Interesting Things About EDI

Interview Questions on EDI


1. Who is the father of E.D.I.?
   
   
   Edward Guilbert is a major contributor to the standards and becomes known as the father of EDI. 
    
2. Is the functional Group ID is unique for every transaction set?
   
   
   No need. There are some transaction sets, which can occur together in a single group (GS01).
   
   

   GS01	ST01	Transaction set name
   QO	313	Shipment Status Inquiry (Ocean)
   	315	Status Details (Ocean)
   IO	310	Freight receipt and Invoice (Ocean)
   	312	Arrival Notice (Ocean)

3. Difference b/w UCS ,VICS version of EDI transaction type and Simple (4010)?

• 4010 is the complete ANSI EDI spec's.
• UCS is a subset used for the grocery industry, like Wake fern etc.
• VICS is a subset used for Retail, like Walmart, Sears etc.

4. What is the necessity of Interchange Acknowledgment (ISA14)?

• The X12 TA1 technical acknowledgment reports the status of the processing of an interchange header and trailer by the address receiver.
• When the ISA and IEA of the X12-encoded message are valid, a positive TA1 ACK is sent, whatever the status of the other content is. If not, TA1 ACK with an error code is sent.

4. Can I use Functional Acknowledgment (FA) 997 instead of Purchase Order Acknowledgment 855 ?

• No, The FA 997 only serves as a receipt that the transmission was received, not that it was accepted.
• Whereas the Purchase Order Acknowledgment 855 is used to acknowledge that you accept (or reject) the changes to the purchase order.

4. How to use ISA11 element in Interchange control header ?
   We can use it as in two ways as follows,

• Standard Identifier
• Repetition Separator

Standard identifier

Select the radio button to specify a Standard identifier instead of a repetition separator, and then select a value for the Standard identifier from the drop-down list.

The default value for the ISA11 usage radio buttons is Standard identifier.

The default value for the standard identifier is U - U.S. EDI Community of ASC X12, TDCC and UCS.

          Repetition separator

Select the radio button to specify a Repetition separator instead of a Standard identifier, and then enter a single character for the repetition separator. The repetition separator is used to separate segments that repeat within a transaction set.

The default value for the ISA11 usage radio buttons is Standard identifier, not Repetition separator.

If Repetition Separator is selected, the default value for the repetition separator is ^.

       7. What are the delimiters used in ANSI X12 ?

• Data Element Separator: 4 Char of ISA denotes data element separator. Used to separate simple data element or composite data structure. Commonly used is *
• Component Element Separator: ISA16 denotes this separator. Used to separate simple data elements within a composite data structure. Commonly used is :

• Repetition Separator: ISA11 is reused to denote repetition separator. Used to separate repeated occurrences of a simple data element or a composite data structure. Commonly used is ^
  
• Segment Separator: 106^th Char of ISA (fixed length segment) denotes segment separator. Used to separate segments. Commonly used is ~
  

      8. What is Service String Advice UNA in EDIFACT? What is its significance?

                  EDIFACT has an entire segment dedicated to defining the separators. And as expected this is the first segment and is called UNA, Service String Advice. Its function is to define the characters selected for use as delimiters and indicators in the rest of the interchange that follows. It is optional field.

Sample Segment: UNA:+.?*’

In the above Stream,

• The fourth character ‘:’ is the Component element separator 
   
• The fifth character ‘+’ is the Data Element Separator

• The sixth character ‘.’ is the Decimal Notation

• The seventh character ‘?’ is the Release Character

• The eight character ‘*’ is the Repetition Char

• The ninth character ‘’’ is the Segment Separator 
  
  9. Is Segment terminator is a mandatory field in Interchange Control Header?
  
  No. It is not an mandatory field in Interchange Control Header.
  

        10. What are the responsible agency codes (GS07) in Functional Group Header?

         

         Generally used Responsible agency codes are,

                  

          X---For ANSIX12

          T----For TDCC (Transportation Data Coordination Committee)

The History of EDI

E.D.I.
Electronic Data Interchange

Before the days of wide-spread EDI use, communication of business processes between companies was slow and error prone. Trading partners had to send each other paper documents in order to fulfill their requests. Slow processes, delays and errors were an obstacle for companies who wanted fast shipments, fast payments, and who valued accurate information exchange with their business partners.

EDI which stands for Electronic Data Interchange is the computer-to-computer communication of business documents between companies in a standard format. It is a paperless way to send and receive Purchase Order, Invoices, etc

 
 
Although EDI has been around for decades, finding a brief history of EDI in one place is surprisingly difficult. Here is a timeline of significant events. Comments about other events of note are welcome.

Early 1960’s

Ed Guilbert develops an electronic message format for sending information about cargo between Du Pont and Chemical Leahman Tank Lines. Guilbert expanded on the standardized shipping manifests he developed with other U.S. Army officers during the Berlin airlift of 1948.  

1965

The Holland- America steamship line begins sending trans-Atlantic shipping manifests using telex messages and converting the messages into tape that could be loaded into their computers. Previously, sending shipping manifests had been accomplished with paper. This helped begin the foundation of the EDI format. Telex is capable of sending a full page of information in about 2 minutes.

1968

Many oceanic shipping companies, airlines, railroads, trucking companies are using electronic messages for manifests but the many disparate formats are creating problems. The Transportation Data Coordinating Committee [TDCC] is created and begins work on developing standards.

1973

The FTP protocol is published. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is a way to transfer files between computers. The transmission can be between any two computers that support the FTP protocol. File Transfer Protocol would emerge as one method for sending electronic messages between companies.  

1975

The first Electronic Data Interchange standards are published by the Transportation Data Coordinating Committee that was created in 1968.
Edward Guilbert is a major contributor to the standards and becomes known as the father of EDI. In the same year Telenet, the first VAN (Value Added Network) is established. Telenet provides a commercial data network and associated services.

1977

Several grocery companies begin an EDI pilot project with their business partners.

1978

The Transportation Data Coordinating Committee is renamed the Electronic Data Interchange Association. In the same year the association is chartered by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The association will become known as the ANSI X12 committee and will evolve the publication of EDI standards.

1981 

ANSI X12 standards are published for the first time and encompass the transportation, food, drug, warehouse and banking industries.

1982

Companies such as General Motors and Ford in the automotive industry begin to mandate EDI for their suppliers Several large retailers, including Sears and Kmart, begin to demand EDI capability from their suppliers.

1985

The EDIFACT (Electronic Data Interchange For Administration, Commerce and Transport) EDI standard is created by the United Nations to assist with the global use of the technology. EDIFACT will be adopted by the automotive industry, but other industries in the United States continue to use the ANSI X12 standard. 

1991

About 12,000 businesses in the United States are using EDI.

1996

EDI is transmitted over the internet between companies who have the capability to manage the point-to-point communication requirements of each of their partners.

2001

The AS/2 communications standard is published by the Uniform Code Council. AS/2 provides encrypted transmissions of data over the internet.

2004

Wal-Mart begins using AS/2 communication with their suppliers. Some other major retailers will follow suit, but many retailers continue to use VAN communication to this day to outsource the management of their EDI connections.

Today 

Well over 90% of the Fortune 500 use ANSI X12 or EDIFACT. Large companies in Europe have similar adoption levels. Over one hundred thousand companies in the United States use an EDI Solution to communicate with their business partners.