OrderTrax Now Offers New PromoStandards Inventory 2.0 Endpoint

What's New

Upgrades included in Inventory 2.0 are:

Inventory Locations: Suppliers can now show how much inventory is at each of its warehouses or other locations, providing a more accurate representation of lead times. For example, a product warehoused 10 miles away arrives sooner than a product warehoused 1,000 miles away.

Future Availability: Suppliers can now show incoming stock with its expected arrival date, providing a truer representation of available inventory. For example, if a supplier has 100 of a product on hand but 10,000 arriving in the next day or two, the effective available amount is much greater.

Manufacture on Demand: Manufacturers can now identify products that are manufactured on demand and the lead time it takes to manufacture them. For example, manufacturers who produce an item only once it’s ordered now can represent that arrangement rather than showing zero on-hand stock.

Buy To Order: Suppliers can now identify products that the supplier will purchase once an order is placed and the lead time it takes to acquire them. For example, suppliers who only buy an item once someone orders the item now can represent that arrangement instead of showing zero on-hand stock.

The Essent® OrderTrax® Network now supports PromoStandards Inventory Availability 2.0, the newly enhanced version of the integration endpoint that accounts for inventory locations, future inventory, on-demand products, manufactured products, and lead times to provide a more detailed picture of current availability, future availability, and more.

The PromoStandards Inventory Availability 2.0 integration endpoint is now available via the Essent OrderTrax Network, the leading integration network in the promotional products industry. Suppliers and manufacturers can implement the endpoint via OrderTrax using the PromoStandards protocol and make the enhanced Inventory information available for credentialed distributors to view.

Suppliers and manufacturers who already have a PromoStandards Inventory endpoint can adopt Inventory 2.0 while keeping the other Inventory endpoint for distributors who still prefer to use it. Suppliers or manufacturers who don’t have a PromoStandards Inventory endpoint can adopt Inventory 2.0, the 1-series endpoint, or both.

The upgrade to Inventory 2.0 better matches real-world logistics by accounting for a wider variety of item and transaction types and building in more information on lead times.

"Inventory integration via the OrderTrax Network was already a gamechanger that provided distributors instant, around-the-clock access to the inventory information they need to know when they’re ready to buy. Inventory 2.0 goes further and accounts for not just the inventory on hand but also for scenarios that buyers and sellers face every day, like products that are arriving soon or products that will be manufactured once an order is placed. It’s the fullest picture yet of what’s available and when, and it’s all communicated automatically via OrderTrax,” said Marco Pena, Business Development Manager for Essent.

The Essent OrderTrax Network represents the easiest, most efficient way to implement PromoStandards Inventory 2.0, either as a second Inventory endpoint, a first inventory endpoint, or for companies entirely new to OrderTrax.

For those who already have a PromoStandards Inventory endpoint on OrderTrax, Essent can use its Fast-Track integration service to enhance the current Inventory file so that it can feed both the existing Inventory endpoint and the Inventory 2.0 endpoint.

For those who use OrderTrax but don’t have an Inventory endpoint, Essent can use its Fast-Track, Standard, or Custom integration services to implement Inventory 2.0 in a fashion familiar to how the other endpoints on OrderTrax were implemented.

For those who are new to OrderTrax, Essent can use its Fast-Track, Standard, or Custom integration services to implement Inventory 2.0, and/or other PromoStandards endpoints, more efficiently and cost-effectively than other integration services providers.

Those interested in implementing PromoStandards Inventory Availability 2.0 or other endpoints can contact Essent to get started.

Essent, which is a founding member of PromoStandards and co-authors the integration protocols, began implementing PromoStandards Inventory 2.0 for customers in February 2021.

In addition to Inventory Availability, other information types, or endpoints, that can be integrated via OrderTrax using the PromoStandards protocol are: Order Status, Order Shipment Notification, Product Data, Media Content, Invoices,Purchase Orders, Product Pricing & Configuration, and Product Compliance.

About Essent
Essent is an innovative provider of fully-integrated business management software solutions and services for process-intensive industries. Essent solutions combine flexible workflow management with innovative technologies that automate repetitive tasks and simplify business processes. Since 1981, Essent has offered the systems, service, software, and support critical to success in today's highly-competitive marketplace. Essent provides best-in-class solutions for business management, ecommerce, and integration.

About OrderTrax
OrderTrax is a mature, proven integration network that hosts more than 5,000 trading partner connections and securely and accurately processes over 12 Million transactions representing over $3 Billion in commerce annually. Supporting ANSI X12, cXML, ePSA, PromoStandards, and other public and proprietary protocols, OrderTrax allows companies to integrate using the standards of their choosing. Instead of implementing and maintaining a costly new integration for each trading partner, companies can integrate once through OrderTrax to become connected to many trading partners.

About PromoStandards
PromoStandards is a group of distributors, suppliers, and service providers dedicated to improving supply chain efficiency in the promotional products industry. The group, including Essent, a founding member, defines and writes integration standards that allow distributors and suppliers to integrate for more efficient transactions and a more efficient supply chain.