Making electronic business documents uniform
Standards are what set EDI apart from other electronic methods of transferring data. Before getting into details about administration of EDI standards such as ANSI ASC X12 or UN/EDIFACT, it is important to understand why standards are used.
Organizations such as BlueCross and Aetna deal with thousands of health care providers. Imagine the inefficiencies and challenges these organizations would face if each provider sent a proprietary file. On the provider side, if a provider is billing BlueCross and Aetna and 10 other trading partners, imagine the inefficiencies and challenges the providers would face if they had to accommodate a separate proprietary custom file for each of their trading partners. This would be a costly administrative nightmare.
EDI standards are built on the concept of making electronic business documents uniform, without regard to country or place of origin or industry. EDI standards ensure document integrity. The standards provide the controls needed to track the exchanged electronic business documents and confirm that all the data that was sent, was in fact, received and processed by the trading partner.
The use of published EDI standards enhances the overall usefulness of the inter-company business transactions. Millions of lines of codes have been written to produce multiple commercial products that translate EDI data according to standards. Hundreds of leaders from different industries have met for more than 30 years to develop and grow EDI standards worldwide.
To learn more about EDI and become a certified EDI Professional please visit our course schedule page.