What would be the best way to import sales orders?  We have a web-based ordering system which emails orders to our sales department, which then has to enter them into DBA manually.  We'd like to switch to something more automated.
 
I have come across EDI in my searching, but am not sure it is the best soluti9n since it appears you need to set up separate 'customer' files (in ED-F: Enter Customer EDI Info).  I also haven't found much documentation on it - there is the edimap file listed on the resources page (http://www.istechsupport.com/resources.php), but that doesn't really explain which fields are required or how they relate to the 'EDI customer' information.  I guess overall I'm unsure how exactly it would be set up and work.
 
So, suggestions on the best way to do this - EDI, or something else - and how to proceed?

Okay, so it sounds like EDI is the way to go.
 
We only allow current customers whose online accounts have been verified to order on our website, so new customers would not be an issue that way since we would have already had to set them up online before they could order.
 
There's still the question of which fields are necessary and which can be ignored.  For example, I can't figure out which of them, if any, will be filled in based on the item code or 'real' customer information.