Dsco Portal Onboarding

DSCO Portal Onboarding

Walk a customer through the Rithum/DSCO supplier onboarding portal. This covers all 15 portal steps including catalog, inventory, test orders, AS2 connection, automation jobs, and the full order lifecycle testing.

When to use

• Customer is going through the DSCO supplier checklist at app.dsco.io
• Internal Orderful ↔ NetSuite round-trip testing is already complete
• User says "DSCO portal steps", "Rithum onboarding", "supplier checklist", "complete DSCO testing"
• Customer is stuck on a specific portal step

Prerequisites

1. Orderful partnership exists between customer and retailer's DSCO EDI account
2. Customer org provisioned in Orderful with ISA ID (max 15 chars)
3. Customer invited to DSCO portal by the retailer
4. Internal round-trip testing (Orderful ↔ NetSuite) already complete
5. Product catalog ready — retailer-approved items with real UPCs

Portal URL

https://app.dsco.io

Portal Steps (15 total)

Steps 1–5: Initial Setup (Customer-side, straightforward)

Watchout: Retailers like AAFES provide their own templates — check for "Download [Retailer] Specific Template" links. These override the generic DSCO instructions.

Step 6: Load Items & Inventory

Check whether the retailer has a specific inventory template. AAFES provides a simple 2-column spreadsheet (sku, quantity_available) — NOT the 846 EDI file described in the generic instructions.

1. Download the retailer-specific inventory template if available (link in the retailer note box, NOT the instructions section)
2. Fill in 3 SKUs with quantity_available = 20+ each
3. Upload through the portal
4. Verify items appear on the Inventory page

Watchout (AAFES): The generic instructions talk about 846 EDI and AS2 — ignore these for the portal bootstrap. The AAFES note says "USE THIS TEMPLATE NOT WHAT IS LISTED IN THE INSTRUCTIONS SECTION." (Production inventory IS a scheduled 846 feed later — the CSV is only for portal steps 6–7. See reference/aafes-dsco.md.)

Step 7: Update Inventory

1. Download current inventory from the Inventory page (Download All Results → Export Inventory)
2. Change quantity_available to 50 for all 3 items
3. Upload the updated file
4. Verify quantities show 50 on the Inventory page

Step 8: Create Test Orders

1. Select a carrier from the dropdown. For AAFES DSCO dropship: FedEx - Home Delivery / FEHD. Check the live DSCO 850 reference for the retailer's standard carrier.
2. Click Next — Rithum generates 3 test POs
3. Note the PO numbers — you'll use these for steps 9–14

Watchout: You can always come back to this step to generate more test orders if needed.

Step 9: Acknowledging Orders (CRITICAL — AS2 setup required)

This is where the real EDI connection gets configured. Four sub-tasks:

A. Configure AS2 in Orderful

1. Open the customer's org in Orderful
2. Create a new communication channel → Shared AS2
3. Search for "Rithum AS2" (the shared Rithum/DSCO connection)
4. Select it — this uses Orderful's existing certificate already known to Rithum
5. Do NOT create a new cert — reuse the shared connection (one Orderful shared station serves all DSCO customers)

B. Enable AS2 in DSCO Portal (requires support call)

AS2 is NOT available by default in the DSCO portal. You must call Rithum support to enable it.

1. Call 844-482-4357
2. Menu: DSCO support → DSCO onboarding
3. Ask to enable AS2 for the customer's DSCO account
4. Provide: account number, customer name, "Orderful AS2" as connection, ISA ID (must be exactly 15 chars)
5. Support enables AS2 and configures the backend connection
6. Refresh the DSCO portal — AS2 should now appear in dropdowns

Pro tip: Create a support ticket first, then call and reference it. Phone is faster than ticket-only. Support available until 6PM ET.

C. Create Automation Jobs

Job 1: Orders (Export — pulls orders FROM DSCO to Orderful)

CRITICAL GOTCHA — Source Data filter: The default Source Data is set to the specific retailer (e.g., AAFES). Test orders come from a fictitious test retailer, not the actual retailer. If Source Data = retailer-only, the export job will pull 0 transactions. Change Source Data to "All retailers" — this works for both testing and production.

Job 2: Outbound (Import — sends docs FROM Orderful TO DSCO)

D. Run and Verify

1. Go to Automation Jobs → Run the Orders export job (circular/run icon)
2. Check Job History — should show succeeded with transactions pulled
3. Verify orders show "Acknowledged" status in DSCO Orders page
4. Verify test transactions appear in Orderful

855 is NOT required for DSCO acknowledgement. Acknowledgement is a platform status change, not an 855 document.

Step 10: Shipping an Order

Check for a retailer-specific shipment template (AAFES has one — download from the AAFES note box).

• Retailer may require shipping by the ship-by date
• Use the retailer's acceptable Ship Service-Level Codes
• FedEx test tracking number: 15 zeros (000000000000000)
• UPS test tracking number: 1Z + 16 zeros (1Z0000000000000000)
• Outbound 856 ASN must flow from Orderful → DSCO via the "Outbound" automation job

Steps 11–14: Cancel, Multi-Line Ship, Invoice, Returns

These test the full order lifecycle. Each step may have a retailer-specific template — always check the retailer note box first before following generic instructions.

Step 15: Next Steps

Rithum reviews all test results. If passed, the connection moves to production. Switch automation jobs from manual to automatic.

Rithum Support

Known Quirks & Gotchas

1. AS2 must be enabled by support — not available in portal by default
2. Source Data filter excludes test orders — must set to "All retailers"
3. Orders cannot be deleted from DSCO UI once created — ignore old ones, use latest batch
4. Account switching issues — may need to logout, clear cache/cookies, re-accept invite
5. Retailer notes override generic instructions — always check for retailer-specific templates/notes before following the standard DSCO instructions
6. The portal inventory upload (steps 6–7) is a CSV bootstrap, not the production feed — for AAFES it's a simple 2-column spreadsheet. Production inventory is a real, scheduled 846 EDI feed; see reference/aafes-dsco.md → "AAFES DSCO 846 Inventory Feed"
7. 855 not used on DSCO — acknowledgement is platform-level, no EDI document
8. Carrier for AAFES DSCO dropship — FedEx Home Delivery (FEHD) is standard
9. Verify outbound comm channel before testing — wrong AS2 destination = delivery failure even with VALID status. Confirm the relationship points to the correct DSCO/Rithum AS2 channel, not a generic or wrong AS2 connection
10. 870 cancellation via API — for portal step 11, generate the 870 via Orderful API rather than building a full NS cancellation workflow. Sufficient for testing.
11. Returns are manual — step 14 is handled in the DSCO UI, not via EDI return document. Don't scope return automation for DSCO dropship.
12. Pre-create inventory in sandbox — NS inventory allocation is manual for EDI/dropship. Can't commit via REST API. Pre-create large quantities (999 units) so test orders proceed without manual allocation.
13. Audit legacy workflows — SPS Commerce customers have active workflows that interfere with EDI orders (auto-hold, field references to missing fields, SPS integration status). Audit Workflows filtered by Transaction record type before processing.

Automation Job Monitoring

1. Go to Automation Jobs → Job History
2. Click completed/failed job to see details
3. If file failed, detail page shows the reason (wrong SCAC, missing tracking, invalid data)
4. If job returns 0 files: check Source Data filter, confirm test orders exist, confirm correct retailer selected
5. Results take several minutes to load — refresh the page

Production Cutover Checklist

• All 15 portal steps complete and verified by Rithum/retailer
• Install SuiteApp in production NetSuite (if not already)
• Configure production NS to match sandbox (JSONata, enabled transactions, workflows)
• Audit and disable/scope legacy SPS Commerce workflows to exclude Orderful EDI orders
• Switch automation jobs from Manual to Automatic schedule
• Align job schedules with Orderful sync cadence
• Verify outbound comm channel points to correct DSCO/Rithum AS2 destination
• Replace "Keep In Orderful" outbound comm channel with real DSCO AS2 delivery
• Upload full inventory (all approved UPCs, not just 3 test items)
• Coordinate go-live date with retailer and customer