Common EDI Standards

Common North American EDI Standards

Table 1. Common North American EDI Standards
Standard Industry Since
EDIA Transportation 1979
UCS Grocery 1982
WINS Warehousing 1982
ANSI X12 Cross-industry 1983
RosettaNet IT Supply Chain N/A
COMPORD Steel N/A

RosettaNet

The RosettaNet standard is based on XML and defines message guidelines, business processes, and interface and implementation frameworks for interactions between companies. IBM Sterling B2B Integration SaaS supports a RosettaNet translation that accepts flat files and translates them into RosettaNet standard documents. The service allows RosettaNet supply chain and solution partners to collaborate in executing RosettaNet Partner Interface Processes (PIPs). PIPs are XML-based dialogs that define business processes between trading partners.

The RosettaNet service provides the following features:
  • Transmission via HTTP/HTTPS.
  • Ability to accept flat files and translatePIDX into the RosettaNet standard.
  • Ability to view data flow tracking and transaction status using Sterling InFlight Data Management.
  • Guaranteed delivery and automated retries.
  • Use of MIME multipart/related type for basic enveloping construction.
  • Support for optional use of SMIME encryption/decryption user certificates.
  • Support for SSL.

International EDI Standards

Table 2. International EDI Standards
Standard Industry Region Since
TRADACOMS Retail UK 1982
ODETTE Automotive Europe 1985
UN/EDIFACT Commercial Export and Transportation Global 1988
EANCOM Retail Europe 1990
UK/EDIFACT Retail UK 1992
VDA Automotive Europe N/A
RND Automotive Brazil N/A

The VDA Standard

VDA has several features that distinguish it from most other 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 transmission). As a result, control numbers do not have 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 first 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 RND Standard

Rede Nacional de Dados (RND) is the Brazilian automotive standard. It consists of automobile manufacturers and their development partners, the suppliers, and the manufacturers of trailers, body superstructures, and containers. RND has several features that distinguish it from most other EDI standards:

  • It does not use functional groups.
  • Each interchange only contains one transaction set.
  • It uses a positional, non-delimited format.
  • It uses looping but not composite elements.