2018 Annual Minutes
Minutes of the 2018 EASI annual Meeting – Nashville, TN
April 5, 2018.
Technical and Steering Committee meetings were held from 8:30 am - 9:15 am.
Following these meetings, Rob Smith and Michael Roberts reviewed the past year’s monthly checking account statements and financial reports supplied by the Treasurer, Nick Freitag, who was unable to attend the meeting. Rob and Michael examined the records presented and found no irregularities or discrepancies with the accuracy of the books and reporting. They all signed a document stating this fact.
Debby Krissinger gave a newcomer's presentation from 9:30 am to approximately 10:00 am
General Session
Beginning at 10 am, the Annual Meeting commenced by a welcome from the Executive Chairperson, Michael Roberts. Michael asked for individual introductions from the attendees in the room, and offered a special welcome to our first-time participants. Below is a listing of those in attendance with an * to note a ‘first time’ attendee:
Attendee - Company
Debby Krissinger - alphabroder
Keith Schneider - alphabroder
Loriann Melendez - alphabroder
Parini Kunta - alphabroder
Tracie Hopkins - alphabroder
Marvin Yoshizumi - American T-Shirt Co.
Jon Clarke - Bella + Canvas
Beth Villa - Big Accessories
Tom Pepper - Century Place/Bermuda Sands
*Rian Ingrim - Cotton Heritage (Roochi Traders)
Mike Cutsey - FDM4 America
Bryan Moore - FDM4 International
Joelle Hotte - FDM4 International
Derek Clark - Fruit Of The Loom
Heather Jenkins - Fruit Of The Loom
Jason Gragg - Fruit Of The Loom
Ricky Carter - Fruit Of The Loom
Diana Priebe - Gildan Activewear
Michael Roberts - Gildan SRL
Leslie Utt - HanesBrand
Michael Sutton - HanesBrand
Tom Laponte - HanesBrand
Clarence Wiggins - Heritage Sportswear
*Dena Marques - Independent Trading Co.
*Michelle Amundson - Kerusso
Rob Smith - LAT Apparel
*Ana Escalante - Next Level Apparel
Jim Beale - S&S Activewear
*Geoff Stevens - Sierra Pacific
Frank Lopez - Tiedye USA
Paula Shuter - TSC Apparel
Steve Mitchell - TSC Apparel
Betsy Burton - TSF Sportswear
​
Michael presented the anti-trust guidelines review.
Rob presented the Financial report.
Michael discussed the elected offices. Diana Priebe as president, Steve Mitchell as vice-chair, Joelle Hotte as tech chair. Michael thanked the Steering Committee members and Diane in particular.
Tech Presentation by Jon Clarke
Gave acknowledgement and thanks to the members and gave recap of the agenda.
Presented website statistics. Brief discussions regarding decline in views.
Discussed what's new - New editors Rob and Joelle, general housekeeping, posted minutes for 2017, updated by-laws posted, Testimonials added.
TASK - Jon asked that everyone read the minutes after they are posted. We will send an email blast when ready
Leslie - stopped to mention that we need to vote on accepting the financial statement and minutes.
TASK Jon asked for more testimonials from members.
Logos are downloadable and an HTML snippet for the logo with a link to the EASI site
Members list - TASK - ask group to review the list and make suggestions. Also to check to make sure URL is correct. Send to support@easistandards.com
Sample files - Diane "killed it" "Awesome". Jon mentioned that files have no routing envelope so don't try to load it in your system.
New versions of standards have been posted to the website.
Compliance Matrix - has been updated from 5 members.
TASK - review and update the compliance matrix and send to support@easistandards.com
Version updates
850 - Provide store ID is optional. Not recommended for the drop ship.
856 - V7 was a corrective version of V6. Same as above for store ID
The future of the 940 - Are they going away? Group thinks they are not. Jim Beale suggested keeping 940 flat files but not for API. Jon said we needed to vote.
Stopped - for voter count. 13 members voting.
Discussions regarding changing store ID on 940 to DC ID or move store ID to end of header record. Change the comments to clarify the use of that field to assist in identifying in as the distribution center? Diana and Jim discussed the best use of that field. Motion to update comments to say store id as DC ID ("ship from" reference) and add ship to code at the end of the header record for us as the traditional ship-to reference for 940 v.50 Motioned by Joelle, seconded by Michael. Passed 12 - 0 with one abstention.
856 V6. It's messed up, so we need to retire version. Motion to retire and archive Diana, seconded by Steve. Passed 13 -0.
Compliance testing site - Jon thanked FDM4 for hosting and keeping it updated. (See slide for changes).
Tracie from Alphabroder asked if old 856 was in compliance testing. Joelle said no. We are trying to keep people off very old versions which are not supported. Trading partners need to work that out.
New Adoption Discussion – Debby asked who has adopted them. FDM4 has started IMG. Jon said the IMG is primarily a marketing tool. Discussions regarding using PromoVersions standards in the future. Jon mentioned this IMG standard is ripe for an API and that's when it will pick up traction.
821 account statement - Alpha is getting ready to implement receiving the standard. Jon asked if anyone would submit to standard to alpha - no response
PLUL - Product Locator - Jon asked if people see the value in it? Jim said he's been offering for a year and no one is using it. Jon suggested bring this to the attention to e-commerce and marketing folks. Jon asked if anyone would try it. Leslie said she should talk to her marketing folks. Color Tone, Haynes and Next Level said they would try it with S&S.
180/181 - Anyone? Two present members and Jon was aware of another. Several customers said they would work with FDM4 to get it implemented.
846 Pricing - No one
810 - Consolidated invoice - No one. Prior version would not handle multiple PO's. Now we can do it. Gildan is testing. LAT will push getting it done.
Motion to retire 889/890 standards by Rob. Seconded by Michael. Passed 13 - 0.
LUNCH break
Vote to acceptance of the financials Debby, Leslie seconded. 13 - 0 Vote to accept 2017 minutes Rob, Joelle 2nd. 13 - 0
997 F/A - Jon discussed the importance of knowing the customer has received the ASN's before the truck arrives and knowing the manufacturer has received the order. Joelle then gave her presentation. (See her slide presentation).
Can there be multi doc type in one file - NO Are there risks in reseeding files?\Will duplicate file get rejected?
Keith from alpha has implemented 997's and it's been catching PO's not received.
We don't need document type in 997 because we have the interchange id
Goal - Document best practices for managing 997's
Anyone using it now - A couple of customers have something in place. General discussions took place.
Standard Usage 180/181 - Let's postpone more discussions regarding these until more users are in compliance. Let's table the duplication of claims discussions until it becomes an issue.
New Standard TPP - Trading Partner Portal. Trading partner could connect to other partner and pull in specific account information pertinent to the exchange of EASI transactions, i.e. set-up information.
Discussions as to how this would be used. Phase 1 would be to determine what type of information would be on the standards. The idea is this information would be accessible to anyone but would have no user credential information. This information would be accessed from the trading partner's web site or partner portal. Motion to adopt the TTP version 1.0 as per Jon's slide plus list of IP addresses - Joelle made the motion, 2nd Steve. Passed 13 - 0.
NEW BUSINESS
SFTP Requirement - Should we adopt this as our standard ftp protocol? Should this be a requirement? General discussions regarding if any trading partners can't do this. Motion to adopt SFTP standard com protocol by the next meeting date. Diana, Leslie 12 - 0 with one abstention.
Address verification - Before an 850/940, the purchasers must validate the US address against the USPS database before it's transmitted. General discussions regarding expenses and ROI and difficulty for implementing. We will make this a best practice rather than a standard or mandate as this falls outside the scope of the group. We'll add it to the info tab on 940 and 850 standards and on the webpage.
997 BATCHING - Keith Schneider told of his problem with a trading partner sending several transactions in a single 997 file. General discussions as the best practice. The consensus of the group to allow batching.
DUPLICATE GTINs - (see Jon's slide) Do we need to specify whether I not a GTIN within a single segment. Tech committee will review which standards should allow duplicates or not.
832 PDD v9.0B - Debby led discussion of the new fields, especially Available to Sell Date. Suggest adding "Expected" top the title.
Motion to add CPSIA/GCC Declaration in URL in detail or header conditionally. By Rob, 2nd by Michael. Passed 13 - 0
Motion to add sellers product spec file - Steven, 2nd Jon Passed 13 - 0.
No motion to add cartons to pallet
Motion to call it Expected available to sell date Jon, Rob 2nd. 13 - 0.
Motion to add to standard Diana, 2nd Rob. Passed 11 - 2.
888 Item Change - General discussions as to how to identify which fields are being changed, and whether or not this would be needed. Couldn't we just use the 832 file. The consensus is for the tech committee should look at doing for 2018 - 2019 to identify which field should be communicated as being changed.
PACKING LIST - Customer receiving the order wants to see their PO on the packing slip. We recommend including Ship to / Ship From, contact name, and customer PO. Motion to require content by Leslie Utt and 2nd by Jim to do so. 10 - 0 with 2 abstentions.
No motion to add pack list requirement code to 850.
Monthly Sales Analytics - Summary of 852 total sold qty and return qty by store ID by GTIN by Ship-to-State. Motion by Jon 2nd by Rob to work on new standard for monthly sales analytics. Pass 11-1 with 1 abstentions. Additional discussions that this would be a good candidate for API.
Daily Tracking File - Companion or alternative for 856. Good for those who don't pull in an 856 for drop ships. Attempt to do away with 1Z, TRK, and 945. Group barely agrees that the tech committee should look at it, so it will be given a low priority.
753 Routing Request - Buyer responds with 754 Routing Instructions. General discussions take place regarding if this is needed. Consensus was not to pursue this.
VOTING Joelle - Steve - Marvin - Rian Ingram
New tech committee members are Tracy, Bryan
Web Services / API Discussion - This will complement, not replace the ftp flat files. Jon explained this dynamic. Advantages - no need for 997's and Jon will stop talking about it. Good if you want to just get a portion of data, such as a selected group of GTINs product data or all tracking numbers for a single PO. It's real-time interaction between systems. Jon acknowledges this will be a major task to get this implemented for any company. An API subcommittee will be formed. User is provided a key and pass phrase to access "end points" e.g., product endpoint, shipment endpoint, sales end points, etc. API Portal and Gateway is required, but there are a large number of open source ones available. IT infrastructure may need to be changed to put Gateway outside of your firewall. Tech committee will provide guidance and resources and examples. 850 852 856 846 will be the first ones to go to API. Endpoint pathnames will be named so as to not interfere with any other endpoint already in place at your company, will be "Order/EASI/Vx" for example. API sub committee will do the grunt work and then make their presentation to the full Tech committee. TASK - What will it take to get this in place at your company?
Jon presented a list of 2018-2019 potentials tech tasks.
Quick discussions regarding next year's location and time. Will survey group on follow-up email. Suggesting having meeting in May.
Attendees gave their feedback. All positive.
Motion to adjourn - Debby, seconded by Rob. Meeting adjourned at 5:00pm