Background to PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) (SARS EDI Guidelines) The Internet is an inherently open system. Its strengths are built around this openness, low cost and ease of access and therefore the Internet is an inexpensive medium for transacting customs compliance-related business. This openness, however, is also a source of major threat to users of … Read More →
The Customs Act and EDI Release: SARS Explained This blog contains the Customs Act, Section 101A, Electronic communication for the purposes of customs and excise procedures as well as the Rules to Section 101A, for reference purposes. The first part – in the previous blog post. The Commissioner may set out in such agreement: (a) any … Read More →
Customs Act: Electronic communication for the purpose of customs and excise procedures The Commissioner may, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Act contained, establish and maintain a computer system for the purposes of the electronic processing of any document and procedure to which this Act relates and matters incidental thereto, which may include (i) … Read More →
UN/EDIFACT Data Elements (SARS Explained) Each data segment has a specific position within the sequence of segments in a message. Segments can appear on their own or as part of a group. A data element is the smallest unit of information in a segment. Two or more data elements may be grouped together to form … Read More →
UN/EDIFACT Standard: Basis for EDI communication The UN/EDIFACT standard has developed in response to the growing need for a common standard for data transmission using EDI facilities that is platform independent. UN/EDIFACT is defined as the United Nations rules for Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport. They comprise a set of internationally agreed … Read More →
SARS EDI Guidelines: Communications and Networks Once the data from an application has been converted from an in-house file format to a standard message format by means of the EDI software, the data must be communicated or physically transferred to the intended message recipient. Returning to the analogy of human communication and languages, even if … Read More →
EDI Components: Software (SARS Guidelines) The basic functionality of EDI enabling software, usually known as the EDI translator/converter, is that of translation of incoming messages from a message standard such as UN/EDIFACT to a company’s internal in-house file format and vice-versa for outgoing messages. However, in addition to the translator functionality, off-the-shelf EDI software packages … Read More →
The Components of an EDI System (SARS Explanation) The three components or building blocks of an EDI system are standard messages, EDI enabling software and electronic communications. In this blog post – Standard Messages. Standard Messages EDI and message standards have become inter-dependent as EDI has progressed from proprietary, closed systems to open systems. A simple … Read More →
Paper-less trading with EDI (SARS) Today, a majority of the data in commercial paper documents is generated from existing computer applications. These paper documents are printed and copied before the information they contain is finally communicated by mail or fax. The business partner in turn, re-keys all this information into another computer application for further … Read More →
EDI As A Vital Business Instrument Every day, businesses generate and process a staggering volume of paper documents. The paper documents, ranging from purchase orders and invoices to Customs Declarations and Customs Cargo Reports provide the vital information flow which must precede, accompany or follow the physical goods in a commercial transaction. Any interruption in … Read More →