The Integration Engineer
When it just has to work.

An EDI file contains a structure known as enveloping.  Everything that is necessary for the file transmission and parsing, is part of or inside of the envelope.

The first segment in and EDI file is the ISA segment.  The very last segment in and EDI file is the IEA.  For those of you familiar with XML, you may be thinking of this as <File> and </File>.

This approach may make EDI seem familiar, but XML was not around when EDI was being created.  It is more like a Beginning Of File (BOF) and End Of File (EOF) marker.  However, there is no reason in EDI not to place multiple EDI envelopes in the same file. (more…)

What are Delimiters

In short, delimiters are characters that separate the elements of data so that one piece of data can be distinguished from another.  EDI files don’t have externally set delimiters.  This means in a pure sense, that an EDI parser may not know what the delimiters will be until it has begun to parse the file.  This may sound chaotic for someone familiar with strict delimited files.  But we need to remember that in and EDI file, the first segment is fixed position.  This is how EDI addresses the problem. (more…)

Beyond just compliance with the EDI standards, good form is using good practices in planing the format of your EDI.  Below are a set of rules or guidelines that will help you create EDI in good form.  Good form helps others to received your EDI and process it without encountering common exceptions.

Eliminate trailing delimiters.

When EDI was first created, modems were much slower, and high speed internet and Wi-Fi didn’t exist.  Moving large, verbose files over a network took time, and e-commerce solutions charged by the kilo-character.  This means that having unneeded characters cost money. (more…)

Why are segments Important?

The segment is what makes an EDI file an EDI file.  They are at the very heart of EDI.  There are hundreds of different types of segments and each holds a different type of data.

N1^BT^Bill Gates^01^123456789~

For instance the ‘N1′ segments holds some common data that is used in many EDI documents.  First, the ‘N1′ type.  This is the name type.  The first elements following is the qualifier for the second field.  If this is were an invoice it might be the code ‘BT’ indicating that the value in the second field is the name of the “Bill To’ party, in this case ‘Bill Gates’.  Following the name is another qualifier that determines the type of the account number in the fourth filed.  In this case we will use the DUNS Number, and so on.  We stop now with the segment terminator to indicate to the parser that the next character will start a new segment. (more…)

For those who may be unfamiliar with the EDI standard, and those who may have used EDI but have encountered a new, unfamiliar question.

This introduction aims at addressing the basic questions of convention and implementation of the EDI technology.  I have a list of topics, and hope that over time I can cover all of them.  I also hope that people reading here may have questions that I haven’t thought to write about.  Please let  me know what your questions are and I will see what I can do about providing answers. (more…)

As with most strategies, we start out defining the goal, or the place we want to end up. With an EDI strategy roll out, our destination is a reliable bidirectional communication between our organization and one or more trading partners.

With this as the abstract version of our goal. We break the task into three sections. Data types that we will exchange both outbound and inbound. What transport or connectivity solutions we will used to ensure a robust and reliable transmission and reception of the data. And what data translation, storage and processing solutions we will employ.

(more…)

EDI and other data that is part of an e-commerce transaction needs to get to where it needs to go in a reliable way.  It needs to get there.  Get there once.  And be able to let the sender know if there was a problem with it, either not getting there, or being corrupted, in either case triggering a resend or some other remediation.

(more…)

What is a line item?

A line item is a group of data and its structure that is or can be repeated multiple times in its document.  It holds the data that is the focus of the document, and a part of a document or transaction that contains distinct part that can stand alone.  For instance, an order that has two line items could be split into two orders that would be able to be filled separately.  It does not necessarily contain information that can be applied to a group of items, although sometimes this information is included.  This feeds into what type of data that a line item contains.

(more…)

(more…)

Starting off work on my On-line Status Repository, one of the things that I will be starting with is uploading and downloading SEF file from a data repository.  SEF stand for Standards Exchange Format.  SEF files are repositories of standards information that can then be exchanged between people and applications to define the format of EDI documents.

If you have used a standards editor, you probably know what an SEF file is, or have used it.  Some applications and EAI even use SEF files as part of their document creation and validation processes.  It becomes useful to describe briefly what SEF files look like, and what type of information they contain.

(more…)

When two trading partners agree to send each other electronic documents.  And they begin to describe what EDI documents they will exchange and how the documents will flow, they should also exchange EDI specification documents.  EDI usage or specification documents describe what fields and what segments a trading partner will send or expect to convey the information necessary to complete a transaction.  It doesn’t matter if we are ordering widgets, or invoicing, or transmitting catalog data, or checking insurance claims eligibility, the EDI needs to contain the data that the two parties need to communicate.  To explain this, and document it to that both trading partners know what is expected, we create an EDI usage specification.

(more…)

ACK is an Acknowledgment segment. It is commonly found on response transactions to Purchase Orders or 855. It is one of the lines found in the PO1 loop or group.  As this line modifies the PO1 line data from the Purchase Order, what it can contain and how that data is handled is important for the stability of the supply chain integration.  For clarity, we are going to use the 4010 x12 standard.

(more…)

Like the PO1 segment, IT1 is another line item segment used in the supply chain.  This is the line item segment found in invoices.  And since invoices make up an important part of a supply chain, I wanted to spend another article on this segment.  (IT1 is a group or loop so it is more than just a segment.)  In this article we will discuss what data is found on the IT1 segment, and how it should be handled on both inbound and outbound document.  For clarity, we are going to use the 4010 x12 standard.

(more…)

When we are dealing with supply chain or e-commerce related EDI, we probably will deal with line item data.  On a Purchase Order, (PO) or 850, the line item data is contained on the PO1 segment or the PO1 group.  (PO1 is a group or loop so it is more than just a segment.)  In this article we will discuss what data is found on the PO1 segment, and how it should be handled on both inbound and outbound document.  For clarity, we are going to use the 4010 x12 standard.  The PO1 hasn’t changed in content for a while, but it has gotten longer, (you will see how this works when we talk about the PO1 elements). (more…)

A reader asked me a question, and I want to pass it along: “Do you know of any DOT NET frameworks for working with EDI?”

I didn’t, and a search of the web didn’t reveal anything that I could, in any confidence, recommend.  So I bring this question to you.  Do you know of a DOT NET framework that can be used for generating and or parsing EDI data?  If  you do, please comment below and let everyone know.  I will also pass it on to my friend who is looking for this.

(more…)

From time to time I am asked if I know where such and such standard can be found.  This is more than idle curiosity.  People are trying to integrate, or update integrations, and the standard documentation is not available or has been lost.  From the perspective of an integration engineer, such standards are more precious than gold.  I keep a collection of the standards that I have used over the years, (something that I recommend) but what I really encourage is for companies to publish their standards in a publicly accessible location.  Booknet Canada is an example of a company that has done this.  Lets take a look and see what it says….

(more…)

I have sitting on my desk, a very expensive book published by the ASC that contain the guidelines for the X12 3010 EDI standard.  I have rarely used them.  The EDI standards tool that I have used the most and can highly recommend is EDISIM from Foresight.  The last version that I used was version 5.0 and they are on version 6.8 as I write this post.  But for a long time, Foresight has nailed the conceptualization of working with EDI standards.

One of the things that in invaluable is the ability to share your standard documentation both internally and externally.  EDISIM is a tool that has allowed me to do that.  They produce a very professional looking document for external consumption and the standard is exportable so that everyone using EDISIM can share the same standards file in a format called SEF.

(more…)

As part of our series “EDI Primer” we are going to go over the various parts of EDI. EDI is neither truly delimited, nor fixed width.  EDI has some fixed position components, and uses delimiters in a different way than a truly delimited file.  This post it going to overview some facts about EDI and its parts in an introductory fashion.  If you are unfamiliar with EDI, you might want to start with the post, “What is EDI?”

(more…)

This is a mapping exercise that will go through the process of creating a paper map, or mapping document.  We will start with an empty paper map that you can get here.  And we will end with a completed paper map document that documents what data from the source goes into what fields on the target.  This process will take more than one post, and I will link them together so that you can follow from one to the next.  Along the way, we will discuss the things that we are doing so that you can apply this technique in your mapping using the target and source in your own mapping tasks. (more…)

In EDI there is a construct called a Loop.  But this is not like you think of a loop using an while  statement.  EDI is a file format, not a programming language.  When we speak of Loops in EDI, what we are really talking about is repeated structures, or segments.

EDI is not a flat file, but it does have repeated lines or segments.  Some times this repetition comes in groups and sometimes its just a line that get repeated in part of the document.  Repeating structured data is fundamental to EDI, but can become difficult to interpret at times.  Understanding the types of repeating structures and when and where they may occur can save a lot of time. (more…)