Who runs Inform ERP
Inform is DDI System's ERP for wholesale distribution, now part of Advantive. It is common at independent distributors who wanted one system covering CRM, purchasing, pricing, warehouse and fulfilment without moving to a tier-one package.
Where the manual work actually is
Inform sites are typically lean, which is the point of choosing it. Lean means the order desk is one or two people, and a day where emailed orders spike is a day when something else does not happen.
How orders get into Inform ERP
There is more than one route in, and which one suits you depends on what your site already licenses and trusts. These are the routes worth knowing before any conversation about integration.
Web services API
DDI has integrated Inform with external order platforms over web services, with orders imported into Inform on a schedule and inventory and order data synchronised back. The integration surface is established and in production use with third parties.
Source: help.sellercloud.com
Scheduled file import, confirmed with your administrator
Where your site prefers a file drop to a live call, the accepted layout is agreed during the snapshot. We do not publish a format we have not verified against your installation.
Confirmed with your administrator during the snapshot rather than assumed here.
Where FrontBeacon stops
FrontBeacon prepares the reviewed order and hands it over in the shape your site already uses. Inform stays authoritative for pricing, credit and availability, and a person on your desk approves every order before handoff.
- FrontBeacon is not a DDI System or Advantive partner and holds no certified Inform connector.
Common questions
- Advantive owns both DDI and Distribution One. Do they not already do this?
- Advantive sells the ERP, and publishes a fastener-industry page for it. It does not sell emailed-purchase-order automation on top of it. Those are different products solving different halves of the problem.
- How long before we see whether it works on our documents?
- Three to five days. The Accuracy Snapshot runs your own redacted purchase orders and reports what matched, what did not, and why — before any integration conversation happens.
Related
- Fastener distributorsEmailed purchase orders turned into reviewed sales orders for independent fastener distributors — with per-M and per-C quantities converted explicitly, not silently.
- Industrial and MRO distributorsOrder-entry automation for industrial and MRO distributors — broad catalogs, long-tail customers, and the emailed orders EDI never covered.
- Electrical distributorsOrder-entry automation for electrical distributors — manufacturer part numbers, catalog numbers and customer shorthand resolved against your own catalog.
Running something else? See every ERP handoff.