Rising petrol prices in India

Diesel and petrol prices have hit record highs across the country, with petrol touching Rs 89 per litre in Delhi on Monday, and diesel reaching a new high of Rs 86.30 per litre in Mumbai.

This has raised some concerns. And, some counter concerns!

 Recently an acquaintance on social media wondered - why can't people in villages use natural gas? They should convert their diesel powered water pumps and tractors to run on natural gas!!
This comment reminded me of the quote attributed to the famous French queen, Mary Antoinette. "Why don't they eat cake".

Well, we all know what happened to Mary Antoinette.

    

A solution to mass shootings and gun rights debate

   Summary: I make two proposals that will hopefully satisfy both the gun-control activists as well as the gun-rights activists. These proposals are: a special sales tax on all gun sales to fund creation of a special police force to deal with mass shootings, and, mandatory gun ownership insurance sold by commercial companies to provide coverage to any victims of gun related incidents.  

    

   Readers will agree with me that we all feel shaken by mass shootings that are happening regularly and will also agree that we need to find a solution to reduce such incidents. However, there is no consensus on a possible solution. On one end of the spectrum we have gun control activists who want very strict gun laws and background checks. On the other end we have people who firmly believe that second amendment to the constitution guarantees their right to bear arms.  One example of such believers in gun rights is Texas senator Ted Cruz who recently said, "The number one thing that makes schools safer is having more armed police officers on campus. The number one thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun".

    Finding a middle ground will require tough discussions and consensus building. I propose an interim solution till we reach a better solution.

     Let us start by accepting that the people represented by Ted Cruz will not compromise on their gun rights. Let us accept that the short term solution is to have more armed police officers on campus and other facilities. However, no one will dispute that someone has to fund these police officers. This funding should not come from government resources or general tax payers. I propose that this additional police force should be funded by a special sales tax on all gun sales transactions.

     However, even having a special police force will not guarantee that no such incidents will happen. We need to ensure that victims of any future mass shootings do not have to depend on the charity or the taxpayers for support.  My second proposal is that all gun owners should be required to buy liability insurance for each and every gun they own. Such insurance should be sold by commercial insurance companies and government should not intervene. Government should not decide what kind of gun one can own. Let market forces, through insurance companies, determine relative risk and insurance cost associated with a gun and a person.  This measure will ensure that victims do not become burden on general tax payers. The gun owners will get encouraged to take better care of their guns as they will be responsible for guns mishandled by their dependents, friends or family members. As riskier guns or larger number of guns will result in larger insurance premiums, gun owners will be encouraged to make more informed choices about what kind of gun and how many guns they want to own.

     I am confident that these two measures provide a good short term solution. I invite your comments and suggestions.  

Orlando Shooting

 

       When Adam Lanza killed 20 small kids and 6 teachers, I distinctly remember hearing NRA' spkes person Wayne LA Pierre on television, speaking in a priestly voice, and suggesting that guns don't kill people. People kill people. He suggested that best approach is to put police officers in every school and train teachers on how to operate guns.
       Then Orlando night club shooting happened. NRA's Wayne LA Pierre now blamed  terrorists and again advocated that a person with gun would have stopped this gun man. He suggests that every american needs to have a security plan and law abiding citizens should have a gun.
        Now comes Las Vegas shooting. I wonder how any law abiding citizen could have stopped this shooter operating from 30th floor with two dozen weapons in his cache. Will NRS now advocate that every law abiding citizen should have a LMG or anti-aircraft gun handy? How can any person be allowed to collect such kind of weaponary and arsenal?
        Need of the hour is to put very stringent regulations on gun sales - both private and commercial, as well as ownership. A buyer should not be allowed to hoard multiple guns. Gun collectors should be required to store their  collection in an armoury monitored by Federal government. Anyone intending to buy guns should be asked to get approval/signatures of his family members or immediate neighbors. Some automated system should be created to detect suspicios gun buying pattern and block such purchases.

Faye, Hanna and Ike

I was listening to NPR the other day. A New Orleans resident was complaining "we need food, we need water, we need electricity". I am amazed! Have people in US forgotten basic survival skills? Can't they think of buying few loaves of bread and storing few buckets of water before such storms?
Two years ago, after Katrina, New Orleans residents were looting Walmart and other stores for TV and Electronics and were dying of hunger. I couldn't help wondering why they wouldn't get inflatable boats and flotation devices available in all big sports stores and rowed themselves out of that misery. American's routinely buy boats and water vehicles. Hundreds of water sports establishments carry tens of thousands of water rafts. I wonder why no-one came forward to use that equipment to move New Orleans residents after Katrina's aftermath.
Has this country really forgotten how to survive?

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EDI Overview

http://www.ediinformation.com/edi/edi.php

 

 

EDI Overview

General EDI Information - What is EDI?
EDI which stands for Electronic Data Interchange is the computer-to-computer communication of business documents between companies in a standard format.  It is a paperless way to send and receive Purchase Orders, Invoices, etc.  EDI replaces human-readable documents with electronically coded documents. The sending computer creates the document and the receiving computer interprets the document.  Implementation of EDI streamlines the process of exchanging standard business transactions.   Companies save by eliminating people cost as well as the cost due to errors and double entry of data.   The transmissions are accomplished by connecting to a mailbox via a modem or the internet.   The most common mailbox is a Value Added Network's (VAN) electronic mailbox.  Each user, identified by a unique EDI ID, accesses his mailbox to send and receive all EDI transactions.  To standardize the documents communicated between many companies, the Transportation Data Coordinating Committee, in 1975, published its first set of standards.   EDI standards are formats and protocols that trading partners agree to use when sending and receiving business documents.   Around 1979, The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) designated an accredited standards committee for EDI.   More information can be found by visiting the ASCX12-Website.   The standards continue to evolve to address the needs of the member companies.   The Uniform Communication Standard (UCS) is used by the grocery industry and other retail-oriented industry sectors. The UCS standards are a subset of the ANSI ASC X12 standards.   For more information, visit the UCSWebsite. In the 1980's, the UN/EDIFACT standards were announced for international trade.   The ANSI standards, however, are still the most commonly used standards in North America.   The VICS (Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Standards Association) standards are used by some retailers and are a subset of the ANSI standards. The VICS standards are maintained by the VICS-Association.

How EDI Works
Typically, an EDI document begins in a trading partner's business application computer system.  A document is produced and sent to a specialized computer program that translates the document into a standard EDI format.   The EDI file is then transmitted, usually via the trading partner's VAN.   When the VAN receives the transmission, it is sent to the intended recipient's mailbox, identified by its EDI ID.  The trading partner receives the document from its VAN when it connects and empties its mailbox.  Through the use of an EDI translation program, the document is translated into a file that will be processed by the trading partner's business application system.  During the inbound translation process, a new EDI document is transmitted back to the sender to acknowledge receipt of the document.   This new document, the functional acknowledgment (FA), assures the sender that its transmission has been received.

Typical EDI Documents
Purchase Orders (ANSI- EDI 850, UCS- EDI 875) detail the items, quantities, actual cost or estimated cost, Terms, Notes, Ship-to locations, Ship Dates, Cancel Dates, etc.

Invoices (ANSI- EDI 810, UCS- EDI 880) are issued by the trading partner who has provided products and/or services as a request for payment.  These EDI invoices include most of the purchase order information as well as Invoice Number, Invoice Date and Total Amount Due.

Functional Acknowledgments (EDI 997) are short documents returned to the sender of an EDI transmission.  They indicate that the transmission was received, but do not indicate agreement with the document.

Purchase Order Acknowledgements (EDI 855) are used to provide seller's acknowledgment and acceptance or rejection of a buyer's purchase order. This can be an acknowledgement that the entire ordered quantity will be shipped and the date when it will be shipped. It can also be a line by line acknowledgment of partial or complete quantities and single or multiple shipping dates. The 855 Document can also be used as notification of a vendor-generated order or Reverse Purchase Order. The 855 Reverse PO is used in support of Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI). The vendor creates this Reverse PO to indicate to the buyer that the supplier has created a purchase order to maintain inventory levels as agreed to in the VMI agreement between the two parties. There is usually a minimum time period for the 855 to be sent prior to the sending of the 856 - Advance Ship Notice, which is sent when the goods are shipped.

Advance Shipping Notices (EDI 856) tell the customer all the details about the shipment: what items were sent, how many, when they were sent, etc.   The ASN document has information about each carton and its contents including the carton number, weight, cube, etc.  There is almost always a UCC128 label on each carton, which has information about the contents of the carton and its destination and shipping method.  There are several barcodes so that important data items can be scanned.  One of the most important codes on the UCC128 label is the carton number (128 code), which is how this carton information is referenced back to the ASN document.

Sample UCC128 Label

The Purchase Order Change Request (EDI 860) document is sent by a customer to communicate changes to a previous Purchase Order.  The 860 can be used to cancel the entire order, add and delete items, alter item quantities and prices, and change dates specifying order shipment, delivery, etc.

The Text Message (EDI 864) document is used to communicate plain free-form text messages.  The 864 is often used to communicate information regarding problems with a received document.  It is also used to communicate general business information about the trading relationship that is not document specific.

The Credit/Debit Adjustment (EDI 812) document is used to communicate details of credits and debits for products.  It may reference a specific Purchase Order and Invoice and include detailed information such as item identification and quantity. Standard codes are used to indicate the reason for the credit or debit request.  Some common reasons are defective product, non-receipt of goods, return of goods, order quantity shortage or overage, and pricing error.

The Organizational Relationships (EDI 816) document is used to communicate location address and relationship information. On the most frequently exchanged EDI documents (the PO, ASN, and invoice) locations are most often identified only by codes in order to avoid the cost of transmitting full addresses.  Location codes are unique to a specific trading partner.   The 816 document tells trading partners the address to associate with a particular location code.  The trading partner receiving the 816 can use it to maintain a list of the sender's location codes and associated addresses.  An alternate format of the 816 is used to show organizational relationships, such as stores serviced by a specific Distribution Center or warehouse.  Trading of 816's begins with a full set of the trading partner's addresses, after which changes may be sent on a weekly or monthly basis, or as needed.

The Payment Order/Remittance Advice (EDI 820) document is used in connection with Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) in one of two ways.  In the first, a Remittance Advice is sent to the trading partner and a Payment Order is sent to the sender's bank to initiate transmission of the payment to the trading partner's bank.  The second option sees a combined Payment Order/Remittance Advice transmitted to the sender's bank, which in turn sends the payment and remittance data to the trading partner's bank, which then informs the trading partner that the payment has been received.  The 820 includes such data as payer and payee identification, including bank and account IDs, seller's invoice ID, adjustment amounts, reason codes, and billed and paid amounts.

The Application Advice (EDI 824) document is used to inform trading partners of errors in EDI documents they have sent, most often invoices.  The 824 differs from the 997 Functional Acknowledgement in that it is created as the result of error checking by the trading partner's business application program, whereas the 997 generally indicates EDI standard problems rather than business rule errors.  In contrast to the 864 Message Text document, the 824 provides a fixed format for the identification of specific data items in error and for their suggested correction, in addition to free-form text message.

The Product Activity Data (EDI 852) document is used to report sales, inventory, and ordering information.  Data is reported by item and may be broken out by store location.  The 852 is usually sent on a weekly basis.  The data is useful to the selling trading partner for product planning purposes.   Normally the purchaser's buyer must approve the sending of 852 data to the seller.

EDI Document Structure
A single EDI transmission constitutes an ISA/IEA envelope, which isolates one group of transmitted data from another. Each envelope contains EDI documents to (outbound) or from (inbound) a single EDI trading partner.   These envelopes contain one or more GS/GE envelopes, which contain one or more documents of the same type.  The use of separate GS/GE envelopes allows for several different document types to be communicated within the same ISA/IEA envelope. Within the GS/GE envelope is the ST/SE envelope that isolates one document from another.  A Transaction Set is wrapped in the Transaction Set Header/Trailer (ST/SE) envelope.  Data Segments (similar to a record in a data file) are used to make up Transaction Sets.   Data Segments are roughly equivalent to a single line on a document.  Data Elements (similar to a field in a record) contain the basic units of information and are used in various combinations to make up Data Segments.

The Interchange Header (ISA), commonly known as the Communications envelope, starts an interchange of one or more functional groups.  It contains: the syntax identifier, Sender and Receiver EDI ID's, unique control number, acknowledgment requested, test indicator, date and time sent, recipient reference or password, and version of Standard being used.  The Functional Group Header (GS) indicates the beginning of a group of transaction sets and provides a second level of Sender and Receiver IDs.  It usually includes an identifier for the type of transaction set, application sender identifier, application recipient identifier, date and time sent, unique functional group reference, agency responsible for specification of structure (i.e. X12, VICS), message type version, and password.

The Detail area contains the details of the business transaction.   In a PO document, the ST includes elements such as: Purchase Order Number, Date and PO Type, Item Numbers for Products Ordered and Product Descriptions, Prices, Method of Shipment and Delivery Dates, Terms of the Order, and, for some orders, a Distribution List by Item by Location.

The Trailer Envelope Segments contain control information such as total ST Segments and total GS Segments and unique control numbers that must be identical to the values in the ISA and the GS.

Benefits of EDI
· Closer relationships with your trading partners.
· Reduction of data entry errors.
· Shorter ordering cycle.
· Personnel reductions.
· Competitive advantage when selling to large, EDI capable customers.
· Potential for faster payment process.
· Decrease of on-hand inventories.

Standards
EDI standards help facilitate EDI by providing a common format or rules of data structure and transmission protocols.   The objective is to use an agreed upon structure for communicating the data in business documents.   Each organization that maintains a set of standards provides a full set of documentation and definitions of each version of their standards. The standards say which pieces of information are mandatory for a particular document and which pieces are optional. These standards are necessary because so many trading partners conduct transactions with several other trading partners.  It would be difficult to conduct business if every trading partner had completely different rules.  As the standards have grown, they have become more general and able to be interpreted in many different ways. If you trade with 5 EDI partners, you will probably have 5 different documents for each PO, Invoice, etc.  Because of the standards, they will at least have the same basic structure.  Each partner with whom you trade will have a detailed set of EDI specifications.  The documents you trade must adhere to these specifications.  Some trading partners will assess a charge against your invoice for mistakes or missing documents.   Therefore your understanding and compliance with your partner's specifications are very important

 

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