Executing outbound processing

Executing outbound processing starts the process of translating and transmitting EDI data. The outbound process is usually executed by running an ED501 job from the Lawson job scheduler, but outbound processing may also be run from a command line or by another process.

Outbound processing in detail

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Execute outbound processing

Access Execute Outbound EDI (ED501).

This window shows sample data that could be specified when executing Execute Outbound EDI (ED501). Specify this information:

Job Name

A job name of your choice.

Process Type

The kind of outbound processing that applies to this job. Usually, you will want to select Translate and Send to translate your application data and then transmit it to the carrier identified on the trading partner record. These are the values supported for outbound processing:

  • Translate and Send - Translate application data to EDI and transmit.

  • Translate Only - Translate application data to EDI but do not transmit - instead write EDI data to a temp file. This option would most often be used for testing.

  • Send Only - Transmit a file already in EDI format. This option would be used most often for re-transmission after a communication session has failed.

Application File

The location and file name of your outbound application file. The path will usually be similar to this (Replace LAWDIR with the literal value):

  • LAWDIR/ applicationproductline /edi/out/ filename (UNIX)

  • %LAWDIR%\ applicationproductline \edi\out\ filename (Windows)

  • LAWDIR/ applicationproductline /edi/out/ filename (System i)

EDI Number Start Pos, EDI Number Length

The starting position and length of the EDINUMBER field in your application flat file (32 for the starting position and 15 for length).

Usually, you will use the job you define here as a step in a larger job. For example, you could run one or several of the Lawson interface programs (such as PO120) first to extract outbound purchase order data from Lawson applications, then run Execute Outbound EDI (ED501) to translate and transmit the extracted data.