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Fourth Direct connection · Hospitality Procurement Last reviewed: August 2026
🇬🇧 UK Direct

Fourth EDI,
working in the background.

Supply Lens automates the Fourth Hospitality supplier document cycle. Purchase orders in, order confirmations, despatch advices, invoices and credit notes out, mapped to your ERP or IMS with the right site codes, supplier IDs and Fourth tolerance rules built in.

Orders in
Purchase orders handled automatically
Every Fourth purchase order lands in your ERP without manual intervention
Direct connection
Nothing to set up on your side
Direct link to Fourth's gateway, set up and maintained by us
Five documents
Full cycle, one connection
Orders, confirmations, despatches, invoices and credits all handled in the same flow
99.9%
Uptime SLA
Monitored around the clock, helping keep documents within transmission windows
Supply Lens · Fourth Live Flow Live
Fourth PO COP-2026-40817 received via direct connection · site resolved · 18 lines · delivery window applied PO IN
Products mapped · site resolved Operator and site matched · supplier code confirmed · pricing applied PROCESSING
Sales order SO-31776 created ERP / IMS · 96 units · ref COP-2026-40817 CREATED
Order confirmation sent All lines accepted · delivery date confirmed back to Fourth CONFIRMED
Despatch advice sent Delivery detail confirmed · site booking reference attached ASN OUT
Invoice transmitted to Fourth £1,845.30 · validated against PO · confirmed received SENT
Credit note raised and sent 2× short-delivered line · matched to original invoice CREDIT
Fourth-Specific Requirements

Orders in, four documents back.
The detail is in the rules.

Fourth's flow looks straightforward on paper. The work is in the site codes across a multi-brand estate, the confirmation each order expects back, the tolerance rules on every invoice and the despatch advice timing. Get any of it wrong and you eat a deduction. Supply Lens is configured for those rules out of the box.

Direct connection

Fourth receives supplier documents through a direct connection. Supply Lens manages the certificates, the partner profile and the gateway on your behalf, so you have no gateway of your own to build, run or maintain.

Multi-brand site estate

Fourth is a procurement platform rather than a single retailer, so orders arrive from operators running very different estates, from health clubs like David Lloyd through to restaurant and hotel groups. Each brand has its own sites, delivery windows and account structure. Supply Lens resolves the operator and the site before the order reaches your ERP, so multi-brand business does not have to be untangled afterwards.

EAN to item code mapping

Fourth identifies products by GS1 EAN and an internal product reference. Supply Lens maintains a cross-reference table mapping both to your own item codes, so the order lands correctly in your ERP regardless of which identifier Fourth sends.

Invoice tolerance rules

Fourth applies strict invoice matching on price and quantity. Supply Lens validates the invoice against the originating purchase order and your agreed cost list before transmission, flagging any discrepancy for review rather than sending it and risking a deduction later.

Site level delivery

Hospitality operators order to individual sites, not to a central depot, so a single supplier can be delivering to hundreds of addresses. Supply Lens maps every active site to the correct routing in your warehouse system, so each order lands against the right destination in your ERP without manual intervention.

Order confirmations expected

Fourth expect a confirmation back before an order is treated as accepted, including any lines you cannot supply and the delivery date you are committing to. Supply Lens raises that confirmation from your ERP automatically, so sites know what is coming and when, and you are not fielding calls asking whether the order was received.

Document Flow

Every document.
Every direction.
Automatically.

Supply Lens handles the full Fourth document set inbound and outbound, so documents are produced and transmitted automatically, without manual rekeying.

  • Purchase orders received and validated against your supplier profile
  • Invoices pre-validated against the purchase order and your agreed Fourth cost list before transmission
  • Order confirmations returned automatically, including short-supplied lines and the committed delivery date
  • Despatch advices sent as goods leave, with delivery detail and site booking reference attached
  • Credit notes raised, matched to the original invoice and transmitted through the same connection
  • Operator, site and pricing rules applied per message automatically
  • All Fourth-specific document structures generated and read correctly without your team seeing the format
Fourth document cycle
Purchase Order INBOUND
Fourth
Order confirmation OUTBOUND
Fourth
Despatch advice OUTBOUND
Fourth
Invoice (pre-validated) OUTBOUND
Fourth
Credit Note OUTBOUND
Fourth
What's mapped automatically
Fourth reference Resolved automatically
Operator and site codes
Pre-loaded
Product codes and Fourth references
Resolved per order
Cost list and promotional pricing
Applied per line
Tax and currency
UK VAT, GBP
Configuration

Configured for Fourth.
Connected to your
system.

Supply Lens holds Fourth's rules and the connection itself so you don't have to. Your team provides credentials, product mappings and the agreed cost list. Everything else lives in the Supply Lens layer.

1

Fourth supplier onboarding

Your Fourth supplier code, GLN and trading partner profile registered with Fourth's gateway. Supply Lens manages the connection identifiers and certificates, so there is no setup needed your side.

2

EAN and product cross-reference

Fourth EANs and product references mapped to your item codes. Pack-size variants, promotional lines and multi-pack SKUs are handled automatically once their cross-reference is established.

3

Operator and site mapping

Each Fourth operator and site mapped to the matching customer account and delivery address in your ERP, so multi-brand orders route cleanly to the right destination on receipt.

4

Tolerance, pricing and credits

Your agreed Fourth cost list registered for invoice validation. Tolerance rules applied per supplier agreement, and credit notes matched to the invoice they correct, so discrepancies surface your side first.

EAN → item code cross-reference
Fourth reference Your item code
50142880031001 AMB-BEAN-400G
50142880031002 AMB-SOUP-400G
50142880031003 CHL-CHED-200G
prd:6620418-A SUPP-CO-6620418
Order ingest
Direct connection
ON
SO creation
On PO ingest
ON
Order confirmation
On acceptance
ON
Invoice out
On despatch
ON
Credit notes
Matched to invoice
ON
Exception queue
Email + dashboard
CONFIG
Fourth Edge Cases

The situations that
catch suppliers out.

Supply Lens handles the scenarios that typically cause invoice rejections, deductions or document mismatches in the Fourth flow.

"Fourth send documents in a format our system cannot read. We've been doing it manually for months."

The format never reaches your system. Supply Lens turns Fourth's purchase order into a clean payload your ERP already understands and renders every outbound document in the structure Fourth requires on the way back out. Your team works in their normal interface, the format conversion happens in the Supply Lens layer.

"Fourth deducted against an invoice because the unit price was a few pence off the agreed cost list."

Invoice values are validated against the originating purchase order and your agreed Fourth cost list before submission. Discrepancies are flagged before the invoice is sent, giving your team a chance to correct or query rather than receive a Fourth deduction weeks later.

"Sites ring us constantly asking whether their order was received and when it is arriving."

The confirmation goes back automatically as soon as the order is accepted in your ERP, with any short-supplied lines and the committed delivery date on it. Sites see the answer in Fourth rather than phoning to ask, and the despatch advice follows the same route when the goods leave.

"A new Fourth EAN started arriving and our system rejected the order because the product wasn't mapped."

Unrecognised EANs go to an exception queue immediately. The order is held, your team is notified with the full Fourth context, the mapping is added and the order is re-triggered. No silent drop, no late invoice, no missed delivery window.

Getting Set Up

What you need to
go live with Fourth.

Fourth onboarding involves their supplier team, the connection setup and your internal product and pricing data. Supply Lens manages the configuration, the gateway and the format conversion. You provide the inputs.

  • Fourth supplier code and any associated GLNs
  • Product EAN list with your internal item codes
  • Fourth product reference cross-reference where used
  • Delivery window rules per site or brand
  • Agreed Fourth cost list for invoice validation
  • Operator and site list across the brands you supply
  • ERP or IMS credentials (Unleashed, Enterpryze or other)
  • Sample Fourth purchase orders where available
  • Tolerance rules confirmation per supplier agreement
Typical delivery timeline
Day 1

Supplier data & credentials

Fourth supplier code, GLNs, ERP credentials and cost list received

Day 2–3

Mappings built

Product cross-reference, site routing and pricing configuration completed in staging

Day 4–5

End-to-end test

Test purchase order processed, confirmation, despatch advice, invoice and credit note generated and validated against Fourth's specification

Live ✓

Go live

Production enabled, first live Fourth purchase order processed end-to-end

ERP & IMS Connections

Connect Fourth to your back-office system.

Supply Lens routes Fourth purchase orders directly into Unleashed, Enterpryze or other connected ERPs with the right item codes, document series and depot routing.

Ready to automate
your Fourth EDI?

Most suppliers are live within five days. No long contracts, nothing to set up on your side. We handle the Fourth-specific configuration, you confirm the mappings.