The differences between EDI X12 and EDIFACT

 

Question: Hi Roger, we recently got a contract to supply an organization in Germany which will require EDI. This would normally be no problem to us as we have been doing EDI with our North American trading partners for over four years; however, our new German contract requires us to use EDIFACT rather than X12 as their preferred EDI standard. Could you highlight the main differences between X12 and EDIFACT and suggest what I should do?

 

Answer:  In 1979 the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) chartered the Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12 to develop uniform standards for inter-industry electronic exchange of business transactions – now known commonly as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). These transaction sets, abbreviated to X12, are the predominant EDI standards used by organizations in North America today.

In 1986, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) approved the acronym "UN/EDIFACT," which translates to United Nations Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport. UN/EDIFACT is an international EDI standard designed to meet the needs of both government and private industry. EDIFACT is the most popular worldwide EDI data standard outside of North America.

Here is a brief list of some of the different names given to documents in the X12 and EDIFACT transactions sets. You will notice that X12 assigns numeric values to documents whereas EDIFACT lists names or abbreviations.

TRANSACTION SET/DOCUMENT	X12 SET	EDIFACT
PRODUCT/PRICING TRANSACTIONS
Price Sales Catalog	832	PRICAT
Price Authorization Acknowledgement/Status	845	ATHSTS
Specification/Technical Information	841	PRDSPE
Request For Quotation	840	REQOTE
ORDERING TRANSACTIONS
Purchase Order	850	ORDERS
Purchase Order Acknowledgement	855	ORDRSP
Purchase Order Change	860	ORDCHG
Purchase Order Change Acknowledgement	865	ORDRSP
MATERIALS MANAGEMENT TRANSACTIONS
Planning Schedule/Material Release	830	DELFOR
Shipping Schedule	862	DELJIT
Production Sequence	866	--
Ship Notice/manifest (ASN)	856	DESADV
SHIPPING/RECEIVING TRANSACTIONS
Shipment Information (Bill of Lading)	858	IFTMCS
Receiving Advice	861	RECADV
Non-conformance Information-Disposition Transaction, Cause/Correction	842	NONCON
INVENTORY MANAGEMENT TRANSACTIONS
Inventory Inquiry/Advice	846	INVRPT
Product Transfer and Resale Report	867	SLSRPT
FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS
Invoice	810	INVOIC
Freight Invoice	859	IFTMCS
Payment order/Remittance Advice (EFT)	820	REMADV

There are many differences between an X12 and an EDIFACT document and I would recommend that if you do not have the capabilities to do EDIFACT in house that you outsource to a strong global EDI solution provider who can handle both data formats. At B2BGateway, we have offices located in North America, Europe and Pacific/Asia regions and can handle all internationally recognized EDI data formats including not only X12 and EDIFACT but many, many more (Tradacoms in the UK for example).

For further information on B2Bgateway’s international data standards capabilities please visit www.B2BGateway.Net or call (401) 491 9595. 

Roger Leyden is Director of Global Business Development at B2BGateway.

 

B2BGateway.Net records 35% growth during Holiday Season 2012.

B2BGateway.Net, specialists in global EDI and eCommerce Data Integration, have just announced that they have helped client’s complete over 4,100,000 transactions during the Holiday Season 2012. This represents a 35% increase in completed transactions when compared to the same period in 2011.
 
B2BGateway.Net attributes this substantial growth to increased consumer confidence, the extended shopping period associated with online eCommerce sites and the large number of new clients who outsourced their EDI requirements to B2BGateway.Net throughout 2012.

According to Kevin Hoyle, CEO B2BGateway.Net;

“This is a great testament to the quality of solutions and customer service offered by B2BGateway.Net. The popularity of online eCommerce sites greatly extends the shopping and delivery period, with orders being accepted and shipped right up until December 23^rd. According to comScore, Cyber Monday in 2012 accounted for $1.5 billion dollars in US spending alone.  Four or five years ago most orders had to be placed and shipments received by the end of October at the very latest for the Brick & Mortar Stores.”

B2BGateway.Net is looking forward to continued growth throughout 2013 as many organizations now realize the benefits of integrating EDI with their online eCommerce stores and their third party logistics providers (3PL’s). Having full seamless EDI integration between all trading partners and the client’s ERP/Accounting software removes the need to re-key data, reduces errors and hastens the ‘order to payment’ cash cycle.

'Closing the Sale' Webinar

Check us out on Thursday, January 24 to learn the three simple steps to closing the sale with B2BGateway!

EDI 830 Forecasting Schedule

Question: Hi Louisa, I work for an automotive supplier and one of our customers recently stated that they wanted to start sending us an EDI 830 document. Would you be able to explain more about what an EDI 830 is and its purpose?

Answer: An EDI 830 (DELFOR in EDIFACT) is a forecast schedule. It is a document your trading partner sends to inform you of their projected product needs and is primarily used in the automotive industry.

The EDI 830 Forecast Schedule document may be used in a number of different ways, such as:

(i)                  A simple forecast.

(ii)                A forecast with the trading partner’s authorization for the vendor/supplier to commit to future resources such as labor or materials.

(iii)               A forecast that is also turned into a firm Purchase Order.

 
One caveat here is that not all 830s can be used to create a Purchase Order. Only trading partners with 830s that have release capabilities can be used to create a PO. The 830 forecasts weeks or even months in advance so you would only want to create orders that have a firm commitment and ignore the ‘probable orders’ until a later date when they become firm or agreed.
 
If you would like a more thorough explanation about the EDI 830 document or if you supply to the automotive industry or any other industry that requires the EDI 830 transaction set, please feel free to call us at 401-491-9595, visit www.B2BGateway.Net or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net for further details.
 
Louisa Gooding is the Director of Sales & Marketing at B2BGateway.