Tag Archive for: EDI transactions


EDIElectronic Data Interchange is a well-established protocol of business data exchange, which has become more and more widespread in recent years among businesses of all sizes and various industries.

Through EDI, companies can exchange business documents that were traditionally communicated on paper or by e-mail.

By replacing the exchange of paper or e-mail documents with EDI, companies save time and eliminate manual data processing, which often leads to errors and costly delays in all business processes.

Companies today use EDI to send all kinds of documents, from orders, and invoices to motor carrier load tender, customs manifest, and more.

The exchange of EDI takes place between business partners who exchange goods or services.

All EDI transactions comply with standards developed and maintained by several organizations including UN/CEFACT, X12, ODETTE, GS1, Peppol, and others.

However, despite uniform standards, each industry can use a certain set of specific EDI transactions. Below we provide some examples of EDI documents for specific industries.

USEFUL: A complete list of documents that can be exchanged via EDI

EDI for Transportation and Logistics Industries

The Transportation industry actively uses EDI and, in addition to standard transactions, this industry use sets of specific EDI documents.

The transport industry includes a huge variety of different types of transportation. It includes marine, air, rail, and motor freight. Accordingly, the EDI transactions used for example in rail transportation will differ from those used by motor freight.

The Most Used EDI Transactions for Transportation and Logistics

USEFUL: You can find a complete list of EDI transportation codes in our article “EDI Integration for Transportation and Logistics

EDI for the Supply Chain Industry

The supply chain industry includes many processes such as distribution, inventory, purchasing, production planning, sales, supply chain planning, interaction with trading partners and warehouses.

The use of EDI in the supply chain allows the company to quickly exchange documents electronically with all suppliers, exchange prices and catalogs, track information on shipments and acceptance of goods. EDI allows to make the supply chain as transparent and efficient as possible, receiving up-to-date data on the movement of goods and funds in real-time.

EDI Transactions for Supply Chain

Here are some of the most common EDI documents in the supply chain:

  • EDI 810 – Invoice
  • EDI 846 – Inventory Status
  • EDI 850 – Purchase Order
  • EDI 856 – Ship Notice/Manifest
  • EDI 855 – Purchase Order Acknowledgment
  • EDI 820 – Payment Order/Remittance Advice
  • EDI 753 – Request For Routing Instructions
  • EDI 754 – Routing Instructions
  • EDI 816 – Organizational Relationships
  • EDI 830 – Planning Schedule With Release Capability

To learn more about the use of EDI in the supply chain, read our article: Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) in the Supply Chain

It covers the following questions:

– What is EDI?

– Why use EDI in the supply chain?

– How does EDI work?

– Typical EDI workflow process

– Additional and specific types of EDI messages

– Benefits of EDI for Supply Chain Management

– Effective EDI Solution for Supply Chain

USEFUL: EDI for Third-Party Logistics providers (3PL)

EDI for HealthCare and Insurance Industries

EDI is of great value to healthcare organizations because it provides a secure way to electronically exchange sensitive information.

The healthcare industry includes health insurance activities, which are carried out by both commercial and public health organizations.

Most common EDI Transaction Sets in HealthCare

  • HIPAA / X12 270 – Eligibility, Coverage, or Benefit Inquiry
  • HIPAA / X12 271 – Eligibility, Coverage, or Benefit Response
  • HIPAA / X12 276 – Healthcare Claim Status Request
  • HIPAA / X12 277 – Health Care Claim Status Response
  • HIPAA / X12 837 – Health Care Claim (Professional, Institutional, and Dental)
  • HIPAA / X12 999 – Implementation Acknowledgment
  • EDI 273 – Insurance/Annuity Application Status
  • EDI 274 – Healthcare Provider Information
  • EDI 275 – Patient Information
  • EDI 834 – Benefit Enrollment And Maintenance
  • EDI 835 – Health Care Claim Payment/Advice
  • EDI 852 – Product Activity Data (to exchange information between Manufacturers and Pharmacies)
  • EDI 999 – Implementation Acknowledgment (for Health Care Insurance)

To learn more about EDI in healthcare, please read this article: All you need to know about HIPAA EDI compliance in Healthcare

EDI for the Retail Industry

The Retail Industry is a pioneer in the implementation of EDI. Large retailers are actively automating business processes and introducing new information technology solutions to reduce costs and increase sales.

Thus, the use of EDI in retail is a must. Since large retail companies have a huge number of suppliers, they have to exchange thousands of documents every month. It is simply impossible to go through so much documentation manually.

The Most Used EDI Documents in the Retail

  • EDI 810 – Invoice
  • EDI 820 – Payment Order/Remittance Advice
  • EDI 832 – Price/Sales Catalog
  • EDI 846 – Inventory Inquiry/ Advice
  • EDI 850 – Purchase Order
  • EDI 852 – Product Activity Data
  • EDI 855 – Purchase Order Acknowledgment
  • EDI 856 – Ship Notice/Manifest
  • EDI 861 – Receiving Advice/Acceptance Certificate

The use of EDI in retail offers many benefits, ranging from savings in paperwork and avoiding manual data entry errors, to reducing transport and logistics costs and increasing company profits.

If you want to learn more about the use of EDI in retail, please read this article: The Top 6 EDI Documents for Retail Suppliers

Conclusion: EDI for Specific Industries

In this article, we explored the use of electronic data interchange in some industries, however, if you have any questions regarding EDI, you can always contact us for a free initial consultation.

Our more than 21 years of experience in the implementation of EDI for various industries allows us to offer our customers the most profitable and effective EDI solutions.

Free EDI Consultation

This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.


Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and all the services around it are becoming more and more popular, regardless of the industry, for one major reason: EDI transactions are replacing paper documents exchanged between trading partners, and helping companies in their digital transformation projects, for a “greener” planet.

Retail was one of the first industries to fully adopt EDI, and it is still the most active vertical in its usage. EDI is a proven and effective alternative to fax, e-mail, and manually entering or re-entering data such as Invoice, Purchase Order, Inventory and many others…

There are various types of EDI and several approaches to integrate Electronic Data Interchange in a business community. Each EDI provider can offer a different EDI integration methodology, in order to become EDI compliant. We at EDI2XML, offer two options for to integrate EDI into your company, and make your business “EDI compliant”, while shortening the integration project:

Fully managed EDI service

HTTP EDI Web Service

How to select? What kind of EDI integration solution is a better option for your business?  First, let’s understand both options.

Fully managed EDI service

The EDI2XML service offered as fully managed”, includes translation and communication service offering to businesses of all sizes, from different industries.

Our team at EDI2XML, takes care of ALL the aspects of the integration project. With this model, we offer a “Turnkey EDI Solution” where we take on our shoulder all setup, configuration, testing, certification with the EDI partners …

EDI Fully Managed Service

In other words, with this option, we take care of everything: all the steps of the project from A to Z. We can even integrate directly into your ERP or CRM system. We provide certified connectors for leading IT systems such as Salesforce, JD Edwards, SAP, Dynamics CRM, Dynamics AX, and more.

EDI integration platform

a) Technical Details

A setup phase is mandatory for all new Trading Partners and/or EDI document implementation. This stage includes the project analysis, setup of Trading Partner accounts, configuring Partner specs and platform, defining the transfer file structure, building and setting up all required connectivities and communication protocols. It also includes an end-to-end full cycle data testing and certification.

To learn more about EDI service, download our free introductory guide here

b) Pricing

As for the pricing, it is based on pre-defined monthly service packages, including a pre-defined volume of data processed. All our packages are billed monthly based on the entry level plan (Business Light) at the beginning of each month. Subsequent month billing will include the basic plan fee PLUS the difference between the plan we billed initially (Business light) for previous month, and the plan that we were supposed bill for the previous month based on real volume of data processed for that month.

All this to say, our monthly pricing packages are dynamic, they go up and down based on the volume of data we process and integrate, and our clients are not locked in in any of the packages.

For more information about pricing – fill out a form: EDI2XML Translation Service Pricing Package

HTTP EDI Web Service (REST API)

EDI2XML Web Service, is an HTTP service running over the internet, on EDI2XML own platform that is capable of receiving HTTP requests to translate EDI messages to XML, and XML messages to EDI (based on EDI2XML’s proprietary format).

EDI2XML Web Service is much more cost effective, and meant for companies who got their own technical resources to work with REST API (call and consume HTTP Rest Web services)

The principles of the mechanism of EDI2XML Web Service is schematically illustrated in the below diagram.

EDI Wed Service

a) Advantages

EDI2XML Web Service is the way to go for the following reasons:

  • Self-service solution
  • Low cost
  • We offer a 15 days free trial, without any commitment.
  • Get started with less than an hour
  • There is no contract, no commitment.
  • Payments are month to month; Cancel anytime with a 30 days’ notice.
  • A very simple and dynamic pricing scheme
  • Availability and reliability
  • Based on proven technology in the field for over 18 years now
  • Outstanding technical support

b) Technical Details

Implementation time: Getting started with EDI2XML Web Service, is very simple and quick. Within less than an hour, you can issue the first Call to the Web Service and see the response. Our HTTP EDI Web service is very clearly documented, and we provide instructions with each subscription.

  • Quick entry: you can be up and running in less than an hour, and it is proven; we provide everything to your developers to get started, a java client with its source code and instructions on how to work with it.
  • We offer the schemas(xsd) of the XML format our API expects, and all what you need to do is to format your data according to that format and you will be up and running.

c) Pricing

EDI2XML API service fee to use the HTTP / Web Service calls, has a very simple pricing scheme. The price consists of two elements:

  1. Monthly mailbox fee: a “fixed” monthly fee for the Web Service Mailbox usage on EDI2XML platform. It is a nonrefundable fee.
  2. Data processing fee: a “variable” fee based on the volume of data processed and translated between EDI and XML, during a calendar month. The volume of data processed is computed in both directions:
  • Incoming, and
  • Outgoing

Click here to request EDI2XML Web Service Price List

d) How to get started with EDI2XML API

To get started with our EDI Web Service three steps you need to follow:

1. You need to provide us the list of documents/transactions you want to be activated under your trial account.

2. We will simply set you up with a 15 days trial account, without any commitment from you. Just let us know when do you want to kick off, and we can take care of setting you up on a trial account.

3. We provide a Java client and its source code. You can get started with less than an hour, this will allow you to try and see the results by your own.


Watch the Video and discover which solution aligns best with your business needs and goals.


Compare key features of Fully managed EDI service and HTTP EDI Web Service

key feature

Fully managed EDI service

HTTP EDI Web Service

 Type of EDI solutionFull serviceSelf service
 Contract YesNo
 Commitment24 monthsNo
 Implementation time   (approximately) 2 weeks1 hour
 Real-Time ConnectionYesYes
 Free Trial account No15 days
 Data processing feeBased on the appropriate plan. It works in both directions: when the volume goes up and  when the volume goes down.  “Variable” fee based on the   volume      of data processed     and translated         between   EDI    and XML, during a         calendar    month.
 Need for internal   resourcesNoYes
 Need for in-house EDI expertiseNoNo
 Technical SupportYesYes
 Hardware Installation  RequiredNoYes
 Software Installation RequiredNoNo
Communication with the trading partner: setup and testing in both directionsYes

No

Free edi consultation

We, at EDI2XML, provide an EDI integration solution for every type of business. Contact us today for a free consultation and we will help you find the most appropriate option for your business.