EDI - Electronic Data Interchange
EDI provides business process integration across
companies by exchanging business documents such as
purchase orders, invoices, and shipment notices in
electronic form, using industry standard formats such
as ANSI X12 ( American National standards Institute)
and EDIFACT (Electronic Data Interchange For
Administration, Commerce, and Transport).
What is EDI?
EDI is the electronic exchange of business documents
between the computer systems of business partners, using
a standard format over a communication network.
Typical Business document exchanged by business partners
Request for Quote
Quote Vendor
Customer
Purchase Order
Order
Purchasing Order Acknowledgement Management
Purchase Order
Change Manufacturing
Shipment Notice
Receiving Shipping
Carrier
Shipment Bill of
Status Lading
Billing
ce
Invoi
Accounts
Payable Accounts
Receivable
Account Information
Remittance Advice
Customer EFT Supplier
Payment Data Bank Bank
Account Information
Components of the EDI system
Vendor Customer
Application Application
Program Program
Business
document Business
document
Value - Added
Network
Translator Translator
EDI message EDI message
Differences between ANSIX12 / EDIFACT
EDIFACT calls business documents messages and represents them
by a name such as ORDERS for a purchase order, whereas ANSIX12
calls them transactions and represents them by a number such as 850
for a purchase order.
EDIFACT uses the same segment in multiple places , where as ANSI
has a specific use for each segment.
EDIFACT has additional segments that apply to international trade.
Conditional fields in EDIFACT are the same as optional fields in
ANSIX12.
Components of the EDI System
♦Trade Partners : The trading partners can be any combination of
organization or business types.
♦Application program : AP’s are responsible for generating and
processing data in business documents
♦Business document : A business document is a legal document that
defines the transaction conducted between trading partners.
♦Translator : The translator is responsible for mapping application data
to the EDI standard format.
♦EDI Message : The standards EDIFACT /ANSIX12 defined various EDI
messages that govern the rules , format, and content of data in a
transaction.
♦Value-Added Network :The VAN provides a mailbox on the network to
each trading partner. This mail box is polled periodically for messages.
The application software does not have to be connected or running at the
time of message exchange.
SAP - EDI communication.
EDI EDI
SAP sub system VAN sub system NON - SAP
The SAP EDI process comprises two distinct process
1. Outbound Process.
2. Inbound Process.
EDI OutBound Process
EDI-Enabled
application DB repository
App doc
Selection
program
idoc
VAN
Outbound
trigger
program Idoc file
EDI sub
System
Edi
doc
1. Application document is created.
The outbound process involves creating an application document, such as purchase order,
sales order, and saving it in the database tables.
2. The IDoc is generated
The application document just created is formatted to an IDoc format. The data in the
application document format is suitable for the application modules, screens and
internal programs.A document in an IDoc format is suitable for processing by
EDI components.
3. The IDoc is transferred from SAP to the Operating system layer.
Document in IDoc format resides in the SAP database repository. This Idoc document
must be passed down to the Operating System layer for processing by the EDI subsystem.
The IDoc is transferred to the operating system as a text file. The document is still in an
IDoc format. The only difference is the medium of storage.
4. The IDoc is converted to EDI standards
For EDI purposes, the document in Idoc format has to be converted into an EDI standard
format. A type of third-party software called a translator carries out the transformation
process and reports status back to the SAP system. SAP refers to these translators as EDI
subsystems. SAP takes no responsibility for translation it just maintains the status reported
by the EDI subsystem.
5. The EDI document is transmitted to the business partner.
After the document is converted to an EDI standard format, it is transmitted to
a trading partner based on the partner’s EDI settings.
6. The Edi subsystem reports status to SAP
when and Idoc is under the control of the EDI subsystem, the subsystem can optionally
report the state of processing at various milestones back to the SAP system.
EDI Inbound Process
EDI-Enabled
application DB repository
App doc
Posting
program
idoc
VAN
Inbound
trigger
program Idoc file
EDI sub
System
Edi
doc
1. The EDI transmission is received.
Edi documents are received from business partner via the VAN. These documents are in
one of the EDI standard formats.
2. The Edi documents is converted into and Idoc.
The document is converted into an Idoc format suitable for SAP applications. The
process is carried out at the EDI subsystem level.
3. The IDoc is transferred to the SAP layer
the IDoc created is stored in text file at the operating system layer. The subsystem starts
an inbound program in the SAP layer. This Program reads the Idoc file and creates and
Idoc in the SAP repository for further processing.
4. The application document is created.
The IDoc received form the subsystem is passed to a posting program. This program
creates an application document such as sales order, purchase order acknowledgement,
invoice , or shipment notice.
5. The application document can be viewed.
The application document can be viewed via EDI is the same as any document
created manually in the system.
