Electronic Data Interchange EDI

http://archive.ifla.org/VI/5/reports/rep4/42.htm

Electronic Data Interchange: An Overview of EDI Standards for Libraries (1993)


Electronic Data Interchange is intended to handle all aspects of business transactions such as ordering, acknowledgements, pricing, status, scheduling, shipping, receiving, invoices, payments, and financial reporting. One of the principal aims of EDI has been to develop electronic surrogates for the myriad of paper forms used in commercial transactions such as purchase orders, bills of lading, and invoices. Since the early 1970's, efforts have been underway to develop standardized data formats for business transactions.
This chapter will describe the two main EDI standards that are currently used in North America and Europe; the ASC X12 group of standards supported by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the EDIFACT standards supported by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE).