QAD and TrueCommerce integration

What moves between them

Outbound, ml-connector reads QAD purchase orders and supplier invoices and writes them as flat files to the TrueCommerce SFTP drop, where TrueCommerce converts them into X12 850 and 810 documents and delivers them to the trading partner. Inbound, it polls the TrueCommerce directory for the 855 purchase order acknowledgments, 856 advance ship notices, and 820 remittance advices that arrive from partners, and posts the relevant data back into QAD against the matching purchase orders and invoices. Item and inventory levels can also move out to TrueCommerce as 846 advices. Because TrueCommerce is the middleware, ml-connector never talks to the trading partner directly.

How ml-connector handles it

ml-connector stores both credential sets encrypted. On the QAD side it accepts the full tenant URL per customer, since QAD publishes no shared base address, and reads business documents with the tenant token. On the TrueCommerce side it connects to the hosted SFTP server with the username and password that TrueCommerce provisions during account setup, since there is no public API key flow. Outbound QAD records are written as flat files in the import path TrueCommerce assigns to that customer, and the connector polls the matching export path for inbound documents on a schedule, typically hourly, because TrueCommerce does not push. QAD item and supplier records are mapped to the ISA sender and receiver IDs each trading partner relationship requires, so every file routes correctly. If an SFTP transfer or a QAD post fails, the record is retried with backoff and kept in a full audit trail, and TrueCommerce returns 997 functional acknowledgments that confirm receipt of each interchange.

A real-world example

A mid-sized consumer goods manufacturer runs QAD Adaptive ERP for production, procurement, and finance, and ships to several large grocery and big-box retailers that mandate EDI. Before the integration, staff exported orders and invoices from QAD and uploaded them by hand to TrueCommerce, then watched for retailer acknowledgments and re-keyed shipment and remittance data back into the ERP. With QAD and TrueCommerce connected, QAD purchase orders and invoices land in the TrueCommerce SFTP drop automatically and go out as X12 to each retailer, while acknowledgments, ship notices, and remittances are pulled back into QAD on schedule. The chargeback risk from late or missing EDI documents drops, and the manual upload and re-keying steps are gone.

What you can do

• •Write QAD purchase orders and supplier invoices to the TrueCommerce SFTP drop for translation into X12 850 and 810 documents.
• •Poll TrueCommerce for inbound 855 acknowledgments, 856 ship notices, and 820 remittances and post them back into QAD.
• •Send QAD item and inventory levels to TrueCommerce as 846 inventory advices for trading partners.
• •Authenticate QAD with its tenant-specific token and TrueCommerce with its provisioned SFTP credentials.
• •Map QAD items and suppliers to the ISA partner IDs each document needs, with retries and a full audit trail.

Questions

Does ml-connector talk to my trading partners directly?

No. TrueCommerce is the middleware that translates and delivers EDI, so ml-connector exchanges files only with TrueCommerce. It writes QAD documents to the TrueCommerce SFTP drop and reads inbound documents back, and TrueCommerce handles the X12 conversion and partner delivery.

How does the integration connect to TrueCommerce without a public API?

TrueCommerce has no self-serve developer API, so the standard path is its hosted SFTP server. ml-connector connects with the username and password that TrueCommerce provisions during account setup, writes outbound files to the assigned import path, and polls the export path for inbound documents on a schedule.

How are inbound documents picked up if TrueCommerce does not push?

TrueCommerce is pull-based for the SFTP path, so ml-connector polls the inbound directory on a schedule, typically hourly. It picks up acknowledgments, ship notices, and remittances as they arrive and posts the data into QAD, and TrueCommerce returns 997 functional acknowledgments that confirm each interchange was received.