What Is an EDI 846 (Inventory Inquiry/Advice)?

X12 attaches no obligation to the 846's main uses. A prospective purchaser that receives inventory information does not have to acquire the goods or services, and an inquiry about availability does not oblige the seller to reserve the inventory.

X12's supply chain overview describes a basic flow of order, delivery, invoice and payment. It lists inventory inquiry among the additional processes and transaction sets that support that flow, alongside planning schedule, procurement, request for quote and product activity. It also notes that certain transactions can be transmitted at various times in the supply chain cycle, not just in the order its diagrams show.

X12 names four uses for the transaction set:

• Seller to prospective buyer. A seller of goods and services provides inventory information to a prospective purchaser, with no obligation on the purchaser to acquire them.
• Representative to seller. A representative of a seller supplies inventory information to that seller.
• Location to location. One location supplies another location with inventory information.
• Inquiry. A party asks about the availability of inventory, with no obligation on the seller to reserve it.

The first three supply inventory information. The fourth is an inquiry about availability.

A supplier holds 120 units of one SKU at its warehouse. 30 units are committed to unfulfilled orders and 10 are set aside as damaged. The units it can actually sell are 120 minus 30 minus 10 = 80.

If the trading partner wants sellable stock in the 846, the number to send for that item and location is 80, not 120. Sending the on hand figure would advertise 40 units the supplier cannot sell.

Shopify tracks inventory by location. Each inventory level connects one inventory item to one location and holds the quantities for that item there.

Shopify splits stock into inventory states:

• Available: inventory you can sell.
• Committed: units set aside that can't be sold, such as units in an unfulfilled order or reserved in a draft order.
• Unavailable: units set aside by apps or held for other reasons, such as damaged, quality control or safety stock.
• On hand: all units at a location, the sum of Committed, Unavailable and Available.
• Incoming: inventory on its way to a location, not available to sell until it has been received.

Through the GraphQL Admin API, an integration can query these quantities by name for each location, including available, on_hand, committed and incoming. An EDI integration can read those figures when it builds an 846.

Uncap's Shopify EDI integration guide names the risk: an 846 Inventory Advice sent to a trading partner reflects what Shopify thinks is available. If Shopify's inventory is out of sync with your ERP or warehouse management system, you are sending inaccurate availability data.

• EDI (electronic data interchange)
• EDI 850
• EDI 855
• EDI 856
• EDI 940
• Purchase order

• X12: 846 Inventory Inquiry/Advice
• X12 Supply Chain Transaction Flow
• Shopify Help Center: Understanding inventory states