Ameritech EDI Program: Standards
Electronic Data Interchange is often described as the computer to computer exchange of business documents in a standardized format. The EDI world has evolved significantly over the past 5 years with the introduction of many new products and services to make the implementation process easier and more successful. All of these versions are accepted by Ameritech’s bank.
Standards refer to ANSI X12 Transactions or structured computer readable business documents. Standards are managed by a national organization known as the American National Standards Institute or ANSI. There are several committees within ANSI. The group that defines EDI transactions for the US and Canada is known as X12. Industries may interpret transactions differently based upon a particular industry need. Several industry based groups have been formed for EDI standards development. The telecommunication industry group is known as TCIF or the Telecommunication Industry Forum. Ameritech supports and participates in the development of EDI guidelines including the development of the Consolidated Service Invoice/Statement (811 transaction set) and the Payment Order/Remittance Advice (820 transaction set). Standards are evolving, and as of late 1993, several versions of the ANSI X12 standards have been released. It is neither required nor anticipated that a company will change with every standard release. All transactions become part of a release whether or not they have changed from previously released versions.
Standards are made up of four components: transactions, segments and data elements and delimiters. Transactions are made up of a series of segments and are defined by transaction numbers assigned by ANSI X12. Segments are made up of a series of related data elements and are equivalent to data processing records. Data elements are the smallest component and are equivalent to data processing fields. Delimiters are special characters used to separate data elements and segments. Before transmission, transactions are compressed to remove all spaces for economical data transfer.
More about EDI Worldwide Standards
To learn more about EDI and become a certified EDI Professional please visit our course schedule page.