Understanding Data Interface for the Electronic Data Interchange System

This chapter provides overviews of:

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system.
Common Fields.
EDI standards.
EDI document processing.
Electronic documents supported by the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne system.
Program and table naming conventions.

Understanding the Electronic Data Interchange System

Electronic Data Interchange is the paperless, computer to computer exchange of business transactions, such as purchase orders and invoices, in a standard format with standard content. As such, it is an important part of an electronic commerce strategy.

Electronic commerce is a means to extend business processes to include suppliers, customers, and employees in a fully integrated supply chain. It can yield shorter cycle times, more efficient inventory management, and better knowledge sharing throughout the extended enterprise. To see these benefits, you need an integrated enterprise application system that you can extend and customize for the supply chain, while still maintaining enterprise information integrity.

The JD Edwards EnterpriseOne system includes features for enterprise resource planning that enable you to use electronic commerce for these business interactions:

Business to business	Planning, processing, and tracking information across the supply chain
Business to consumer	Connecting the company with the customers
Business to employee	Exchanging information and automating key business processes

EDI is a crucial part of business to business commerce. When computers exchange data using EDI, the data is transmitted in EDI Standard format so that it is recognizable by other systems using the same EDI Standard format. Companies who use EDI have their own translator software package to convert the data from the EDI Standard format to their computer system's format. Companies that exchange EDI data are called trading partners.

As an interface between the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne system data and the translator software, the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Data Interface for Electronic Data Interchange system (code 47) acts as a staging area for moving data in and out of the application systems. In addition to exchanging EDI data, this data interface can be used for general interoperability and electronic commerce needs where a file based interface meets the business requirements.

Some benefits of using the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Data Interface for Electronic Data Interchange system are:

Shorter fulfillment cycle.
Reduced errors.
Increased information integrity through reduced manual data entry.
Reduced clerical work for the manual manipulation of documentation.
Increased competitiveness in the marketplace.
Improved delivery of goods and services.
Decreased time in generating payments and invoices.
Decreased time in recording receipts of payment.

The JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Data Interface for Electronic Data Interchange system integrates with these JD Edwards EnterpriseOne systems to enable data exchange with the trading partner:

Sales Order Management
Procurement
Inventory Management
Accounts Payable
Accounts Receivable
Demand Scheduling

Understanding Common Fields

This table provides an overview of common fields:

Term	Description
Archive	To store data for possible future reference.
Authorization to Meet Competition No.	The Authorization to Meet Competition Number is transmitted and extracted for the ASN.
Card Number	The card number is an OEM assigned value that further describes the part number.
Data element	An individual piece of information within an EDI Standard document. You group data elements to form data segments.
Delivery Batch Number	The Delivery Batch Number is used to identify items that are required to be packaged together. It is not returned on the ASN or the MPL; although, it will be on the delivery batch label.
EDI Standard	A standardized format that defines the syntax, structure, and content of the inbound and outbound document data. ANSI ASC X12 - Cross-industry standard WINS - Warehouse industry UCS - Grocery industry TRADACOMS - Retail - UK EDIFACT - Commercial export and transport - international ODETTE - Motor and component suppliers - Europe In recent years, a United Nations committee has been working to reconcile ANSI ASC X12 with EDIFACT to further standardize EDI on an international basis.
Electronic Commerce	A business environment that includes computer to computer, application to application, and person to person exchange of information.
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)	Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the paperless, computer to computer exchange of business transactions, such as purchase orders and invoices, in a standard format with standard content.
Inbound document	A document that you receive from the trading partner using EDI. Also referred to as an inbound transaction.
Job Number	The lot number or job number that represents a group of sequence numbers and which uniquely identifies a job. The system uses the job number for production sequencing.
Job Sequence Number	The sequence number sent in from the OEM and that the system uses for production sequencing. Production sequencing is the process of indicating the order in which goods are unloaded from the truck.
Mapping	The process of converting information from one table structure to another. The translation software performs this process.
Off Line Date	The off line date is the date most of the OEM vehicles are expected to be produced. The off line date determines the first part of the rotation number or sequence number.
Outbound document	A document that you send to the trading partner using EDI. Also referred to as an outbound transaction.
Product Type	OEM reference number for third party vendors for kanban orders.
Purge	To delete unwanted data from the system. After data is purged, it can no longer be accessed.
Reference Number	A number that identifies a demand entity.
Routing Date	The routing date is transmitted for eKanban orders and populated to the third party data collection vendor and printed on the UCC/B10 label.
Routing Order Sequence Number	The routing order sequence number is transmitted for eKanban orders and populated to the third party data collection vendor and printed on the UCC/B10 label.
Routing Time	The routing time is transmitted for eKanban orders and populated to the third party data collection vendor and printed on the UCC/B10 label.
SCAC	A unique four-character code assigned to the carrier.
Segment	A predefined set of functionally related data elements.
Standard document	An EDI document that you exchange with the trading partner, such as a purchase order or sales order. Also called a transaction set in the ANSI ASC X12 or a message in the EDIFACT EDI Standards.
Syntax	The rules that govern the structure of EDI Standards.
System 47	The system code that includes the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne EDI interface tables and programs.
Tolerance rules	Rules that determine whether a transaction fits within an acceptable range for the transaction set and trading partner.
Trading partner	A company (usually a customer or supplier) with whom you exchange EDI documents.
Transaction set	An electronic business transaction (EDI Standard document) made up of segments. Also referred to as an EDI.
Transaction set codes	User-defined codes that describe each type of EDI transaction that you send and receive.
Transaction set purpose codes	User-defined codes that you set up to control the actions that the system performs when you send and receive EDI documents.
Translator software	The software that converts data from an application table format to an EDI Standard format, and from EDI Standard Format to application table format. The data is exchanged in an EDI Standard format, such as ANSI ASC X12, EDIFACT, UCS, or WINS.

Understanding EDI Standards

To exchange documents with trading partners, you must convert the data to and from EDI Standard formats.

EDI Standards are the requirements for the format and content of EDI business documents. EDI Standards determine the correct order and location of the units of data in an EDI document. All EDI transactions are defined by EDI Standards.

EDI Standards developers design and publish EDI Standard formats for various kinds of documents, such as purchase orders or invoices, that you might exchange with the trading partners.

All EDI Standards include:

Elements, which are the smallest component in an EDI Standard
Segments, which are groups of elements
Transaction sets (also called messages), which are groups of segments

EDI Standard format is comparable to the language that you speak. For instance, an element of the EDI Standard can be compared to a word. A segment in the EDI Standard is comparable to a sentence. A transaction set in the EDI Standard is comparable to a paragraph or a document. In the EDI Standard, just as in the language that you speak, elements (or words) are combined to form a segment (or a sentence). Segments (or sentences) are combined to create a Transaction set (or paragraph or document).

Two commonly used EDI Standards are:

EDI for Administration, Commerce, and Transport (EDIFACT), generic international
American National Standards Institute/Accredited Standards Committee X12 (ANSI ASC X12), generic

Subsets of ANSI ASC X12 include:

Transportation Data Coordinating Committee (TDCC), transportation industry, including air, rail, motor, and ocean
Uniform Communication Standard (UCS), grocery industry

Both ANSI ASC X12 and EDIFACT also contain subgroups, including:

Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG)
Chemical Industry Data Exchange (CIDX)
Electronics Industry Data Exchange (EIDX)
Voluntary Interindustry Communications Standards (VICS)
Textile/Apparel Manufacturing Communications (TAMCS)
Sundries and Apparel Findings Linkage Council (SAFLINC)
U.S. government

Preparing the System for EDI Implementation

To prepare the system for data interface for electronic data interchange implementation, you should:

Perform a detailed system analysis.
Set up the translator software.
Set up the Electronic Commerce system (system code 47).
Test communications with a trading partner to verify that you have set up the system correctly.

EDI Considerations

Use these questions to determine the scope of the implementation:

What types of software and hardware do you need to run EDI?
How many people do you need to support EDI operations?
Can the existing staff support EDI operations?
What kind of education does the staff need to handle EDI?
How will implementing EDI affect the company's overall operations?
Which departments in the company will experience an increase or decrease in workload?
What are the costs and benefits of implementing EDI?
Will management be involved in and committed to this project?

Agreements With Trading Partners

You and the trading partner need to agree on these terms before trading EDI documents:

What are the legal ramifications of EDI transactions?
How many Standard EDI documents will you trade?
How many trading partners will you have?

Understanding EDI Document Processing

This table describes inbound and outbound document processing:

Type of Document	Description
Inbound Documents	An inbound document is a document that you receive from the trading partner. When you receive inbound documents, the translator software retrieves the data using network communications and translates the data from EDI Standard format to a flat file format. The Universal Batch Engine Version Copy program (R9830512) translates the data from a flat file format to the application table format. The translator software moves the translated data into the inbound EDI interface tables (also known as System 47). Finally, the edit/update programs move the data into the appropriate application tables.
Outbound Documents	An outbound document is an EDI document that you send to the trading partner using the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Data Interface for Electronic Data Interchange system. When you send outbound documents, an EDI extraction program extracts records from the application tables to send to the trading partner. After the records are extracted, they are placed in the EDI interface tables (also known as System 47). Next, the Flat File Creation program converts the records from the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne EDI interface table format to a flat file format. Finally, the translator software translates these records from the flat file format into an EDI Standard format. After the records are translated, the translator software sends the data to the trading partner through network communications. The flat file creation program is an optional step that can be used to provide a flat file to a translator software package that does not have the ability to read data directly from a relational database.

Type of Document

Description

Inbound Documents

An inbound document is a document that you receive from the trading partner. When you receive inbound documents, the translator software retrieves the data using network communications and translates the data from EDI Standard format to a flat file format. The Universal Batch Engine Version Copy program (R9830512) translates the data from a flat file format to the application table format. The translator software moves the translated data into the inbound EDI interface tables (also known as System 47). Finally, the edit/update programs move the data into the appropriate application tables.

Outbound Documents

An outbound document is an EDI document that you send to the trading partner using the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Data Interface for Electronic Data Interchange system. When you send outbound documents, an EDI extraction program extracts records from the application tables to send to the trading partner. After the records are extracted, they are placed in the EDI interface tables (also known as System 47). Next, the Flat File Creation program converts the records from the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne EDI interface table format to a flat file format. Finally, the translator software translates these records from the flat file format into an EDI Standard format. After the records are translated, the translator software sends the data to the trading partner through network communications.

The flat file creation program is an optional step that can be used to provide a flat file to a translator software package that does not have the ability to read data directly from a relational database.

Understanding Electronic Documents Supported by the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne System

This list identifies EDI documents currently supported in JD Edwards EnterpriseOne:

X12 Transaction (JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Transaction ID)	ANSI X12	EDIFACT	Inbound To	Outbound From
Invoice (04)	810	INVOIC	Accounts Payable (AP), Procurement	Sales
Payment Order (05)	820	PAYORD		AP
Lockbox	823	CREMUL	Accounts Receivable (AR)	-
Application Advice	824	APERAK	System 47	-
Planning Schedule Forecast (06)	830	DELFOR	DRP/MRP	DRP/MRP
Request for Quote (09)	840	REQOTE	Sales	Procurement
Product Transfer Account Adjustment	844	ORDCHG	-	Sales, Advanced Pricing
Price Authorization Acknowledgement/Status	845	PRICAT	Sales, Advanced Pricing	-
Response to Product Transfer Account Adjustment	849	ORDRSP	Sales, Advanced Pricing	-
Purchase Order (01)	850	ORDERS	Sales	Procurement
Product Activity Data (12)	852	INVRPT	Inventory	Inventory
Purchase Order Acknowledgment (02)	855	ORDRSP	Procurement	Sales
Shipping Notice (03)	856	DESADV	Procurement	Transportation Management
Purchase Order Change (13)	860	ORDCHG	Sales	Procurement
Receiving Advice (07)	861	RECADV	Procurement, Sales	Procurement
Delivery Just in Time	862	DELJIT	-	Repetitive manufacturing
Purchase Order Response Message (14)	865	ORDRSP	Procurement	Sales
Functional Acknowledgements	997	CONTRL	System 47	-

Understanding Program and Table Naming Conventions

This list identifies the naming conventions used for EDI programs. The _ _ in the program number represents the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne transaction ID number that is unique for the various EDI standard documents.

Programs	Naming Convention
Status Inquiry	R47_ _0 or R47_ _ 6
Edit/Update	R47_ _1
Extraction	R47_ _2 R43500 for Outbound Purchase Orders and Outbound Request for Quotes R42565 for Outbound Invoices, Outbound Purchase Order Acknowledgments, and Outbound Response to Request for Quotes
Flat File Creation Program	R47_ _ 2C
Update as Sent	R47_ _7
Purge Inbound Tables	R47_ _8
Purge Outbound Tables	R47_ _

This list identifies the naming conventions used for EDI inbound tables. The _ _ in the program number represents the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne transaction ID number that is unique for the various EDI standard documents.

Table	Naming Convention
Header/Primary	F47_ _1
Detail	F47_ _2
Shipment, Destination, Quantity (SDQ)	F47_ _3
Address Information	F4706
Header Text	F4714
Detail Text	F4715
Other (as required)	F47_ _4

This list identifies the naming conventions that used for EDI outbound tables. The _ _ in the program number represents the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne transaction ID number that is unique for the various EDI standard documents.

Table	Naming Convention
Header/Primary	F47_ _ 6
Detail	F47_ _ 7
SDQ	F47_ _ 8
Other (as required)	F47 _ _ 9