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United Nations/Electronic Data Interchange For Administration, Commerce, and Transport (UN/EDIFACT) is the international EDI standard developed under the United Nations. The work of maintenance and further development of this standard is done through the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) under the UN Economic Commission for Europe, in the Finance Domain working group UN CEFACT TBG5. EDIFACT has been adopted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as the ISO standard ISO 9735. An inter-company, application-to-application communication of data in standard format for business transactions Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a set of standards for structuring information that is to be electronically exchanged between and within businesses, organizations, government entities and other groups. ...
“Standard†redirects here. ...
UN and U.N. redirect here. ...
The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business, (UN/CEFACT) has a mission to improve the ability of business, trade and administrative organizations, from developed, developing and transitional economies, to exchange products and relevant services effectively - and so contribute to the growth of global commerce. ...
// UN CEFACT TBG5 is the standards organization responsible for financial services under the United Nations Centre for Trade facilitation and Electronic Business, (UN/CEFACT) under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). ...
“ISO†redirects here. ...
The EDIFACT standard provides
- A set of syntax rules to structure data,
- An interactive exchange protocol (I-EDI),
- Standard messages which allow multi-country and multi-industry exchange.
Example
See below for an example of an EDIFACT message used to answer to a product availability request: UNB+IATB:1+6XPPC+LHPPC+940101:0950+1’ UNH+1+PAORES:93:1:IA’ MSG+1:45’ IFT+3+XYZCOMPANY AVAILABILITY’ ERC+A7V:1:AMD’ IFT+3+NO MORE FLIGHTS’ ODI’ TVL+240493:1000::1220+FRA+JFK+DL+400+C’ PDI++C:3+Y::3+F::1’ APD+74C:0:::6++++++6X’ TVL+240493:1740::2030+JFK+MIA+DL+081+C' PDI++C:4’ APD+EM2:0:1630::6+++++++DA’ UNT+13+1’ UNZ+1+1’ - ' is a segment terminator
- + is a data element separator
- : is a component data element separator
- ? is a release character
Note: The line breaks after each segment in this example have been added for readability. There are typically no line breaks in EDI data.
UNH+1+PAORES:93:1:IA’- This is the header segment which is required at the start of every message. This code specifies that the message name and version is PAORES 93 revision 1 and it was defined by the organisation IA (IATA).
IFT+3+NO MORE FLIGHTS’ - This is an 'Interactive Free Text' segment containing the text 'NO MORE FLIGHTS'
UNT+13+1’ - This is the tail segment. It indicated that the message sent contains 13 segments.
Structure EDIFACT has a hierarchical structure where the top level is referred to as an interchange, and lower levels contain multiple messages which consist of segments, which in turn consist of composites. The final iteration is an element which is derived from the United Nations Trade Data Element Directory (UNTDED) and are normalised throughout the EDIFACT standard.
A group or segment can be mandatory (M) or conditional (C) and can be specified to repeat. For example, C99 indicates between 0 and 99 repetitions of a segment or group, while M99 signifies between 1 and 99 repetitions.
A group, like a message, is a sequence of segments or groups. The first segment or group beneath a group must be mandatory, and the group should be made conditional if the logic of the situation demands it.
Current state of EDIFACT There is an apparent battle between XML and EDIFACT. An equivalent XML message has a larger file size than an EDIFACT message, but it is easier for users to read (although this is not necessary because the contents are created to be read by computers). Another possible explanation is that compatibility is being favored over performance, since more tools exist to work with XML data than with EDIFACT. EDIFACT-messages can be up to ten times smaller than XML-messages. That makes XML less attractive for very large message contents. The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a general-purpose markup language. ...
An advantage of EDIFACT is the availability of agreed message-contents, which XML must leverage to develop its own similar agreed contents. RosettaNet is one of the emerging XML standards and is widely used in semiconductors and high tech industries. RosettaNet is a non-profit consortium aimed at establishing standard processes for the sharing of business information. ...
UBL is another currently being adopted by Scandinavian governments as a legally required standard for sending invoices to governments, and was enforced in February 2005 that all invoices to the Danish government must be sent in an electronic format. From the OASIS Site: UBL, the Universal Business Language, is the product of an international effort to define a royalty-free library of standard electronic XML business documents such as purchase orders and invoices. ...
ebXML is another XML standard built by UN/CEFACT (along with EDIFACT), and is often seen as a standard best suited for small and medium enterprises. Electronic Business using eXtensible Markup Language, commonly known as e-business XML, or ebXML (pronounced ee-bee-ex-em-el) as it is typically referred to as, is a family of XML based standards sponsored by OASIS and UN/CEFACT whose mission is to provide an open, XML-based infrastructure...
The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business, (UN/CEFACT) has a mission to improve the ability of business, trade and administrative organizations, from developed, developing and transitional economies, to exchange products and relevant services effectively - and so contribute to the growth of global commerce. ...
However, EDIFACT is likely to remain the most widely used in high tech, civil aviation, retail and tourism industries, due to the amount of software that leverages the standard, and the need for integration between new systems and legacy systems.
Europe has a large EDIFACT installed base because it adopted the technology early, while the Asian region adopted B2B in later implementations and is therefore using more XML standards. Business-to-business (B2B) describes relations of commercial partners, without serving the end consumer. ...
EDIFACT will grow further in Europe's energy market where it is a current requirement.
See also An inter-company, application-to-application communication of data in standard format for business transactions Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a set of standards for structuring information that is to be electronically exchanged between and within businesses, organizations, government entities and other groups. ...
GS1 is a global organization dedicated to the design and implementation of global standards and solutions to improve the efficiency and visibility of supply and demand chains globally and across multiple sectors. ...
In 1979, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) chartered the Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12 to develop uniform standards for interindustry electronic exchange of business transactions-electronic data interchange (EDI) In 1986, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) approved the acronym UN/EDIFACT, which translates to United...
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the computer-to-computer exchange of structured information, by agreed message standards, from one computer application to another by electronic means and with a minimum of human intervention. ...
XML/EDIFACT combines EDIFACT content with XML syntax. ...
External links - UN/EDIFACT Main Page
- List of EDIFACT transaction sets
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