Answer
Do you need EDI to automate purchase orders?
Updated July 2026 · by the DynamoDocs team
The short answer
No, but you should not have to choose. Some customers mandate EDI; most smaller ones just email a PDF. DynamoDocs handles both in one system: it speaks EDI X12 (reading 850 orders and 860 changes, sending 855 and 865 acknowledgments) over SFTP, AS2, or your existing VAN, and reads PDF and email POs with AI. Either way the order is validated and posted to your ERP through the same path.
The usual trade-off, and why it is a false one
EDI-only tooling ignores the customers who email a PDF. Capture-only tooling cannot serve the partner who mandates EDI and charges back for a late acknowledgment. Most distributors end up buying both and reconciling between them.
If your partner requires EDI
DynamoDocs reads 850 purchase orders and 860 change requests, and sends back the 997, 855, and 865 acknowledgments partners require, automatically and only for orders that pass validation, because an acknowledgment commits you to prices and quantities. It connects over SFTP, AS2, or a folder your existing VAN client already watches, so SPS Commerce, Cleo, or TrueCommerce keep working exactly as they do now.
If your customer emails a PDF
The same pipeline captures it from a monitored mailbox, reads the header and line items with AI, validates it, and posts the sales order. The customer changes nothing about how they order.
One queue, one set of rules
This is the part that matters operationally. Both channels land in the same review queue, get the same duplicate and matching checks, and post to the ERP through the same field mapping. Your team learns one system, and you are not reconciling an EDI translator against a capture tool.
Onboarding a new EDI partner
Every partner narrows the X12 standard their own way: which item number goes in which element, which segments they reject, which references they require. In DynamoDocs that is handled as configuration per partner, so a certification round is a settings change. Expect two to four rounds with any new partner; that is true of every EDI vendor.
Related questions
Do my customers have to change anything?
No. EDI partners keep sending EDI; everyone else keeps emailing PDFs. Both post automatically into your ERP.
Do I still need my VAN?
That depends on your partner, not on DynamoDocs. Many large trading partners only exchange through a VAN, and DynamoDocs works with that: it writes to a folder your VAN client already watches. Where a partner offers a direct SFTP or AS2 connection, DynamoDocs connects directly and no VAN is involved. Either way, changing transport later changes nothing about the documents.
Are you certified with my trading partner?
No vendor is, until you run their test cycle. Every partner certifies you against their own implementation guide. What DynamoDocs does is make each round a configuration change instead of a development project.
Is this only for sales orders?
No. The same approach handles supplier invoices and RFQs, posting them as bills and quotes, and sends 810 invoices and 856 ship notices over EDI where a partner expects them.
Go deeper
See it on your documents
Bring a real invoice, PO, or RFQ and watch DynamoDocs take it from inbox to posted in your ERP in about 30 minutes.
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