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Case study

EDI automation: 210 in, 997 out

How I replaced an expensive, proprietary EDI solution with n8n, Azure SFTP, and Business Central.

Company

TORLYS

My role

Designed, built, and deployed, end to end

Stack

n8n · Azure SFTP · Business Central

Documents

EDI 210 inbound · EDI 997 outbound

Result

Retired a solution costing up to $4,800 a year

The problem

EDI documents were moving through an expensive, proprietary solution that cost up to $400 a month, or up to $4,800 a year.

It was a recurring bill for a function the business depends on, tied to a tool we couldn't adapt. The goal was to keep the capability and own the integration.

EDI in 30 seconds

EDI 210

The electronic freight invoice a carrier sends for a shipment (Motor Carrier Freight Details and Invoice). It arrives inbound and needs to land in the accounting system.

EDI 997

The functional acknowledgment, an automatic "got it" that tells the sender their document was received. It goes outbound.

The solution

I designed a workflow that handles both directions automatically:

1. 1
   ReceiveInbound EDI 210 freight invoices arrive through Azure SFTP.
2. 2
   ProcessAn n8n workflow picks up each document and processes it.
3. 3
   PostThe invoice data is fed into Business Central.
4. 4
   AcknowledgeThe outbound EDI 997 acknowledgment is sent automatically.

The outcome

The proprietary solution, which cost up to $4,800 a year, was replaced by a workflow I own, understand, and can adapt.

The 210 and 997 exchange now runs end to end without manual handling.

What this shows

• Replacing a costly black-box tool with modern, flexible ones.
• Owning a project from design through deployment.
• Turning an ongoing expense into a lasting saving.