time. This grain is considered, for the purposes of EDI, to have a disposition of Price Later (Basis) but would be segregated from #7 applied Price Later (#8 - Basis) and given the code #46 unapplied Price Later (#47 Basis).
4. Additional Grain Codes For the past 2 years, it has been very difficult to attend any grain industry meeting without hearing about GMOs, value traits, specialty crops, and biotechnology. Given this fact, it is hardly surprising that our AEDI system is under increasing pressure to provide methods to segregate and preserve the identity of grains (even those of the same specie) who's value traits differ significantly. This is especially true for those AAWCO members who rely on financial valuations at audit/exam time to determine violations. To that end, the C&T committee has been at work gathering and coding the various types of grain and their specific characterisics for inclusion AEDI. Without these specific additions, two significant problems can arise:
Any of these 3 situations are undesirable for the the AEDI. Therefore, the C&T committee is resolved to step up efforts to add grain codes as they become implemented by industry or state agencies. The following spreadsheet summarizes AEDI's grain descriptions on the left and the AEDI codes in the middle column with the year added in the rightmost column.
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| Ken Henderson, AAWCO Secretary • Grain Regulatory Services • Missouri Department of Agriculture 1616 Missouri Blvd, P.O. Box 630 • Jefferson City, MO 65102 • 573-751-5514 • 573-751-5516 Fax Ken.Henderson@mda.mo.gov |