Using VDA

Sterling B2B Integrator supports the use of Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA), the standard for the German Association of the Automotive Industry (which consists of automobile manufacturers and their development partners, the suppliers, and the manufacturers of trailers, body superstructures, and containers).

VDA has several features that distinguish it from most other EDI standards:

• It does not use a common set of interchange envelopes for all messages.
• It does not use functional groups.
• It uses a positional, non-delimited format.
• It uses looping but not composite elements.
• It uses a new control number (for the current transmission) and an old control number (for the previous one). As a result, control numbers do not need to be sequential.
• In some messages, it processes date formats differently than other standards.
• It uses a separate message to identify the communications protocol. A message is defined by a four-digit number, which does not appear in the data.
• The header record has eight fields: tag, version, customer, supplier, old transmission number, new transmission number, transmission date, and date reset input.
• Each record begins with a three-byte record ID and a two-byte version number.

The VDA standards are not installed with the other EDI standards; instead, sixteen new Integrator File Definition (IFD) files—corresponding to the inbound and outbound formats for the eight VDA message types/transaction sets that Sterling B2B Integrator supports—are bundled with the IBM® Sterling B2B Integrator Map Editor and placed by the Sterling B2B Integrator Map Editor install in the Map Editor - Standards Folder/Map Editor/Samples/IFDs folder. Additionally, Sterling B2B Integrator automatically installs the appropriate VDA build and break (system) maps, which determine the message type and then match it with the appropriate envelope. You can then create VDA maps to translate your data by loading the appropriate IFD file and creating a map with your specific requirements. See VDA Mapping.

In addition, support for VDA requires you to create inbound and outbound VDA envelopes. See VDA Envelopes. You must also create a business process or processes to order the flow of the Sterling B2B Integrator activities so you can accomplish your business objectives with VDA.

For more information on the VDA standard, access this web site:

http://www.vda.de

For more information on ordering VDA recommendations, access this web site: http://www.vda.de/de/service/sonstige_veroeffentlichungen/index.html and select the VDA-Empfehlungen option.

This table describes how Sterling B2B Integrator was enhanced to support VDA: