Exchange EDI 940/945 warehouse shipping order and confirmation with a 3PL

Steps

1. Send an EDI 940 (Warehouse Shipping Order) to the 3PL's EDI endpoint, populating Segment W05 (Order identification), N1/N3/N4 loops (ship-to address), W27 (carrier and service level), and W12 loops (item detail with UPC, quantity, and unit of measure).
2. Include the B/L or PRO number placeholder in W27 if required by the 3PL's mapping, and confirm the ANSI X12 version (commonly 4010 or 5010) and ISA/GS envelope parameters with the 3PL before go-live.
3. After the 3PL ships, receive the EDI 945 (Warehouse Shipping Advice) which confirms what was actually shipped — compare W12 lines to the originating 940 to detect short-ships, substitutions, or backordered lines.
4. Reconcile the tracking number(s) returned in the 945 W07 segment against your order management system and trigger downstream order-status updates.
5. Implement a functional acknowledgment loop: send an EDI 997 FA back to the 3PL for each received 945 within the agreed SLA window to confirm receipt.
6. Log the full interchange envelopes (ISA/GS/ST segments) for audit purposes; re-send the 940 with a revised control number if the 3PL returns a rejection in the 997.