Posts Tagged ‘B2B’

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Concise Timeline and History of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

Monday, February 15th, 2010

The history of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) started in the 1960’s when computer systems first had the capability to transfer data between other computer systems. The progressive history of EDI has centered primarily on the evolution of data format standards for exchanging electronic business documents. On occasions advances in data communications and data protocols have dominated the history of EDI. See timeline below on the history of EDI.

1965: First EDI Messages. Holland-America Steamship Line sends shipping manifests as telex messages that are automatically converted into computer data.

1968: Transportation Data Coordinating Committee (TDDC) Formed. A group of railroad companies concerned with the quality of inter-company exchanges of transportation data formed TDDC to study the problem and to improve it.

1973: FTP Protocol Published. The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) enabled file transfers between Internet sites.

1975: First TDCC Standard Published. Ed Guilbert, a member of the TDCC, is referred to as the Father of EDI, and was involved in coordinating the development of translation rules among four existing sets of industry-specific standards.

1975: Telenet, the first Value Added Network (VAN) Started. Telenet, the first commercial packet-switching network and civilian equivalent of ARPANET, was born. Telenet represented the first value-added network, or VAN — so named because of the extras it offered beyond the basic service of linking computers.

1978: TDCC renamed EDIA and Received ANSI Charter. TDCC was renamed the Electronic Data Interchange Association (EDIA), received a charter from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and became the ANSI X12 Committee, which gradually extended and replaced those created by the TDCC.

1981: ANSI X12 Published. EDI data standards now existed for transportation (air, motor, ocean, rail), banking, warehouse, food industry, and drug industry.

1981: EDI VAN Services Started. Tymshare started providing EDI services in 1981. The EDI group was eventually spun off and acquired several times to become MCI’s EDI*NET. Most major VANs have their origins in the early 1980s.

1982: EDI Mandated for Automotive Industry. GM and Ford mandate EDI for suppliers.

1985: EDIFACT EDI Standard Created. The EDIFACT EDI standard was created under the auspices of the United Nations to enable a broader global EDI trading capability.

1996: EDI over the Internet (EDIINT) Formed The Uniform Code Council (UCC) started EDI over the Internet (EDIINT) program. EDIINT was set up to standardize the communications of EDI data over the Internet.

2001: AS2 Communication Standard Created. EDIINT published the AS2 standard which supports communications of EDI using the HTTP protocol.

2004: Wal-Mart Implements AS2 Over Internet. Wal-Mart sets trend for EDI over the internet by migrating thousands of their suppliers to AS2 using iSoft.

To be continued …


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EDI Document Types and Standards – Listings and Definitions

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Electronic Data Exchange (EDI) documents are electronic documents that contain the same information as would be found in a paper document. For example, an EDI 850 is an electronic purchase order that would contain the same information as found on a purchase order form. EDI document standards support most business and organizations that have a need to exchange electronic business documents. Besides typical business documents, EDI supports medicine, transportation, and construction industries.


Major EDI Document Standards.


There are four major sets of EDI standards to include UN/EDIFACT (International Standard), ANSI ASC X12 (US), TRADACOMS (UK), and ODETTE (European automotive industry). All these major EDI standards emerged in the mid-’80s.

EDIFACT. EDIFACT is an United Nations sponsored standard that is the commonly accepted Electronic Document Exchange (EDI) standard outside of North America. EDIFACT messages are defined and maintained by work groups at the UN. See the EDIFactory listing of EDIFACT Messages with complete descriptions.

ANSI ASC X12. ANSI ASC X12 is the U.S. national standards body for EDI standards. ANSI ASC X12 stands for the “American National Standards Institute Accredited Standards Committee X12″. X12 is the sequential designation assigned by ANSI at the time of accreditation. See EDIGenie.com for a EDI X12 Document Listing with Descriptions.


EDI Document Types Definitions.


EDI Standards. EDI standards such as X12 describe pieces of information that are mandatory and optional for a particular electronic document. Additionally, the standard describes the data structure and rules for a given electronic document. These rules provide general rules for trading partners to exchange a particular set of electronic documents.

EDI Guideline Specifications. In order for two or more trading partners to exchange EDI with each other, they need to agree on exactly how they will implement a given EDI document. Normally, one of the trading partners will provide an EDI implementation guideline that the trading partners will use to implement the EDI standard. Normally, the larger trading partner, like a large retailer or a transportation carrier, will provide an EDI guideline that most trading partners can agree with and implement a specific EDI interface.

HIPPA. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1996. HIPPA requires the establishment of national standards for electronic health care transactions and national identifiers for providers, health insurance plans, and employers. The HIPAA/EDI provision has an open-ended mandate for healthcare organizations to exchange X12 EDI documents. This includes filing electronic claims. HIPAA is a key catalyst for implementing EDI within the healthcare industry. See Wikipedia for more on HIPAA.


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The Missed Opportunity of B2B eCommerce

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Many businesses do not use B2B eCommerce interfaces such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) or other methods to exchange electronic documents with suppliers and customers. There are many reasons for this. The primary reasons are inertia, resistance to change, inhibited by the technology, and not realizing the B2B eCommerce opportunity.



B2B eCommerce Definition. B2B eCommerce in its essence is an interface, an electronic interface between two or more businesses to exchange business documents. Common electronic business documents include purchase orders, shipment status, and invoices.

The Missed Opportunity Costs of Not Doing B2B eCommerce. Many businesses do not use B2B eCommerce interfaces such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) or other methods to exchange electronic documents with suppliers and customers. If you are a small business, this may be fine, but if you are a medium or large business this is costly. Not using B2B eCommerce costs businesses in a lot of ways. The three largest missed opportunity costs include increased labor to process business documents, increased time-to-market cycle, and increased payment cycle. These costs are not missed revenue opportunities, but are costs that go directly against the bottom line.

The B2B eCommerce Opportunity Questions. If you are not using B2B eCommerce, ask yourself the following questions.

  • Could you decrease your administrative costs if you did not have to manually process purchase orders?
  • Could you reduce your inventory and increase your order fulfillment rate, if you automatically exchanged electronic business documents with your suppliers and customers?
  • Could you decrease the average time it takes to fulfill a customer order if you did not have to wait and process paper documents?
  • Could you ship and receive products and orders faster, if you had electronic document interfaces with your transportation carriers?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, it is time for you to implement one or multiple B2B eCommerce interfaces with your suppliers or customers. Sometimes all you need to do is ask your suppliers or customers if they already do B2B eCommerce interfaces with other trading partners.

Take the Initiative to Identify B2B eCommerce Opportunities. With a little analysis and with a little help you should be able to identify specific B2B eCommerce interface opportunities that benefit your business. These are opportunities that will go right to your bottom line by reducing labor to process business documents, reducing time-to-market cycles, and reducing payment cycles. Read more about the benefits of B2B eCommerce.


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