X12 is a widely used EDI standard for electronic data interchange, defining formats for various business documents like invoices and purchase orders.

Tag Archive for: X12

What Are the Differences Between ANSI X12 and UN/EDIFACT

X12 vs. EDIFACT

Doing business and interacting with trading partners is associated with the need to prepare, send, receive and process a large number of documents. Today, around the world, almost all enterprises from small businesses to large corporations use EDI (Electronic Data Interchanges) to communicate with business partners.

The most common standards that are used in all Industries are ANSI ASC X12 (X12) and UN/EDIFACT (EDIFACT). Both standards serve to exchange documents electronically and execute business processes between trading partners. The two standards are quite similar, however, there are numerous ways in which ANSI X12 and EDIFACT are different. In this article, we will compare the two most popular standards.

EDIFACT:
  • EDIFACT (Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport) is an international standard for electronic data interchange that was developed by the United Nations.
  • It uses UN/EDIFACT syntax and is widely used in Europe and other regions.
  • EDIFACT allows for flexible message definition and supports a wide range of business processes, including e-commerce, procurement, transportation, and healthcare.

EDI X12:
  • X12 (also known as ANSI X12) is a standard for electronic data interchange in the United States.
  • X12 was developed by the Accredited Standards Committee X12 and is maintained by the ASC X12 Standards Development Organization.
  • X12 is used in a variety of industries, including healthcare, finance, and logistics, and is considered a robust and reliable format for data interchange.

EDI Standards in Europe and North America

The first difference between the two EDI standards is the geographic location of users.

– X12 is mainly used in the United States and North America in general.

– EDIFACT is mostly used by companies based in Europe and Asia.

ANSI X12 and EDIFACT Standards Developers

ANSI ASC X12 Standard is developed and maintained by the Accredited Standards Committee X12 (also known as ASC X12) chartered by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in 1979.

EDIFACT – Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport. This standard is developed and supported by two international organizations: The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

ANSI X12 and EDIFACT Document Structure

Basically, the structures of X12 and EDIFACT are similar. Both standards have principally the same structure but use different terminologies.

The figure below shows the structure of X12 and EDIFACT documents that contain Interchange, Functional Group, Transaction set.
x12 vs EDIFACT

For more information on the structure of EDI documents, please read these articles:


– EDI ANSI ASC X12 Standards – Technical Overview

– What is EDIFACT? | UN / EDIFACT standard overview

 EDI Terminologies

Understanding the terminology used in EDI is essential to successfully implementing and utilizing this technology. Some of the key EDI terminologies include EDI standards such as ANSI X12 and EDIFACT, which define the structure and content of EDI messages.

As was mentioned above, ANSI X12 and EDIFACT have different terminologies. The table below demonstrates the difference between both standards.
Terminologies EquivalenceEDI X12 EDIFACT
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
An electronic business document, such as an Invoice, Purchase Order, etc.Transaction SetMessage
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………….
The blocks of multiple segments of the same type grouped together.LoopsGroups
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………….
Special characters to differentiate segments and elementsTerminatorSeparators
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………….
Interchange Control. Header/TrailerISA/IEAUNB/UNZ
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………….
Functional Group. Header/TrailerGS/GEUNG/UNE (optional)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………….
Transaction Set, (Message). Header/TrailerST/SEUNH/UNT

Terminators/Separators

X12 and EDIFACT use special characters to separate segments and elements in the document.

– ANSI X12 to separate segments generally uses a tilde ( ~ ) and to terminate elements asterisk ( * )
– EDIFACT normally uses a period ( . ) between segments and a plus ( + ) within elements.

However, both EDI standards allow customization, and different characters can be used, depending on the implementation.

Composite

A Composite Element is a group (two or more) simple elements separated by a Composite Separator symbol. Composite Element is used in both standards; however, Composite Element is very commonly used in EDIFACT.

– X12 uses a symbol Greater Than ( > )

– EDIFACT separates composite elements with a colon symbol ( : )

Acknowledgments

Both EDI standards use Acknowledgments.

– X12 uses a Functional Acknowledgment or 997 transaction set. An EDI 997 serves as a response, to acknowledge that an EDI transaction was received. TA1 served for describes errors at the ISA level.

– EDIFACT uses CONTRL acknowledgments, which is like the X12 997 Acknowledgments.

X12 Transaction Number and EDIFACT ID

In the ANSI X12 standard, all documents have 3-digit numbers, for example, 810 for an Invoice, 846 for an Inventory Inquiry and Advice, 856 for Advanced Ship Notice.

According to the EDIFACT rule, the name of the document must be limited to 6 letters, for example, INVOIC derived from the word Invoice, INVRPT for Inventory report, DESADV is the abbreviation for Despatch Advice.
  • Syntax: EDIFACT uses UN/EDIFACT syntax while X12 uses an ASCII-based syntax.
  • Message structure: EDIFACT messages have a more flexible structure than X12 messages, which have a more rigid structure.

Different Types of EDI Documents: ANSI X12 vs EDIFACT

The following table lists some of the key EDI X12 Transaction Sets with the corresponding EDIFACT messages.
X12 NoEDIFACT IDNameUsage
………..…………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………….
 810INVOICInvoice.Used to receive payment for goods or services provided
………..…………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………….
820REMADVPayment Order/Remittance Advice.Used to transmit information relating to payments
………..…………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………….
830DELFORPlanning Schedule.Used to share with the supplier’s forecast purchase plans
………..…………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………….
832PRICATPrice/Sales Catalog.Used to request or provide prices and product information.
………..…………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………….
846INVRPTInventory Inquiry/Advice.Used to communicate inventory levels.
………..…………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………….
850ORDERSPurchase Order.Used to place an order for goods or services. 
………..…………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………….
852SLSRPTProduct Activity Data.Used to provide inventory, sales, and other product activity information.
………..…………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………….
855ORDRSPPO AcknowledgementUsed as an acknowledgment of the purchase order
………..…………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………….
856DESADVAdvance Ship Notice (or Dispatch Advice in EDIFACT)Used to inform the recipient in advance, about the contents of the shipment.
………..…………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………….
860ORDCHGPO Change (Customer triggered)Used to communicate order changes to the supplier.
………..…………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………….
865ORDRSPPO Change (Supplier triggered)Used for acceptance or rejection of changes to a previously submitted purchase order
………..…………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………….
997CONTRLFunctional AcknowledgmentUsed to acknowledge that an EDI transaction, was received.

EDI Standards for Special Industry

In addition to EDIFACT and X12 discussed above, there are many other EDI standards that were developed as a result of specialized business requirements in various industries. For example:

RosettaNet is used mostly in the electronic chip and technology Industry.

HIPAA and HL7 for Healthcare and Health Insurance.

ODETTE for the automotive industry in Europe.

SWIFT for exchanges messages between banks and financial institutions.

EDI Integration

For clients who do not have the resources to do X12 or EDIFACT in-house, we, at EDI2XML offer Fully managed EDI Services.

For companies who got their own technical resources to work with REST API we offer them to use EDI REST Web Service.

EDI2XML is an EDI service provider with 20+ years of expertise in EDI and integration projects. We have clients located in North America, Europe, and the Middle East and work with all EDI standards including ANSI X12 and EDIFACT. Contact us if you have any questions or EDI integration needs.
Free EDI consultation

What is EDI 846 document?

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This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.

What is EDI 846 Document?

One of the most important electronic EDI documents heavily exchanged between trading partners is the 846 X12 document. It is important mainly due to the evolution of the drop-shipping business that saw a great advancement in the last few years, because of eCommerce and online sales.

The EDI 846 document, also known as the Inventory Inquiry/Advice transaction set, is used in Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to provide inventory information between trading partners in the context of e-commerce. This transaction set is commonly employed in the retail industry to facilitate the exchange of inventory details.

What is EDI 846

This EDI document originates from the paper-based “inventory inquiry and advice”. Basically, it is a notification sent by the manufacturer to the seller, advising about stock status and availability. It can also include pricing information. In other words, this EDI message is to exchange information about stock levels and the availability of goods.

For e-commerce, it is very important to have up-to-date information about the availability of goods. That is why one of the major EDI requirements for Amazon, is the capability of the supplier to transmit an EDI 846 Inventory Inquiry message. This is not only a requirement for Amazon exclusively; Other leading retailers such as Cabela’s, Wal-Mart, Costco … all have the same EDI requirement, to be able to feed their e-commerce platform with quality inventory status information.

The EDI 846 document can be sent to business partners, as many times as necessary. It can be 2-3 times a week, up to several times a day; each retailer has his own requirements. EDI 846 Inventory Inquiry/Advice permits suppliers to provide trading partners with information about their products without forcing them to make a purchase. In addition, the EDI 846 transaction is often used to notify business partners about the availability of goods at discounted prices.

EDI 846 Inventory Inquiry and Advice Usage

The other obvious question about 846: who uses this EDI 846 message other than Amazon and the major eCommerce retailers?
The truth is that not only eCommerce retailers can use this EDI transaction and exchange 846 documents. All trading partners can agree to use it to exchange inventory availability and stock level. Some examples:

  • sellers to provide inventory information to a potential customer
  • seller’s representatives to supply the seller with inventory information
  • one seller’s location to give another location inventory information
  • seller to demand the availability of inventory

Diverse Applications of the EDI 846 Transaction Set in Varied Industries and Business Scenarios

The EDI 846 Inventory Inquiry/Advice transaction, has varied usage across different industries and business scenarios. Its primary purpose is to provide detailed information about the current inventory levels of a product at a specific location, typically a warehouse or distribution center. This information is crucial for effective supply chain management and helps trading partners optimize their inventory levels and order fulfillment processes.

Here are some of the varied uses of EDI 846:

  1. Inventory Replenishment: Retailers and suppliers use the EDI 846 to communicate current inventory levels and forecast demand. This helps in making timely decisions regarding inventory replenishment and avoiding stockouts.
  2. Order Planning: The information exchanged through EDI 846 aids in order planning by providing insights into product availability. Retailers can adjust their order quantities based on the actual inventory levels at the supplier’s end.
  3. Demand Forecasting: By analyzing historical inventory data provided through EDI 846, businesses can better forecast future demand for products. This can lead to more accurate production and procurement planning.
  4. Vendor-Managed Inventory (VMI): In VMI arrangements, suppliers use EDI 846 to monitor and manage the inventory levels at their customers’ locations. This collaborative approach helps in maintaining optimal stock levels and reducing carrying costs.
  5. Supply Chain Optimization: The use of EDI 846 contributes to overall supply chain optimization by enhancing communication and collaboration between trading partners. It streamlines the flow of information related to inventory, reducing manual processes and improving efficiency.
  6. E-commerce Integration: In the context of e-commerce, EDI 846 plays a role in updating online product availability and supporting real-time inventory visibility for customers. This is important for online retailers and marketplaces to provide accurate information to customers about product availability.

Overall, the varied usage of EDI 846 reflects its importance in facilitating efficient inventory management, enhancing collaboration between trading partners, and improving the overall supply chain performance.

What Information Does the EDI 846 Document Transmit?

In the EDI 846 transmission, inventory location identification, item, and part description, and quantity are the basic information included in almost any EDI 846 document; however, additional information can be added such as:

  • Quantity forecasted
  • Quantity sold already
  • Quantity available in stock
  • Pricing information
sample-edi-846

With EDI 846 online stores optimize their deliveries. They do not need to enter data manually into their internal systems, such as ERP  or back-office of their stores. It gives an accurate information to online shoppers about the availability of stock, in a real-time mode. Moreover, it does reduce the administration fees and expenses to process orders and items bought by consumers, while having no stock.

What are the Benefits of Using the EDI X12 846 Inventory Inquiry/Advice?

The EDI X12 846 Inventory Inquiry/Advice transaction set provides several benefits for businesses that use it. Here are some of the key benefits:

1. Improved inventory management: The 846 transaction set provides real-time updates on inventory levels and enables businesses to quickly identify inventory shortages or excesses. This helps businesses to optimize their inventory levels, reduce carrying costs, and avoid stockouts.

2. Increased efficiency: The use of EDI eliminates the need for manual data entry and reduces the risk of errors. This can result in faster order processing times, reduced labor costs, and improved accuracy.

3. Enhanced collaboration: The 846 transaction set allows for seamless communication between trading partners and provides a standardized format for inventory information. This makes it easier for businesses to collaborate with their partners and share inventory data consistently and efficiently.

4. Better decision-making: By having access to real-time inventory data, businesses can make better decisions about when to reorder products, how much to order, and where to allocate inventory. This can help businesses to reduce inventory holding costs, improve customer satisfaction, and increase profitability.

5. Competitive advantage: By using the 846 transaction set, businesses can differentiate themselves from their competitors by offering faster, more accurate inventory information to their customers. This can help businesses to attract and retain customers, increase customer loyalty, and gain a competitive edge in the marketplace.

For more information about how edi2xml fully managed services or web service can help you set up your EDI 846 Inventory Inquiry/Advice with your trading partners, please contact us.

Free EDI Consultation EDI 846

Related Posts:

Inventory management and forecast sales using INVRPT, SLSRPT, and SLSFCT
All you need to know about EDI ANSI X12 Transaction Set 850 Purchase Order
How EDI can speed the receiving of goods in a warehouse
What is EDI2XML Managed Services?
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The Definitive Checklist For Oracle JDE and EDI Integration Projects

This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.

Article written by Pierre Namroud, EDI Integration Specialist & Business Consultant

I had the pleasure of attending Collaborate17, a Technology and Applications Forum for the Oracle community. This opportunity brought together Oracle professionals, integrators, project managers and IT experts from around the world, who all work in different spaces of integration. It was such a great experience speaking with so many Oracle experts and attending educational sessions.

One of the main points of discussion during the various speaking engagements was on the challenges that professionals were facing when it came to integration projects involving EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) as well as eCommerce data to JDE (JD Edwards). The opinions were unanimous in the sense that Oracle still has more work to be done in order to strengthen and simplify integration with legacy EDI protocols and build simpler integration flows for protocols such as X12, EDIFACT, Rosetta Net, etc.

I’m writing this article, in order to share my own expertise as a data and EDI integrator, where I had the chance to be involved in several eCommerce and EDI integration projects with Oracle JDE. Hopefully it will help inform other Oracle professionals looking to overcome some of these integration challenges.

Challenges currently being faced by Oracle JDE professionals

There are many challenges that any JDE professional might see when it comes to data and systems integration with Oracle ERP software in general, whether for on-premises or cloud systems. [As a side note, Oracle’s cloud systems have their own specific limitations that I recently learned about during one of the Collaborate Sessions].

Below, I have listed some of the most common challenges that not only have I experienced in my own projects with Oracle customers but that others have expressed during the Collaborate conference;

  • Oracle’s JDE does not have a seamless built-in integration with all EDI X12 documents “out of the box”.
  • The current integration process for EDI X12, EDIFACT, HL7 or any other data format now happens by writing into transition tables (or Z files) and then triggering a business function to process those incoming data.
  • Even though Oracle’s JDE system supports business functions, some older versions do not support new API functions, which can cause some headaches.

    Looking to integrate your EDI or eCommerce processes with Oracle JDE enterprise one, look no further, since we have the best integration option where we turn your Oracle JDE system into a modern REST API, that receives https requests and acts accordingly. Learn More>

Integration Project Checklist

Before starting an integration project with your Oracle JDE system, I recommend that you go through the following list of questions. This way, you’ll be able to make the best decisions to move forward with development efforts as efficiently as possible.

  • Who are the Business or Trading Partners you want to exchange electronic data with?
  • Which documents (or types of data) are you requested to exchange from your Business Partners? In normal circumstances, they’ll provide you with the necessary documentation and specifications as a road map and for compliance reasons.
  • The exchanged data will be sent under what format or standard/version? (X12, EDIFACT, RosettaNet, XML, custom format…?)
  • What is the protocol of communication used to send the data back and forth between you and your Business Partner? Is it point-to-point, such as AS2 or sFTP?
  • Is a VAN required in order to transport the data?
  • Do you have the necessary expertise to select the appropriate certified communication software (for first time project implementation)?
  • Do you have the necessary expertise in your development team to decrypt and understand the terminologies of legacy EDI formats?
  • Has your team ever done an EDI integration project, that includes a full certification process?
  • How many partners will you be exchanging with? The more partners you have, the more complex the project can become.
  • Check the specs of all of your partners (when possible) to verify the differences in their requirements. It is well known in the EDI integration world that there can be many distinctions and exceptions found per Business Partner and per document. Every EDI project can be unique.
  • What is the lead-time to complete the certification and testing phase with your business partner before going live?
  • What is the volume of exceptions that your development team can currently handle in the project in order to be on time and within budget?
  • Do you have the necessary integration tools to simplify the EDI syntax in order to work with one format regardless of the format of the data you receive from different sources?
  • Is your team coding directly in Oracle JDE native framework, or are you using any efficient integration tool available today?
  • Will you be doing end-to-end integration using Z tables of Oracle JDE, or you are going to use API (or business functions) of JDE?

Recommendations for a Successful Integration Project

As you might have noticed, data integration projects involving legacy EDI protocols or custom data format exchange are not simple. They are projects that need a lot of expertise and experience in data communication and transportation, data mapping and systems integration into Oracle’s JDE system.

Moreover, at most enterprises that we’ve completed EDI integration projects for, it was evident how stretched and overwhelmed the internal JDE development team was in their own day-to-day operations, support and maintenance of the application and were incapable of learning new standards to respect the strict timeline given by Trading Partners. In these cases, they looked for help from an outside Service Provider, such as EDI2XML.

My recommendations for such projects are as follows:

  • Outsource the EDI part of the project to a reliable Service Provider, who is highly focused on service availability and quality, since EDI is quite sensitive. This will allow your team to continue working on their daily tasks and keep doing what they do best (JDE support and maintenance, for example). This way, you’ll have a simplified and streamlined EDI integration process; you build one tunnel between your EDI provider, where they deal with the exceptions, and your own process.
  • In case your company policy requires you to deploy the EDI integration solution on-premises, make sure to use an efficient EDI conversion tool such as our EDI2XML technology that has the capability to turn the EDI documents from X12 format to a human readable XML format, for example.
  • Equip your team with the right tools for data integration such as Magic xpi, which we have been using for many years in our data and systems integration projects. Leveraging such technologies allowed us to integrate anything-to-anything (JDE to SAP, SAP to Salesforce, EDI to any system as examples).

I sure hope I was able to expose the most common EDI integration challenges and complexities and help you to overcome these obstacles with the above checklist and recommendations.

If you are interested in learning more about this topic or any other issue related to EDI integration projects, please click on the image below and I will be more than happy to contact you personally for a FREE consultation.

 

Free consultation ecommerce JDE integration

 

What is EDI?

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This post was updated to reflect current trends and information. 

A Technical Introduction to EDI

Before I start explaining anything about EDI2XML, I would like to start by giving a more technical introduction to EDI, its usage, and its history. EDI is an acronym for Electronic Data Interchange. It has been around for a long time and has been used by retailers and private corporations in several verticals (health, retail, insurance…). When people in the business community talk about exchanging “EDI transactions“, they refer to a combination of the following:
  • Structured EDI file format including version, revision, standard…
  • Protocol of communication, medium and security (FTP, sFTP, AS2, VAN…)
  • Business partners (vendors, retailers…)

Simply speaking, EDI is the process of “electronically” exchanging documents between business partners in a pre-defined format. The information is transmitted in a secured manner. Normally, files with EDI format are structured and follow “EDI standards”.

EDI Standards

There are several widely used EDI standards, including:

  1. ANSI ASC X12: This is the predominant standard used in North America for various industries, such as retail, healthcare, transportation, and finance. It defines specific transaction sets like purchase orders (850), invoices (810), and shipping notices (856).
  2. UN/EDIFACT: This is an international EDI standard developed by the United Nations. It is widely used outside of North America and is popular in sectors like transportation, logistics, and customs. UN/EDIFACT includes a comprehensive set of message types covering various business processes.
  3. GS1 EDI: This standard is developed by GS1, a global organization focused on supply chain standards. It is used primarily in the retail and consumer goods industries. GS1 EDI incorporates the GS1 barcoding standards and provides specific message types for processes like product catalog synchronization, purchase orders, and invoices.
  4. HIPAA EDI: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) introduced specific EDI standards for healthcare-related transactions. These standards ensure the secure and standardized exchange of sensitive patient data between healthcare providers, insurers, and other entities.
  5. TRADACOMS: Developed in the United Kingdom, TRADACOMS is an EDI standard commonly used in the retail industry. It includes message types for processes like order management, stock control, and invoicing.

These are just a few examples of the many EDI standards available. Each standard has its own message formats, data elements, and communication protocols. Organizations typically choose the appropriate standard based on their industry, geographic location, and trading partner requirements.

Read: What is a VAN ?

EDI X12

EDI has been evolving with different versions, revisions and sub-revisions. For example, in the X12 standard EDI format, I started my EDI career with the EDI version 3010. Today, we are working with much higher EDI versions such as 4010, 5010, 5020… It is important to note that within each one of the above versions, different revisions might exist.

EDI Transactions and Documents

Read: How does EDI2XML work ?

EDI documents are “number coded”; for example, a Purchase Order sent by a retailer to a vendor using EDI format is coded under the number “850”. The same applies for other documents such as 810 (for invoice), 856 (for Advance shipping notice), 820 (for Payment Advice), and 860 (for Retailer triggered Purchase Order Change). The list goes on and it is not limited to the above. For a more extensive list of EDI documents that EDI2XML supports,  visit our EDI Document Library.

Each EDI document sent to a party has to be responded to by the other party by sending back a Functional Acknowledgment (FA 997). The 997 designates that the “structure” of the EDI file was certainly received, without looking at the “content” of the EDI formatted file. Both business partners understand the “content” of the information and they are able to translate into business terms. This is where EDI2XML comes into play to convert and translate the content and make it ready for integration.

To learn more about EDI, read our new blog “What is EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)?” 

RELATED POSTS:

What is EDIFACT? | UN / EDIFACT standard overview

Electronic Data Interchange: Key Information You Need to Know

ANSI ASC X12 Standards Overview

What Are the Differences Between ANSI X12 and UN/EDIFACT
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