EDI 101 – part II – The Basics of Standards and Syntax So, you’ve decided to come back for more, eh?  Glutton for punishment, I guess. This time around, we’re going to cover the concepts of the “STANDARDS” and also the SYNTAX and the Content of your EDI Document.  Now, again, I’m coming from a background in retail and using the ANSI/ASC-X12 standard.  And we use version 4010, which is, arguably, a few versions behind, but that’s not truly important.  I know that UN/EDIFACT and TRADACOMS have their own standards and documents, but, again, I’m just dealing with what I know – X12. For each industry that uses EDI and the standards, there are different forms that can be used.  The book on My desk for the X12, v 4010, is the size of a dictionary.  And it’s printed on that same super thin paper in tiny little type-face.  And it’s almost 1800 pages of that tiny type.  But not every document is used in every industry that may use EDI and use the X12 standard.  Some are strictly for retailers; some for real estate; some for insurance, for banking, for hospitals.  Some of the documents MAY be used across the industrial lines, but some are very specific and specialized.  Within that X12 standard, there are literally HUNDREDS (at ...

"Ch-ch-changes... Turn and face the strange..." - David Bowie belted out back in 1972.  Well, 1971, actually, but the song wasn't released until 1972.  And, as usual, I digress in the details.  But still, some of the lyrics are quite appropriate today.  And especially in the world of EDI.  Good ol' Ziggy Stardust (aka Bowie) sang out:                                    "Still don't know what I was waiting for.." That's something we hear a lot in the EDI world - once somebody finds out how well EDI can help them.  They don't know what they waited for - or balked against - when given the option of EDI.  Once they've seen-the-light, it suddenly becomes a no-brainer.  But at the time, it was strange and unknown and a change.  And we all know what people can be like when it comes to change.. Don't we? Change is hard! What's wrong with the way we've always done it? Oh, great!  Now what do I have to learn? Right now, I'm working with our Accounting group in getting them to embrace and accept the 810 EDI Invoice.  And, for the most part, I'm lucky that they're open and willing to "face the strange" and go with it..  However, where it's making My life a living hell is that they expect everything to be done.  Now.  2 Minutes ago.  ...

Over on the Inovis blog, Bill Chessman ponders about the human readability of XML vs. EDI.  A different take on an old debate.  Ah, the old "EDI vs XML" debate rears it's enormous jumbo head of dissent again...  *sigh..... XML is simply a language for possibly trading information in a human readable format.  Much like HTML (the language of the Internet), you use "tags" that tell you what the next piece of information is.  So you can have a simple tag of <NAME> and then a person's name and then the closing tag </NAME>....  You can continue to use these simple kinds of tags for the rest of the information you're sending (sending maybe an address, a 2nd line of address, a city, a state, a zip and more) and the human eye can read it as John Smith 123 Main Street Suite 123 Anytown ST 92345 In his post at the Inovis blog, however, Bill makes an excellent point - and one I've touted before in other comments - in that XML may be easier (in the layout of tags and direct information) to read then EDI formats, but it's all dependent upon the DTD and the schema.  It's easier because there is no rigid, solid standard to follow.  "Data A" can be ANYWHERE in the document, as long as it's labeled as "Data A".  ...