Gentran estate inventory2026-11-09

What the translator is actually doing

Built from 32 sample documents, because a Gentran export is harder to obtain than the documents themselves.

6 trading partners, 5 document types, 32 documents analysed, 6 findings.

Documents32 Segments parsed345 Versions004010 Estimated effort12.2 days

Partner × document

A dot is a document that never appeared. Read the gaps as questions to ask, not as missing features.

Partner	810	850	855	856	997
AMAZON	1	1	1	2	1
COSTCO	2	1	1	·	·
HOMEDEPOT	1	1	·	1	·
KROGER	1	1	2	2	·
TARGET	1	1	2	1	1
WALMART	1	2	1	2	1

Findings

HIGH COSTCO sends orders with no ship notice

1 purchase order file(s) and no 856. Either the ASN is produced by another system or the partner's ASN requirement is being met outside EDI.

Do this: Confirm where the ASN is produced before mapping; it changes the scope of the migration.

LOW COSTCO has no 997 in the sample

Functional acknowledgements may be generated by the VAN rather than the translator. That detail decides whether the 997 has to move at all.

Do this: Confirm whether acknowledgements are translator-generated or network-generated.

MEDIUM HOMEDEPOT orders are not acknowledged

1 purchase order file(s), no 855. Either acknowledgements are manual or the partner does not require them.

Do this: Ask the client whether 855 is manual; if it is, the new translator can automate it.

LOW HOMEDEPOT has no 997 in the sample

Functional acknowledgements may be generated by the VAN rather than the translator. That detail decides whether the 997 has to move at all.

Do this: Confirm whether acknowledgements are translator-generated or network-generated.

LOW KROGER has no 997 in the sample

Functional acknowledgements may be generated by the VAN rather than the translator. That detail decides whether the 997 has to move at all.

Do this: Confirm whether acknowledgements are translator-generated or network-generated.

MEDIUM Test documents mixed into the production folder

1 file(s) carry the test indicator (ISA15 = T). Importing them as history would create orders that never existed.

Do this: Filter on ISA15 during extraction, not after import.

Envelope settings that must move with the maps

Sender/receiver qualifiers, the ISA15 test indicator, and the interchange control range are held outside the maps in most Gentran estates. They are the first thing a new translator gets wrong and the last thing anyone documents. Extract them with the samples, not from memory.

What this cannot see

Sample documents prove what runs. They do not show maps that exist but are idle, schedules, translation rules written in Gentran's own mapping language, or partner-specific overrides in the translator. Ask for the map list and one export of a single map before quoting a migration.