We have been chatting with our Amazon reps and I just filled out the survey to be one of the Beta testers for Polaris EDI when that starts (they’re hoping to get all the beta testers up and going before ALA). Before then, we would like to begin using the grids/carts if we can (right now our selectors send us selection lists on Polaris Client and we build POs by hand). For those of you who import carts into the Client/Leap (We have Leap available but not 8.2 yet - we’re on 7.7), how do you do that? I have the grids set up on Amazon (although no dropdowns yet, I’m assuming we’ll have to hand type Fund/Collection Code/Location until EDI gets set up).
Are you doing EDI ordering with any other vendor? This is typically all about getting your vendor to build up a proper 970, which I thought was still in progress with Amazon.
We do EDI with Ingram and Midwest Tape. The grids are fully available via Amazon. They are doing beta access for Polaris over the next two months for those who sign up.
If you’re getting a .MRC from Amazon, you’d just need to make sure the 970 layout matches the Polaris expectations to make populating the PO easier via the bulk add process. For better or worse, that process is pretty rudimentary, so as long as you can get the 970s in shape (we’ve done it with MarcEdit in the past), it should work.
Importing .mrc files is much easier using Leap then the staff client. We are on 8.0 and the process is very easy, but similar to the steps as the staff client. Getting the 970 with the vendor set up is important as others have stated.