Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12 |
The committee was chartered by ANSI in 1979 to develop uniform standards for the electronic interchange of business documents. Accredited Standards Committee X12 consists of U.S. industry and Government members who develop Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) standards for submission to ANSI for subsequent approval as a United States Standard or to the UN/Electronic Commerce Europe (ECE) for approval and submission of UN/EDIFACT international standards. | |
American National Standards Institute (ANSI) |
A private, non-profit membership organization that coordinates the development and approval of voluntary consensus standards in the United States. | |
American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) |
A standard character set developed to enable efficient data exchange and compatibility among different computer platforms and peripherals. ASCII is a seven bit code with an eighth bit used for parity. The term is used to describe the format for transmission and for storage. | |
Basic Semantic Unit (BSU) |
A BSU is a "semantically pure" data element. Perhaps the best way to explain this is by example. Consider a product code. The Product Code identifies a particular class of object. There are many synonyms: item number, part number, assembly code, raw material code, etc., and there can be several semantic contexts: customer's product code, supplier's product code, manufacturer's product code, etc. All the synonyms, even though they convey different flavors of product code, in fact represent exactly the same thing in Information Technology terms - an identification for a specific class of objects. | |
Data Element |
A unit of data, which in a certain context, is considered indivisible. UN/EDIFACT: a unit of data for which the identification, description, and value representation have been specified. (ISO 9735) | |
Data Segment |
A data segment is a group of related data elements in a transaction set. Each segment has a unique segment identifier, a combination of two or three uppercase letters and/or digits that serves as a name for the segment, and occupies the first character positions of the segment. A segment is equivalent to a data record in a database. | |
Document Content Definition (DCD) |
Microsoft's initial attempt creating a replacement for DTDs using XML syntax to describe the document structure and semantics. | |
DoD EB/EC |
The interchange and processing of information via electronic techniques for accomplishing transactions based upon the application of commercial standards and practices. Further, an integral part of implementing EB/EC is the application of business process improvement or reengineering to streamline business processes prior to the incorporation of technologies facilitating the electronic exchange of business information. | |
EDI |
Transactions that are structured in a highly standardized way that facilitates use over machine-to-machine interfaces with no human intervention. | |
Electronic Commerce (EC) |
A concept and implementation that includes a range of enabling technologies supporting the timely digital exchange of business information and includes but is not limited to Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), electronic mail, bar-coding, electronic funds transfer, electronic bulletin boards, electronic security technologies (e.g., public key encryption), and electronic catalogs. | |
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) |
Exchange of formation from one computer system to another without human intervention. | |
Format |
The organization, plan, type, or style of an EC/EDI object. | |
Framework |
A structured set of standards used to integrate quasi-autonomous organizational modules into an integrated enterprise. A Framework comprises three architectures: · Process Architecture - that defines the business processes of the integrated enterprise.
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Identifier |
A character or group of characters used to identify or name an item of data and possibly to indicate certain properties of that data. (ISO 9735) | |
Implementation Convention (IC) |
An agreement between trading partners on how they will interpret the meaning of data elements in an EDI transaction set or message. | |
Interchange |
Communication between partners in the form of a structured set of messages and service segments starting with an interchange control header and ending with an interchange control trailer. (ISO 9735) | |
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) |
An international organization with representatives from member countries that develops and approves international standards. The International Organization for Standardization, based in Geneva, is a federation of national standards organizations. | |
ISO 9735 |
International standard issued by ISO, which reproduces the UN/EDIFACT Syntax Rules as agreed by the Working Party on Facilitation of International Trade Procedures (WP.4). | |
Mandatory |
A statement in a segment or message directory that specifies that a segment, a data element, a composite data element, or a component data element must be used. (ISO 9735) | |
Message |
An ordered series of characters intended to convey information. UN/EDIFACT: a set of segments in the order specified in a message directory, starting with the message header and ending with the message trailer. (ISO 9735) Equivalent to a transaction set. | |
Object |
An object is something of which one takes cognizance. The object taxonomy is an extensible, systematized, hierarchical structure that functions as an aid in associating, classifying, defining, distinguishing, identifying, and ordering objects. (ISO 1179) | |
Property |
A property is defined as that which identifies a quality specifically in the constitution of (or found in) the behavior of a species or type of thing by virtue of that thing's true or essential nature. (ISO 11179) | |
Property |
The human perception of a single characteristic of an object in the real world. One of the concepts, which is linked to a data element. | |
Qualifier |
A data element whose value shall be expressed as a code that gives specific meaning to the function of another data element or a segment. (ISO 9735) | |
Repeating Segment |
A segment that may repeat in a message as specified in the relevant message type specification. (ISO 9735) | |
Segment |
A predefined and identified set of functionally related data element values that compose an X12 transaction set or an UN/EDIFACT message. | |
Semantic Unit |
The smallest unique and repeatable functional, physical, or conceptual unit of meaning that may be applied within a particular domain. | |
Semantics |
Pertains to the meaning of the information contained within a data structure, independent of the structure itself, such that the conversion from one structure to another would not change the meaning of the data. In this paper, the discussion focuses on what meaning can be inferred by the placement of information in the structure of EDI data. | |
Structure |
The manner in which elements are organized or interrelated. | |
Syntax |
The data pattern and/or structure relative to an EC/EDI object. | |
Syntax Rules |
Rules governing the structure of an interchange and its functional groups, messages, segments, and data elements. (ISO 9735) | |
Trading Partner |
An organizational entity (Government, private sector, association, small, or large business) that has a commercial relationship with another entity. | |
Trading Partner Agreement (TPA) |
A legal document between two trading partners that defines general EDI procedures, terms, and conditions, and the EDI transaction sets that will be used. | |
Transaction Set |
ANSI X12 complete business document such as an invoice, a purchase order, or a remittance advice. | |
UN/EDIFACT |
United Nations rules for Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce, and Transport. They comprise a set of standards, directories, and guidelines for the electronic interchange of structured data, and in particular, that related to trade in goods or services, between independent computerized information systems. Recommended within the framework of the United Nations, the rules are approved and published by the UN/ECE in the United Nations Trade Data Interchange Directory (UNTDID) and are maintained under agreed procedures. UNTDID includes: · The UN/EDIFACT Application Level Syntax Rules (ISO 9735)
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Unit of Functionality |
A logical grouping of information representing a particular semantic function (i.e., a unit of business functionality). | |
