ECGrid Support

Overview

What Is the Certification Program?

The Certification Program is a feature that helps you onboard and train your trading partners (vendors) in processing documents. Think of it as a "graduation system" where vendors complete required tasks to become certified in your workflows.

Key Benefits:

• Track vendor progress through onboarding automatically
• Send automated welcome and progress emails to vendors
• Monitor which vendors are ready for production
• Get daily/weekly/monthly reports on certification status

Who Can Use This Feature?

• Resellers: Can configure this feature for their customers 
• Customers: Can enable/disable this feature for their account, create and manage:
  • Certification Programs
  • Vendors
  • Reports
  • Communication Templates (email customization)
• Vendors: Receive automated emails and complete certification tasks by processing documents

Getting Started

Step 1: Enable the Feature

Before you can use Certification Programs, a reseller must enable it for your account:

1. Navigate to "Certification Program" menu
2. Find the "Enable Certification Program" toggle
3. Enable the feature

Step 2: Create a Program

A Program is a collection of tasks that vendors need to complete. You might create different programs for different scenarios: 
Examples:

• "New Vendor Onboarding" - Basic tasks all new vendors must complete
• "Advanced Integration" - Additional tasks for vendors using advanced features
• "850 Purchase Order Certification" - Specific to one document type

To Create a Program:

1. Go to Certification Program menu
2. Click "Add Program"
3. Enter:
   • Name: E.g., "New Vendor Onboarding" (required, max 200 characters)
   • Description: E.g., "Complete these tasks to become certified" (optional)
4. Click Save

Step 3: Add Tasks to Your Program

Tasks are the actual workflows (flows) that vendors need to complete successfully

To Add Tasks:

1. Open your program (click "Config")
2. Click "Add Tasks"
3. Select the tasks you want vendors to complete
4. Click Save

Example Tasks:

• Process an 850 Purchase Order
• Send an 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgment
• Send an 856 Advance Ship Notice

Managing Vendors

Adding Vendors to a Program

To Add a Vendor:

1. Open your program
2. Click "Add Vendor"
3. Fill in vendor information:
   • First Name: Vendor's first name
   • Last Name: Vendor's last name
   • Email: Where they'll receive notifications
4. Select which tasks they need to complete
5. Configure Vendor Keys (see below)
6. Click Save

The vendor will automatically receive a welcome email with their assigned tasks.

Understanding Vendor Keys

What Are Vendor Keys?

Vendor Keys tell the system how to identify documents from this specific vendor. When a document arrives, the system checks these keys to know which vendor sent it.

How to Configure Keys:

For each document type, you specify:

• Document Type: E.g., "850 Purchase Order"
• Field Location (XPath): Where to find the identifying information in the document
• Expected Value (Key): What value identifies this vendor

Real-World Example:
Let's say vendor "ABC Supply" always puts their vendor number "ABC123" in a specific field:

Document Type: 850 Purchase Order Field Location: //BEG/BEG02 Expected Value: ABC123

When a Purchase Order arrives with "ABC123" in that field, the system knows it's from ABC Supply.

Another Example:

Document Type: 856 Ship Notice Field Location: //REF[REF01='IA']/REF02 Expected Value: ABC123

Important Notes:

• You can add multiple keys for the same vendor (for different document types)
• ALL keys must match for the vendor to be identified
• Test your keys with sample documents before going live

Vendor Status Explained

Each vendor has a status that shows their progress:

⚫ New

• The vendor has just been added
• They haven't sent any documents yet
• What to do: Send the vendor their first test document

? Progressing (In Progress)

• The vendor has successfully completed or made an error in at least one task
• Some tasks are still incomplete
• What to do: Monitor their progress, encourage them to complete remaining tasks

? Completed

• The vendor has successfully completed ALL tasks across ALL programs
• They are certified and ready for production
• What to do: Move them to production environment

How Status Changes Automatically:

1. When a vendor sends a document and it processes successfully → Status changes to "Progressing"
2. When the vendor completes their last task → Status changes to "Completed"
3. Each time a document completes (success or failure), the system sends an email to the vendor

Manually Resetting Status:

You can manually change a vendor's status back to "New" if needed:

• This resets ALL their progress
• They'll need to reprocess all documents
• Use this carefully - the system will ask you to confirm

How the System Tracks Vendor Documents

When a Document Arrives:

1. System checks: Is this sender's Certification Program enabled?
2. System looks for matching Vendor Keys in the document
3. If a match is found:
   • Document is linked to that vendor
   • Progress is tracked automatically
   • Vendor receives appropriate emails
4. If no match:
   • Document processes normally without certification tracking

What Happens After Processing:

If Successful:

• The task is marked as completed for that vendor
• Vendor receives a "Task Completed" email showing:
  • Which task they completed
  • What document type they processed
  • Which tasks remain (if any)
• If this was their last task, they receive a "Certification Complete" email

If Failed:

• Vendor receives a "Task Failed" email with:
  • What went wrong
  • Document details
  • Next steps to fix the issue

Multi-Program Scenarios

Important Concept:

A vendor's completion status is global across all programs, but they see tasks filtered by program when viewing a specific program.

Example:

You have two programs:

• Program A includes Tasks 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
• Program B includes Tasks 2, 3, and 4

The vendor “ABC Supply” is enrolled in both programs:

• In Program A, ABC Supply is assigned Tasks 1, 2, and 3
• In Program B, ABC Supply is assigned Tasks 2, 3, and 4
• If ABC Supply completes Task 2, it is credited toward both programs.
• ABC Supply is marked as “Completed” only after finishing Tasks 1, 2, 3, and 4 (all unique tasks across both programs).

Reports

Configuring Reports

Reports help you track overall progress and remind vendors of their status.
 To Configure:

1. Go to Certification Program
2. Click "Configure Schedule Report"
3. Choose your frequency (see below)
4. Save

Report Frequency Options

What's Included in Reports

Customer Report (Sent to You):

A summary email with:

• Total Enrolled: How many vendors are in the program
• Total In Progress: How many vendors are actively working on tasks
• Total Completed: How many vendors finished certification
• New Activity:
  • Vendors who started processing today
  • Vendors added today
  • Vendors who completed today

Vendor Report (Sent to Each Vendor):

Each vendor receives their own personalized report with:

• Your company name
• Their name
• ✅ Tasks they've completed
• ⏳ Tasks they still need to complete

Email Communications

Automatic Emails

The system automatically sends emails at key moments:

1. Welcome Email

Sent When:

• A vendor is first added to a program
• A vendor's assigned tasks are updated

Contains:

• Welcome message
• Your company name
• List of tasks they need to complete
• Next steps

2. Task Completed Email

Sent When:

• A vendor successfully completes a task

Contains:

• Congratulations message
• Which task they completed
• Which document type they processed
• List of remaining tasks (if any)

3. Task Failed Email

Sent When:

• A vendor's document fails processing

Contains:

• What went wrong
• Document details (ID, type)
• Error information
• Encouragement to try again

4. Certification Complete Email

Sent When:

• A vendor completes ALL tasks across ALL programs

Contains:

• Congratulations message
• Summary of all completed tasks
• Next steps for production

5. Daily/Weekly/Monthly Reports

Sent When:

• Based on your report frequency setting

Contains:

• See "Reports" section above

Customizing Email Templates

You can customize the look and content of all automated emails:

To Customize:

1. Go to Certification Program → Email Templates
2. Select the template you want to customize
3. Edit the subject line and email body
4. Click Save

Important Rules:

When customizing templates, you must keep special placeholders that show dynamic information:

Common Placeholders:

• {{ Customer }} - Your company name
• {{ Vendor }} - Vendor's name
• {{ Flow }} - Task/workflow name
• {{ DocType }} - Document type (e.g., "850 Purchase Order")
• {{ CompletedFlow }} - The task they just completed
• {{ RemainingFlows }} - Tasks still to complete

Example Subject Line:

Welcome {{ Vendor }} to {{ Customer }}'s Certification Program!

Example Email Body:

<p>Dear {{ Vendor }},</p>
<p>Welcome! You've been enrolled in our EDI Certification Program.</p>
<p>Please complete the following tasks:</p>
<ul>{{ Flows }}</ul>
<p>We're here to help if you have questions!</p>
<p>Best regards,<br>{{ Customer }}</p>

⚠️ Warning:

• Don't remove the {{ }} placeholders
• Don't change what's inside the {{ }}
• Keep the exact spelling and capitalization

Sending Manual Emails to Vendors

You can send one-time emails to vendors outside the automatic emails:

To Send:

1. Go to your program
   
2. Click "Send Emails"
3. Fill in:
   • Subject: Your email subject
   • Cc Emails: (Optional) Copy others on the email
   • Vendors: Select which vendors to email
   • Message: Your message (can use rich text/HTML)
4. Click Send

Use Cases:

• Announce a system maintenance window
• Remind vendors about a deadline
• Share important updates
• Answer common questions