XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a versatile format for structuring and exchanging data between diverse systems and applications.

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Convert EDI to XML: The EDI2XML Way

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This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.

 

Why convert EDI to XML?

In this blog post, I will explain why our team decided to convert EDI to XML as well as the advantages and benefits of using this conversion from EDI to XML. On many occasions, EDI consultants, project managers and EDI developers and implementers brought up the following questions:

What are the benefits of having an EDI X12 file format converted to XML?

Why do we need to convert from EDI to XML and not to a database, csv or other file formats directly?

Quick review of EDI2XML

As you might already know, EDI2XML is a technology to convert X12 EDI to XML for incoming EDI documents. At the same time, the engine is intelligent and capable of converting an XML document to an EDI X12 format. This process of turning an X12 EDI file to XML happens because we have taken the time to build pre-defined xml schemas (xsd files) that respond to the business needs of 99.99% of EDI consumers.

EDI developers and integrators are able to use any loop, node or element they need to push to their database for incoming EDI documents. While for outgoing EDI documents in XML format, they are able to pick and choose the node, or EDI element they want to transmit out, fill it in, and send over to EDI2XML engine in order to create the EDI file in X12 format.

Read: Best EDI Processing Options: Service Bureau VS Translation & Integration Solution

Convert EDI to Database or other formats

In the beginning stages of development, we established a list of objectives and a list of possible formats we can use. This was essential, as we needed to evaluate which file format would be best to use as a destination format for incoming EDI documents and outgoing EDI documents.

Objectives to convert EDI

We wanted our EDI conversion technology to respond to the following criteria, as much as possible:

  • Cross-platform: could be triggered on multiple platforms (at least Windows and Linux)
  • Scalable: easily upgradable without the need for heavy work and programming to add a new document or process
  • Portable: could run without any limitation on database, file format or operating system
  • Simple to operate and launch: at the time, we wanted to have the solution as simple as possible so no need to have a very extensive EDI expertise and knowledge in order to work with our EDI conversion tool.

Options for EDI conversion

Below is the list of formats we had put together when we started the R&D, during our brainstorming sessions prior to developing the engine to convert EDI.

  • Convert EDI to Database: this was the first option we had in mind since it was simple and easy to deploy. However, we went into the limitations of portability and compatibility as well as the choice of the Database. What database is the most portable?
  • Convert EDI to CSV: option #2 was also on the table early on, since the csv format is commonly known and heavily used. However, because of the quality of data that anyone might receive within an EDI transmission (carriage return, line feed, special characters…), which might cause the data to be a little less “sanitized”, we opted out of this option and eliminated this format from our list.
  • XML: this was the last option we had on the table. We decided that this would be the best choice due to its flexibility, good structure and ease of use. It responded extremely well to all our technological objectives and more.

Why EDI to XML

Read: Free EDI to XML converter: What’s the catch?

There are many reasons why we selected the XML format as a destination to translate EDI, over other means. Following are some of these reasons:

Simplicity and self-descriptive: data encoded in XML is easy to read and understand by humans (i.e. EDI developers,) and it was becoming easier to process by computers

  • XML format is standardized: XML is a W3C standard and it is endorsed by software industry market leaders
  • XML is structured: No fixed tags; it represents perfectly the hierarchical structure of an EDI file.<
  • Support of multi-lingual and Unicode: very important for exchanging EDI documents at the international level
  • Rapid adoption by programmers and developers: since the use of XML was on the rise, converting EDI to XML was a good decision. Nowadays, it is very rare to find a developer or a consultant who does not work with XML

Having the ability to convert X12 EDI to XML gave us a competitive advantage over other developers involved in EDI projects. We have already implemented this converter in many businesses as well as helped IT consultants leverage EDI2XML in their EDI integration projects.

If you would like to know more about the plans offered for EDI2XML (Free Consultation), or would like to see it in action (live Demo), please do not hesitate to contact us.

Free EDI Demo

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Free EDI to XML converter: What’s the catch?

This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.

Free EDI to XML converter

Recently, I have received many questions and inquiries about our EDI2XML technology and why it is not offered for “free” like many apps or tools available on the Internet. Just the other day, an acquaintance of mine was contesting that he could find another API for EDI conversion to XML, download it and use it “free of charge”. I decided to write this blog post to share my past experience with free EDI to XML conversion tools and hopefully give you more insight into why a Free EDI to XML converter is NOT a good option for your business.
EDI2XML converter

Being an EDI professional, I realize and implement EDI projects. I have encountered many situations where I needed to accomplish urgent and quick results using any code I could find in the moment; library or API that can be downloaded quickly from the Internet for FREE! Everyone likes free things and I am no exception to this.

Therefore, during one of my first experimental EDI projects, I found a free tool to convert EDI to XML. Once I downloaded the tool, I started to work on how to turn EDI X12 to XML, and vice versa. Below are the observations I noted from that experience:

Limited help

After running the setup program, I hit a few installation errors. I then started the process of identifying these issues, however, I found this process to be very hard, long and tedious since only some of the errors were documented, while most of them were not. In addition, I had to write to the community of the support team. I received a reply two days later, which is a terrible response time if you are in a hurry. We found the issue to be some .NET compatibility between the installer and the operating system I had on my machine.

Features: fell below expectations

After the long installation process, I was finally glad that my Free EDI converter to XML was setup properly. It was now time to experiment its conversion features. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before I was disappointed over the fact that this converter had many limitations. It was not converting the EDI to XML based on a format I was expecting. It simply put the XML tags before and after each EDI element and grouped each one of the segments into node. This is not any easier than working with raw EDI. In addition, the tool was not able to convert XML back to EDI. Therefore, the simple features it promised were not even working.

“Black Box” solution

I didn’t give up just yet. I then figured that if I can tweak the code through parameters or code modification, it could work. Unfortunately, that was not possible; I had downloaded a “black box” solution where I cannot do any modifications or tweaks to my needs.

Little or no support

At this point, I decided to contact, yet again, the community of support as well as the software developer. Unfortunately, the support offered by the developer was an expensive paying option. In addition, if I wanted to customize the engine, I would need to pay a high fee. Bottom line, I wasn’t left with many choices. I had to live with the community support, which was relatively good, but not like any commercial support where response time is on average 2-4 hours.

Read: Convert EDI to XML: the Winning SaaS Option

Lack of scalability

In the end, we hit a wall with the converter. In order for me to reach my expectations with this converter, I would need to pay for a custom job. Once it is custom made, scalability becomes on us, based on how much money we can invest in developing the tool and make it scalable. At this point, I was hesitant, since I would have gone from a Free EDI to XML converter to a very expensive tool. However, if we stuck with the basic free option, then it is quite clear, the EDI conversion tool would not perform, as we had needed.

Is it a feasible approach?

Having gone through all of the above, we took a step back to reassess what our options were. Should we invest in upgrading a Free EDI to XML converter or should we build it from scratch in-house?

We needed to ask ourselves if it was a feasible approach to have a business depend on a free tool, knowing in advance it is a “black box” without support and scalability.

Our answer was “NO”. This is when we decided to go ahead with our alternative solution.

EDI2XML, an alternative

Having spent much time exploring the possibilities of using a Free EDI to XML converter, we came to the conclusion that we would be better off building it ourselves. Our goal was to make it quick, easy, affordable and simple to deploy for us and for our clients with the capability of translating XML to EDI, and vice versa. Other pre-requisites were to ensure scalability and flexibility of EDI2XML as well as the availability of a great support team for EDI2XML. In the end, we succeeded! Our very own EDI2XML solution is offered  as a Services  and HTTP service  for companies of all sizes.

EDI2XML Web Service is for developers and businesses, interested in building their own EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) integration flows and programs. Normally, these individuals, are capable of interacting with external API and Web Services to translate EDI to XML and XML to EDI, and have the resources and expertise to work with Web Services and HTTP requests in order to achieve their goals. EDI2XML web service, is the premier choice for IT people as a reliable service to accomplish such Integration projects.

 

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EDI2XML | SAAS EDI translation software

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EDI (or Electronic data interchange) is the electronic file format used to exchange business transactions between trading partners. ANSI X12 is the most commonly used format of EDI in North America in the retail, manufacturing and healthcare industries.

EDI2XML is a mapping tool, capable of converting EDI files to XML. “Out of the box” EDI2XML translates EDI documents (i.e. 850, 860, 820…) into XML format that is readable by people and systems. It is capable of translating an XML format into an EDI format (i.e. 810,856,..). Basically, EDI2XML is an EDI to XML converter; it is also an XML to EDI converter.

Using EDI2XML helps you:

  • Streamline and simplify EDI projects, and cut EDI mapping software costs by 75 %.
  • Increase your Return on investment on EDI integration projects, by eliminating the need for complex EDI systems, and expensive EDI software that takes weeks and months to setup and configure.
  • Increase efficiency of your developers and EDI integrators, by providing them with a great EDI translation software, without the need of  extensive EDI expertise. “Out of the box”, the edi2xml engine provides an easy to read EDI document in a user friendly XML format which is very simple to integrate into any business software application.

EDI2XML converts EDI to XML. The same engine is intelligent enough to process XML and convert to EDI. Both engines, are bundled together and offered under the SAAS model (software as a service), where you pay per EDI docmeunt, per trading partner and per year. EDI2XML is the EDI translation software as a service that can help you get started with your EDI integration projects at a very low initial capital investment.

Read: Convert EDI to XML: the Winning SaaS Option

Free EDI Demo 

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