The Integration Engineer
When it just has to work.

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…)

What is an Element?

In the context of delimited data files, an element is the contents between two delimiters.  Like in a spreadsheet, the element is the contents of a cell.  In EDI, we have delimited segments, and just like a delimited file, the contents between the delimiters is the element.

So in this segment “PO1*1*8*EA*10**SW*H11510.REF*CT*089480-00-B-0336~”, the 5th element or PO1_04 is “10″, while the 6th element or PO1_05 is empty.

Empty elements are not necessarily null.  Calling something null when the data type is know like an empty element can cause some data theory debates.  I don’t want to start one here, but may write about that philosophical discussion at a later time.

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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.

• What is EDI?
• Parts of EDI
• Segments
• Delimiters
• Conventions of EDI
• Why are there more than one version of EDI?
• Usage of EDI specifications
• Standards and Usage
• Encoded Values
• EDI in Good Form
• Element Notation
• Wrapped and Unwrapped EDI
• Enveloping Part One
• Enveloping Part Two – ISA
  
• Enveloping Part Three – GS
• Enveloping Part Four – ST
• Loops in EDI
• Hierarchical Levels

Of course understanding how EDI presents and represents data is the first step.  From here we may want to go to our Data Mapping Guide, or if we are familiar with mapping there are some examples in our mapping case studies of EDI to and from other formats.  Again, if you have an interesting problem or solution, I would love to here about it.  Please send it to
roy@TheIntegrationEngineer.com and i will see what I can do.