Glossary
ASC
Accredited Standards Committee. Formed to develop uniform standards for electronic interchange of business transactions.
ASC X12
The ASC X12 standards for EDI.
ANSI
American National Standards Institute. The United States organization that compiles and publishes computer industry standards. ANSI also represents the United States and Canada in the International Standards Organization (ISO).
ANSI X12
The ANSI X12 standards developed for EDI.
ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange
Conditional (C)
A data element requirement designator which indicates the presence of other data elements in the segment. The condition must be stated and must be computer process able.
Data Element
The basic units of information in the EDI standards containing a set of values that represent a singular fact. They may be single character codes, literal descriptions or numeric values. EXAMPLE: "PURCHASE-ORDER-NUMBER."
Data Element Delimiter
The single character delimiter follows the segment identifier and each data element in a segment except the last.
Data Element Length
This is the range, minimum to maximum, or the number of character positions available to represent the value of the data element. A data element may be of variable length with the range from minimum to maximum, or it may be of fixed length in which the minimum is equal to the maximum.
Data Element Reference Number
Unique identifier assigned to each data element.
Data Element Requirement Designator
A code defining the need for a data element value to appear in the segment if the segment is transmitted. The codes are Mandatory (M), Optional (O) or Conditional (C).
Data Element Type
A data element may be one of six types: numeric, decimal, identifier, string, date or time.
Delimiters
The delimiters consist of two levels of separators and a terminator. The delimiters are an integral part of the transferred data stream. Delimiters are specified in the interchange header and may not be used in a data element value elsewhere in the interchange.
DISA
Data Interchange Standards Association. A non-profit organization funded by X12 which serves as the secretariat for X12.
Document
The data that makes up a business transaction, such as an invoice, purchase order or ship notice.
EDI
Electronic Data Interchange is the computer-to-computer exchange of business-related documents in a structured, machine processable format.
EDIFACT
EDI for Administration, Commerce and Trade.
Functional Acknowledgment
Notification to the sender that an electronic document has been received in a standards-compliant format.
Functional Group
Electronic documents (transaction sets) of like type, destined for the same trading partner.
Gateway
A connection between two networks which allows messages to be routed from one to the other. A communications interface between one system and another.
ISO
International Standards Organization responsible for defining international standards.
LOOP
A group of semantically related segments; these segments may be either bounded or unbounded (X12.6). EXAMPLE: The N1 loop, which indicated segments N1 to PER for name and address information.
Mailbox
An electronic data storage location within a network service which is set aside for a specific user to hold messages.
Mandatory (M)
A data element/segment requirement designator which indicates the presence of a specified date element is required.
Max Use
The maximum number of times that a segment can be used at the location in a transaction set.
Mapping
Utilizing a set a rules to convert data from one format to another.
Optional (O)
A data element/segment requirement designator which indicates the presence of a specified data element/segment is at the option of the ending party. Its use may be based on the mutual agreement of the interchange parties.
Qualifier
A data element which identifies or defines a related element, set of elements or a segment. The qualifier contains a code taken from a list of approved codes.
Repeating Segment
A segment that may be used more than once at a given location in a transaction set.
Segment
Logically grouped data, usually an electronic representation of a "line" on a printed business document. A data segment consists of a segment identifier, one or more data elements, each preceded by an element separator and ending with a segment terminator (X12.6).
Segment Directory
X12.22 provides the purposes and formats of the segments used in the construction of transaction sets. The directory lists each segment by name, purpose, identifier, the contained data elements in the specified order and the requirement designator for each data element.
Segment Identifier
A unique identifier for a segment composed of a combination of two or three uppercase letters and digits. The segment identifier occupies the first character positions of the segment. The segment identifier is not a data element.
Segment Terminator
A unique character appearing at the end of a segment to indicate the termination of the segment.
Syntax
The grammar or rules which defines the structure of the EDI standards (i.e. the use of loops, qualifier, etc.). Syntax rules are published in ANSI X12.6.
Trading Partner
A supplier, customer subsidiary or any other organization with which it does business.
Translator
Software package which converts the EDI document into a file which the receiving computer system can understand.
Transaction Set
A type of electronic business document defined in standard syntax which consists of a transaction set header segment, one or more segments in a specified order and a transaction set trailer segment.
Transaction Set ID
An identifier that uniquely defines the transaction set. This identifier is the first data element of the transaction set header segment.
Translation
The act of accepting documents in other than X12 standard format and translating them to the X12 standard format.
VAN
Value Added Network. A public data communications network offering EDI-specific services such as standards-compliance checking.
X.25
International standard for packet switching.