PeopleSoft Electronic Data Interchange

Electronic Data Interchange is a method companies use to exchange data and transact business electronically. For example, using EDI a company can submit an order to a supplier, and the supplier can acknowledge and fulfill the order without paper changing hands or any contact between company representatives.

EDI provides a standard format for transaction data, allowing trading partners to communicate in a common language. 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 your extended enterprise. To see these benefits, you need an integrated enterprise application system that you can extend and customize for your supply chain, while still maintaining enterprise information integrity.

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.

The following diagram illustrates the inbound and outbound EDI transactions used by PeopleSoft.