# EDIFACT EDI: ORDERS, INVOIC and DESADV

> EDIFACT EDI: turn the ORDERS files your retail customers send into sales orders, and send back INVOIC and DESADV, with the original kept.

- **What it is:** EDIFACT EDI: turn the ORDERS files your retail customers send into sales orders, and send back INVOIC and DESADV, with the original kept.
- **For:** Accounting
- **Odoo versions:** 16.0, 17.0, 18.0, 19.0, 20.0 - Community and Enterprise
- **Runs on:** Odoo.sh or Odoo you host yourself - not Odoo Online, which accepts no third-party apps
- **Price:** 249 EUR, one-time, on the Odoo Apps Store
- **Technical name:** bambooforge_edifact
- **Not for:** This module reads and writes the files. It does not talk to a VAN or an AS2 gateway — those need credentials and a contract, and are usually a separate piece of infrastructure that drops files where Odoo can pick them up.; ORDERS, INVOIC and DESADV only. ORDRSP, RECADV, IFTMIN and friends are not implemented.; Syntax level A with the D96A directory, which is what the grocery trade runs on. A partner on a different directory version may need adjustments.
- **Manual:** https://docs.bambooforge.dev/bambooforge_edifact/
- **Live demo:** https://demo20.bambooforge.dev/odoo/action-bambooforge_edifact.action_bf_edifact_message
- **Store page:** https://apps.odoo.com/apps/modules/20.0/bambooforge_edifact
- **Manual last updated:** 2026-09-23

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# EDIFACT EDI: ORDERS, INVOIC and DESADV

## What this is for

Retail chains do not email purchase orders. They send EDIFACT, and a supplier
who cannot read it does not get listed. Odoo has no EDIFACT support at all.

## Setting up a trading partner

*Sales ▸ EDI ▸ Trading Partners*

Every chain runs the same standard slightly differently, so their habits live
on a profile rather than in the code:

- **Their interchange ID and qualifier** — usually a GLN with qualifier 14.
- **Ours** — what we are called in the UNB segment.
- **Test interchanges** — partners run a test phase and reject live files
  during it. Leave this on until they say otherwise.
- **Product code field** — which of our fields carries the code they send in
  LIN. Retail chains almost always send an EAN.
- **Check prices on orders** — compare the price on the incoming line with our
  own price list.
- **Confirm orders automatically** — leave off until their files have been
  trusted for a while. An order that confirms itself also reserves stock and
  can start a delivery.

## Receiving orders

An ORDERS interchange becomes a sales order: the buyer is resolved from
`NAD+BY` by interchange identifier, products from `LIN`, quantities from
`QTY+21` and prices from `PRI+AAA`.

Three behaviours are worth knowing:

- **A price difference does not stop the order.** The order is created and the
  difference is written on it, listing what they say against what our price
  list says. Price disputes are the expensive part of EDI trading and finding
  them at invoice time is too late.
- **An unknown buyer or product code fails loudly.** The message goes to
  *Error* with the identifier that could not be matched, and the payload is
  kept. Fix the data and press **Process Again**.
- **A resent interchange does not become a second order.** Partners resend;
  a gateway that takes the same order twice ships it twice.

## Sending invoices and despatch advices

`build_invoic` on a posted customer invoice and `build_desadv` on a
validated outgoing shipment produce the interchange. Neither will build from a
draft invoice or an unvalidated picking — a despatch advice for goods that have
not left is worse than none at all.

## The payload

Stored exactly as sent or received, and never rewritten. When a partner
disputes an order six months later, the file they actually sent is the only
thing that settles it.

## Known limits

- This module reads and writes the files. It does not talk to a VAN or an AS2
  gateway — those need credentials and a contract, and are usually a separate
  piece of infrastructure that drops files where Odoo can pick them up.
- ORDERS, INVOIC and DESADV only. ORDRSP, RECADV, IFTMIN and friends are not
  implemented.
- Syntax level A with the D96A directory, which is what the grocery trade
  runs on. A partner on a different directory version may need adjustments.

## How we make sure it works

Before every release, **29 automated checks** run against this app on Odoo 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20.
Among them:

- The same order is not taken twice.
- Something that is not edifact is refused.
- Orders in with a price difference is processed not error.
- An employee without the checkbox reads no message.
- A partner without a profile is refused.

The complete list is in the source you receive.

## Install

1. Copy `bambooforge_edifact` into your addons path and update the app list, or install the ZIP from the Odoo Apps Store.
2. Install **EDIFACT EDI: ORDERS, INVOIC and DESADV**.
3. Open **Messages** - its menus are Trading Partners, EDI.

## Questions people ask

****Which Odoo versions does it run on?****

Odoo 16.0, 17.0, 18.0, 19.0, 20.0, on the series you buy it for; each series is its own listing.

****Community or Enterprise?****

Both. It needs no Enterprise app.

****What does it need?****

The standard Inventory, Invoicing, Sales apps. No extra Python package.

****Where does it show up?****

Under the **Messages** menu (Trading Partners, EDI).

****Does anything leave my server?****

No. It makes no call outside your Odoo server: no telemetry, no licence check, no third-party service.

****What happens if I uninstall it?****

Odoo drops the app's own tables and fields; the standard records it worked on (contacts, orders, products) stay as they are.