Integrated EDI Guide

ANSI ASC X12

American National Standard Institute (ANSI) founded the Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) in 1979 to develop uniform standards for the inter-industry electronic exchange of business transactions, namely electronic data interchange (EDI). This standard is also sometimes called ANSI X12 Standard or just simply X12.

ANSI X12 was originally developed to support companies across different industry sectors in North America however, today there are more than 300,000 companies worldwide using X12 EDI standards in daily business transactions.

Each EDI X12 transaction type is differentiated by a unique 3-digit number and there are more than 300 different types of X12 EDI standards for various industries from finance, government, healthcare, insurance, banking, transportation, and many more. ASC also contributes to UN/EDIFACT messages that are used widely outside of the United States and develop standards for CICA (Context Inspired Component Architecture) and XML schemas.

TRADACOMS

Tradacoms (Trading DAA Communications) is an early EDI standard that was originally introduced in 1982 and was primarily used in the UK retail sector. It was maintained and extended by the UK Article Numbering Association, now called GS1 UK. Slowly this standard become less obsolescent as its development of it effectively ceased in 1995. Despite this, it has proved durable and most of the retail EDI traffic in the UK still uses it today.

TRADACOMS uses multi messages instead of relying on a format of single messaging. TRADACOMS communication is comprised of 26 messages structured in a hierarchy. Each TRADACOMS message, much like EDIFACT, is given a six-letter application reference. For example, an invoice message is INVFIL, a payment order is PAYORD, a utility bill is UTLHDR, and so on.

UN/EDIFACT

United Nations/Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport is the international standard that was developed by the United Nations. The work of maintenance and further development of this standard is done through the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) under the UN Economic Commission for Europe. The EDIFACT standard provides a set of syntax rules to structure, an interactive exchange protocol and provides a set of standard messages which allow multi-country and multi-industry exchange of electronic business documents. EDIFACT is widely used across Europe, mainly due to the fact that many companies adopted it very early on. EDIFACT has seen some adoption in the ASPAC region, however, there are currently more XML-based standards being used in this particular region today.

UN/EDIFACT, which is short for United Nations rules for Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce, and Transport, is a set of internationally standardized communication guidelines for exchanged data tags and message types between computer systems in different networks. UN/EDIFACT standards structure data into segments, segments into messages, and messages into an interactive exchange protocol.

The syntax rules for EDIFACT describe the message (nesting, character sets, structures, etc.) The data tags detail the different types of data being exchanged and how each is represented. The message types are also known as UNSMs (United Nations Standard Messages).

ODETTE

ODETTE stands for Organization of Data Exchange by Tele Transmission in Europe and creates data exchange and communications standards for the European automotive industry. It is similar to North America’s AIAG (Automotive Industry Action Group). ODETTE develops protocols such as OFTP and the more advanced OFTP2, which provides enhanced security through encryption methods and digital certificates for EDI data exchange.

Deploying B2B and MFT (managed file transfer) solutions that are ODETTE-certified for OFTP and OFTP2 allows a company to securely and efficiently communicate with various software to successfully exchange data.

The Organization for Data Exchange by Tele Transmission in Europe is a group that represents the interests of the automotive industry in Europe. They are the equivalent of the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) in North America. The organization develops tools and recommendations that improve the flow of goods, services product data and business information across the whole automotive value chain. ODETTE has been responsible for developing communications standards such as OFTP and OFTP2.0, constant improvement processes such as Materials Management Operations Guideline / Logistics Evaluation (MMOG/LE) and automotive-specific document standards as defined via the link below.

EANCOM

This standard was originally conceived in 1987 by the EAN General Assembly and was to be developed on the then emerging international UN/EDIFACT standard. The EANCOM messages, maintained by GS1, are more detailed in nature compared to the TRADACOMS message set. EANCOM was originally developed for the retail sector and has subsequently grown to become the most widely used UN/EDIFACT subset and is now found in a variety of other industry sectors such as healthcare, construction and publishing.

EANCOM provides a logical sequence of messages used in business. Trading companies agree together on messages adapted to their needs. Standard messages available in EANCOM can be divided into the following categories, Master Data, Commercial Transactions, Report & Planning and Transporter.

VICS

The Voluntary Inter-industry Commerce Standard is used by the general merchandise retail industry across North America. It is a subset of the ANSI ASC X12 national standard. VICS EDI is being utilized by thousands of companies, department and specialty retail stores, mass merchandisers and their respective suppliers. In 1988 GS1 US became the management and administrative body for VICS EDI. GS1 US also manages the ASC X12 derived Uniform Communication Standard (UCS) for the grocery industry and Industrial/Commercial Standard (I/C) for the industrial sector.

VDA

This organization develops standards and best practices to serve the needs of companies within the German automotive industry. The VDA has developed over thirty messages to meet the need of companies such as VW, Audi, Bosch, Continental and Daimler AG. Further information about these messages can be found via the link below.

VDA develops standards and best practices to serve the needs of companies within the German automotive industry. The VDA has developed over thirty messages to meet the need of companies such as VW, Audi, Bosch, Continental and Daimler AG.

HIPPA

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was enacted by the U.S congress in 1996. A key component of HIPAA is the establishment of national standards for electronic health care transactions and national identifiers for providers, health insurance plans and employers. The standards are meant to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the North American health care system by encouraging the widespread use of EDI in the U.S health care system. The HIPAA EDI transaction sets are based on X12 and the key message types are described below.

RosettaNet

This consists of a consortium of major computer, consumer electronics, semi-conductor manufacturers, telecommunications and logistics companies working together to create and implement industry-wide, open e-business process standards. These standards form a common e-business language, aligning processes between supply chain partners on a global basis. The RosettaNet document standard is based on XML and defines message guidelines, business processes interface and implementation frameworks for interactions between companies. Using RosettaNet Partner Interface Processes (PIPs), business partners of all sizes can connect electronically to process transactions and move information within their extended supply chains. Further information about RosettaNet PIP documents can be found from the link below.

SWIFT

The Society of Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication was formed in 1973 and is headquartered in Brussels. SWIFT operates a worldwide financial messaging network which exchanges messages between banks and financial institutions. SWIFT also markets software and services to financial institutions, much of it for use on the SWIFTNet Network. SWIFTNet is the infrastructure used to exchange these documents and FIN, InterAct and FileAct are used to encode the SWIFT documents for transmission. The majority of interbank messages use the SWIFT network. As of November 2008, SWIFT linked 8740 financial institutions across 209 countries. The SWIFT document standard is split into four areas, Payments, Trade Services, Securities and Trading.