EDI Overview

Free EDI Training Guide

What is EDI ?
Short for Electronic Data Interchange, the transfer of data between different
companies using networks, such as VANs or the Internet. As more and more
companies get connected to the Internet, EDI is becoming increasingly important
as an easy mechanism for companies to buy, sell, and trade information.
ANSI has approved a set of EDI standards known as the X12 standards.
EDI cannot be activated with a flip of the switch or in a moment's notice.
Many procedures must be carried out in preparation for exchanging EDI data
with a trading partner.

Can't I just use e-mail?
Email differs greatly from EDI because the data in Email is in an unstructured
format. EDI is in a structured format where everybody who are using it agree on
that same file format.

Implementing EDI
Whether you use a service based solution or in-house software, you will need to
format the data to your trading partner's specifications. The formatting process,
called mapping. Implementating EDI usually consists of trading partner
questionnaire, which needs to be filled out and returned.
This is the first step in establishing a trading partner relationship.
Please note that even though all of your trading partners may be using X12
standards, EDI guidelines are not universal. The map created for Company A's
invoice cannot be copied and used for Company B, as Company B likely has its own
criteria. As a result, you will need an implementation for every trading partner.

Communication between trading partners
Communication between trading partners can be accomplished by VAN or
using direct communication.

VAN (Value Added Network)
VAN provides services such as message delivery, extra security 24*7 .
It's like a mail box where you put all your messages and the VAN pick it up and
send it to the appropriate party.

Direct Connection
allows you to transfer the data straight to the receiving party. usually it's done
using FTP, VPN (Virtual Private Network), or EDIINT (EDI Over the Internet).

What does the software do?
The software has three parts, the EDI engine, mapper and translator.
mapper - map the data from your end (i.e Accounting software, database, customer
software) to our database so each field in your software will be assign to a specific
field later on in the EDI file.
translator - translate the data from your software based on the information the
mapper mapped earlier and put it in EDI format.
it does all the validation of business rules and checks and extract data into
an EDI file format.
engine - send an EDI file extracted earlier by the translator to the VAN.

EDI Software & Services

EDI Industries

EDI Resources

Web Based EDI Solution