Revision Date: 12/31/2007 Module: Exact EDI Version:
Description: How to read EDI data.
Solution: To correctly setup Exact EDI requires you to have some knowledge of how EDI raw data is configured.
1. Raw data, loosely defined, is the non-formatted data of an EDI document. It is the data in a form that can be read by Exact EDI or other EDI translators. An example would be:
BIG*20010315*00003811*20001026*22137***DR~
CUR*SE*TPD~
REF*GT*91~
REF*IL*00000163~
N1*OB**92*1013~
ITD*01*3*1.5*010330*15**30*1542~
DTM*011*001227~
IT1**150*EA*0.0428**VP*830405*SK*543008*UP*159362830405~
PO4*10**PO~
IT1**350*EA*0.804285**VP*830207*SK*723008*UP*159362830207~
PO4*5**98~
IT1**525*EA*1.41**VP*830306*SK*633008*UP*159362830306~
TDS*110164~
CAD****PPPP*PARCEL POST*CC*BM*00000163~
SAC*C*D200***150~
SAC*C*H630***7197~
ISS*190**60075*LB~
CTT*3*1025~
2. Each line of raw data in an EDI document is called a segment. In our sample, the line:
is a segment.
3. A segment is made up of four individual parts:
Segment tag
Elements
Element separators
Segment terminator
4. An element separator is a unique character that separates each element in the segment and separates the segment tag from the elements. In our example, the element separators are the asterisks.
The element separators tell the translator where one element ends and the next one begins. Therefore, the element separator must be a character that is not typically used in anything else. For example, you wouldn’t want to use the letter h as an element separator. If you did, your translator wouldn’t read John as the name John, but instead as two separate elements, Jo and n.
5.The segment tag is the first piece of data in the segment and is followed by an element separator. The segment tag describes what specific information the segment contains. In our example, the segment tag is BIG, which indicates that this is the beginning segment of an 810 invoice.
6. Elements are the individual pieces of data in the segment. In our example, the elements are 20010315, 00003811, 20001026, 22137, two empty elements, and DR.
7. The last character in the segment is the segment terminator. Just as a period tells you that you’ve reached the end of a sentence, the segment terminator tells the translator that it has reached the end of the segment. In our example, the segment terminator is the tilde.
8. Now that you know the individual pieces of the segment, it’s time to put them together. When reading raw data, a specific piece of data is referred to by its segment tag and two-digit element number. In our example, the DR would be referred to as the BIG07.
9. To determine the two-digit element number, start counting with the first element after the segment tag and count each element, including empty elements, until you get to the data in question. For example:
1 2 3 4 56 7
It’s important to note that you do not count the segment tag when counting the elements.
It’s also important to note that although there is no data in the two elements between 22137 and DR, you still count those two elements.
10. After you know the two digit element number for the data, put those after the segment tag. For single digit numbers like 7, add a zero in front of it to get the two digits.
BIG + 07 = BIG07
11. Once you know which element you’re referring to (BIG07), you can look that up in the trading partner specs to see what information is expected in that element:
As you can see in our example, the BIG07, per the trading partner’s specs, is the code specifying the type of transaction.
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