An Advance Shipping Notice(ASN) is an electronic message that a supplier sends to the recipient—a retail chain or logistics operator—before the goods physically arrive at their destination. It describes exactly what was shipped, in what quantity, and how it was packaged. In the EDIFACT standard, it is called DESADV.
What an Advance Shipping Notice Is in Practice
The Advance Shipping Notice specifies exactly: what goods are being shipped, in what quantities, how they are packaged, and which logistics unit (pallet) they are being shipped on. A homogeneous pallet—one product, one batch—does not pose a major problem. The difficulty begins with mixed, layered pallets, where the entire packing sequence must be mapped out: what’s in the bottom layer, what’s in the middle, and what’s on top.
In principle, this data should come directly from the warehouse management system (WMS)—it is the WMS that determines the order in which goods are placed on the pallet. In practice, WMS systems usually have their own non-standardized ways of recording this information, so companies often bypass this process and create the shipping notice manually on the recipient’s or logistics provider’s platform.
Why There Is No Single Universal Format
The biggest challenge isn’t the concept of the shipment notice itself—it’s the lack of a single standard. In international communication, EDIFACT dominates as the most widely used family of standards. The automotive industry essentially breaks away from this, using its own standard, VDA, which is based on a fixed-width format. Here, the exact number of spaces between fields matters, rather than a separator or field tag as in EDIFACT.
|
Feature |
EDIFACT |
VDA (automotive) |
|
Scope |
International, multi-industry standard |
Industry-specific standard, primarily Western Europe |
|
File format |
Field segments and tags |
Fixed-width format |
|
Main risk of error |
Field mapping mismatch |
Mismatched number of characters/spaces in a field |
For a supplier, this specifically means that an integration built for a single operator or network is unlikely to be transferable to another relationship. A new partner usually means a new parser, a new field map, and sometimes a completely different file format.
Why the market doesn’t standardize on its own
Each logistics provider sticks to its own format, and this is hardly a coincidence. Providers build EDI communication to meet their own needs and serve their own customers, rather than as a product for resale.
"If one company has managed to develop a suitable integration model with a provider, that doesn’t mean the solution can be directly transferred to another organization. Every company has its own business processes, requirements, and method of data exchange, so implementation requires additional customization work." -Jakub Kłębokowski, logistics communications expert, Infinite IT Solutions
In fact, this is sometimes intentional: the lack of standardization makes it difficult for a supplier to switch logistics operators. A supplier serving multiple operators—whether because it is entering a new market or scaling distribution to another network—ends up with a number of 1:1 integrations instead of a single mapping layer.
Who is most affected by this issue
Based on our observations, the need to automate delivery notifications most often arises among three types of companies: suppliers working with a third-party logistics provider (3PL), suppliers exporting to Western Europe (where ASN is simply the market standard), and suppliers to retail chains operating in Poland. In this case, the model works best at Lidl—other chains often have a “stripped-down” delivery notice, limited to just a list of products.
The specifics vary greatly across industries—the situation differs in FMCG, RETAIL, Automotive, SHE, and DIY.
E-invoicing as a catalyst, not the source of the problem
This phenomenon is not specific to Poland—it applies to every mandatory e-invoicing system, regardless of its local name. In Poland, it’s KSeF: a system that verifies the formal correctness of a document, but not its substantive content.
"KSeF does not verify the substantive content of the file. Even an incorrect or non-existent code on an invoice will not prevent it from being sent and registered—the tax liability arises regardless. It is the recipient who is left with the problem of matching such an invoice to the actual delivery.”— Jakub Kłębokowski
The same mechanism will apply wherever e-invoicing becomes mandatory. The delivery notice then serves as confirmation of delivery independent of the invoice—regardless of which e-invoicing system a given market uses.
Hidden Cost: Knowledge That Leaves When an Employee Leaves
Many companies deal with gaps in automated delivery notifications in a fairly simple way: manually, by having one experienced person who simply knows what a given contractor requires.
“The supplier for this client must fill in a specific field, but the employee who handles that company knows exactly how to do it. The problem arises when that person goes on vacation, retires, or changes jobs—the new employee often doesn’t receive that knowledge, and the errors resurface.”— Jakub Kłębokowski
This risk grows along with the number of clients and exceptions to remember—and in practice, it’s never formally documented anywhere.
How Infinite IT Solutions Handles This
Our role essentially boils down to one thing: mapping. Instead of building an integration from scratch for every new standard, the supplier sticks to their own format, and we translate it to meet the other party’s requirements.
In practice, this involves two implementation paths: system-to-system integration, where data flows automatically from the supplier’s WMS/ERP, or a web-based version—for situations where the other party does not fund full integration, but the supplier still needs to generate a message.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an Advance Shipping Notice(ASN)? An Advance Shipping Notice(ASN) is an electronic message sent by the supplier before the goods reach the recipient, detailing the exact contents and packaging of the shipment.
What is DESADV? DESADV (Dispatch Advice) is the name of the advance shipping notice message in the EDIFACT standard.
What is the difference between EDIFACT and VDA? EDIFACT is an international family of electronic communication standards. VDA is a separate standard used in the automotive industry, based on a fixed-width format in which the exact number of spaces between data fields matters.
Does KSeF require the submission of a delivery notice? No. KSeF handles only invoicing and does not verify the substantive content of documents. A delivery notice is a separate logistics message, independent of the invoice.
What does Infinite IT Solutions do? Infinite IT Solutions maps a supplier’s internal format to the requirements of a specific logistics operator or retail chain, eliminating the need to build a separate integration for each new relationship.