DDS is committed to enhancing the efficiency of its clients by promoting electronic business (eBusiness) solutions. We are working to eliminate paper from business transactions, to increase the accuracy and smooth the flow of data among all trading partners in the industry.

Leaders in EDI
Commitment to eBusiness: EDI support
Moving the industry forward

Leaders in EDI

We’re pioneers and industry leaders in electronic data interchange (EDI), a set of standards for structuring information to be electronically exchanged between organizations.

EDI standards are independent of communication and software technologies, and can be transmitted using any methodology agreed to by the sender and receiver – facilitating communication between diverse systems.

Some of our major EDI initiative are listed below.

Invoices, invoices, invoices
We were the first vendor to build electronic invoicing capabilities into our systems. Our EDI initiatives in every media began with electronic invoicing, starting with our development of electronic invoices for spot television in 1989.

Electronic invoices save broadcasters and media buyers the time and expense of manually inputting and processing paper for the hundreds of thousands of spots aired on local and national broadcast media. Electronic invoices also eliminate the errors of manual input. With so many keystrokes needed, the margin of error for manual input is very high.

We helped define standards for electronic invoicing not only for spot TV but also for local cable, network broadcast and network cable. We’re currently participating with trade groups to define standards for electronic invoicing for print and interactive.

We now receive invoices electronically on behalf of our clients for every broadcast media. The numbers exceed 100,000 monthly. (See our EDI statistics for electronic invoicing.)

We are currently deploying our new, web-based Invoice Manager application. Invoice Manager simplifies error handling and adds flexibility in managing electronic invoices. It interoperates with end users’ applications. Using Invoice Manager, DDS systems will be able to import xml invoices as the specifications become defined.

Local broadcast TV
In 1993, DDS collaborated with other industry vendors to develop the direct agency-seller exchange (DARE) protocol. DARE is the most popular EDI format used by media buyers and media sellers to electronically transact and manage orders, offers, revisions, and confirmations.

DARE is an open standard, available for use by anyone in the industry. It was originally designed for communication between agencies and rep firms, but is now available to all rep firms and broadcasters.

DDS manages the DARE directory and communications infrastructure on behalf of all DARE participants -- for DDS and non-DDS clients.

Our systems process over five million DARE transactions every year. (See our EDI statistics for local TV.)

The MediaOcean sales management system uses DARE to enable roundtrip transactions among buyers, sellers and station traffic, synchronizing all three systems in real-time, significantly reducing discrepancies.

National cable
We participated in the original discussions with The Electronic Cable Committee (TECC) to define the guidelines for exchanging electronic orders and invoices with cable networks. For more than 15 years we've received electronic contracts from cable networks.

We receive electronic orders from 80 cable networks. We processed more than 100,000 electronic invoices for national cable in 2007, with billings of more than $5 billion.

In 2007 we worked together with cable networks and the CAB to implement live electronic cable changes between agencies and networks. This seamless integration between buyer and seller allows for free-flowing adjustments in a secure electronic environment. Electronic cable changes have a significant impact on agency efficiency, especially in discrepancy resolution and in eliminating input and transcription errors.

(See our EDI statistics for national cable.)

Participation with industry trade associations
Clearly defined conventions are necessary in enabling electronic initiatives across the industry.

We cooperate with other vendors and industry bodies to define standards for electronic communications. This includes standardizing formats, data elements, workflow processes and the business rules around the electronic transactions.

We have working relationships many industry trade associations:
- American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA)
- Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau (CAB)
- Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB)
- Television Advertising Bureau (TVB)
- Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)

EDI interfaces with our clients’ clients
When advertisers ask their agencies to send estimate or billing information electronically, we make it happen. We’ve programmed more than 250 custom interfaces for our clients’ clients. We tailor the interface to meet the advertisers’ preference for file format and connectivity method, and to interface with their in-house proprietary systems.

EDI interfaces with our clients’ banks
We’ve programmed more than 160 custom interfaces to our clients’ banks to handle electronic vendor disbursements. We send check disbursement data to banks to ensure against fraudulent activity (positive pay), and provide cash reconciliation after the check has cleared (electronic bank reconciliation).

Electronic check transmissions is our newest offering for establishing EDI with clients’ banks. We send check and remittance information to banks for electronic funds transfer (EFT) or for check and remittance printing (EDI 820).

Commitment to eBusiness: EDI support

We have several teams dedicated to developing and supporting EDI initiatives.

Our Product Development teams collaborate with industry associations on industry initiatives, developing eBusiness solutions that meet our clients’ needs.

Our eBusiness Support team works closely with our clients on EDI issues, from getting started with electronic transactions to daily maintenance and troubleshooting.

We continuously monitor our servers to ensure that all electronic transactions reach their destinations.

Recently, we’ve seen the industry catch up with our vision. With the increasingly fragmented marketplaces, buyers and sellers realize that they need reliable, two-way electronic transactions to gain the competitive advantage.

Moving the industry forward

We continue to develop new products for transacting business electronically.

Our Invoice Manager application enhances electronic invoicing, and we raised industry standards by enabling live electronic changes to a media buy.

We recognize our clients’ needs for third-party connectivity, and work with other vendors to provide comprehensive solutions for our clients.

Our commitment to developing eBusiness solutions is broad and long-term. We are continuously looking for new ways to introduce electronic transactions to enhance our clients’ efficiency and streamline their workflows.

We also cooperate with industry efforts and work with other vendors to promote eBusiness throughout the industry.

Contact ediadmin@dds.net for more information or to put a DDS eBusiness solution in place for your company.

DDS' EDI Statistics
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