Following two years of development and review, the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) has released a new version of the Internet Parts Ordering (IPO) standard, used to provide messages and information about parts location and availability, and used for ordering aftermarket parts online. It said that significant improvements have been made to the shipment and confirmation documents used in version 3.0, as well as the addition of an invoice document. The latest version also serves as a functional replacement for the electronic document interchange (EDI) or compliment to it, according to the AAIA.
The association stated that the IPO was developed specifically to address the requirements of order inquiry, purchase order, ship notification and invoicing in the automotive supply chain regardless of the number of line items or shipping points.
“Split shipments, backorders, product replacement and drop shipments are just a few of the complications that automotive special orders and stock orders involve,” said Scott Luckett, the AAIA’s chief information officer. “The IPO web services were defined in this latest version to account for all these complexities and enable end-to-end automation of the order cycle and payment reconciliation. Trading partners who invest in IPO-enabled ordering processes will realise immediate ROI in time and labour savings.”
Complete documentation and a development package can be downloaded for free and IPO web services can be exchanged between trading partners directly or with the services of an e-commerce hub or exchange.
