8

Glossary

8.1

ANSI

American National Standards Institute

ANSI Standard

A document published by ANSI that has been approved through the consensus process of public announcement and review. Each of these standards must have been developed by an ANSI committee and must be revisited by that committee within five years for update. See Draft Standard For Trial Use.

API

American Petroleum Institute

Application Acknowledgment

A transaction set whose purpose is to return a response to a transaction set which has been received and processed in an application program. The Purchase Order Acknowledgment, transaction set 855, is an example of an application acknowledgment, used to respond to the Purchase Order, transaction set 850, presenting such things as whether the receiver can fulfill the order and whether it can be done on time.

Application Advice (824)

A transaction set that accepts, rejects, or identifies errors (beyond the normal syntax checks) in the content of any transaction set.

Area, Transaction Set

Identifies a predefined area within a transaction set, (header, detail, summary) containing segments and their various attributes.

ASC Xl2

Accredited Standards Committee X12 comprised of industry members for the purpose of creating EDI standards for submission to ANSI for subsequent approval and dissemination; or for submission to the UN/ECE for approval and submission of UN/EDIFACT standards.

Authentication

A mechanism which allows the receiver of an electronic transmission to verify the sender and the integrity of the content of the transmission through the use of an electronic "key" or algorithm which is shared by the trading partners. This is sometimes referred to as an electronic signature.

BSR

Bureau of Standards Review

CEC

Commission of the European Communities

CEN

European Committee for Standardization

CIDX

Chemical Industry Data Exchange

CMEA

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

Compliance Checking

A checking process that is used to ensure that a transmission complies with ASC X12 syntax rules.

Composite Data Element

One or more component data elements delimited by sub-element separators.

Conditional (C)

A data element requirement designator which indicates that the presence of a specified data element is dependent on the value or presence of other data elements in the segment. The condition must be stated and must be computer processable.

Control Segment

A control segment has the same structure as a data segment but is used for transferring control information for grouping data segments. Control Segments are the Loop Control Segments (LS/LE), Transaction Set Control Segments (ST/SE), and Functional Group Control Segments (GS/GE), defined in X12.6, and the Interchange Control Segments (ISA/IEA,TAl) defined in X12.5.

Control Validation

Confirmation that information within the control segments is correct.

Data Element

The basic units of information in the EDI standards containing a set of values that represent a singular fact. They may be single character codes, literal descriptions or numeric values.

Data Element Length

This is the range, minimum to maximum, or the number of character positions available to represent the value of a data element. A data element may be of variable length with range from minimum to maximum, or it may be of fixed length in which the minimum is equal to the maximum. (Xl2.3)

Data Element Reference Number

Reference number assigned to each data element as a unique identifier.

Data Element Requirement Designator

A code defining the need for a data element value to appear in the segment if the segment is transmitted. The codes are mandatory (M), optional (0), or conditional (C).

Data Element Separator

A unique character preceding each data element that is used to delimit data elements within a segment.

Data Element Type

A data element may be one of six types: numeric, decimal, identifier, string, date, or time.

Delimiters

The delimiters consist of two levels of separators and a terminator. The delimiters are an integral part of the transferred data stream. Delimiters are specified in the interchange header and may not be used in a data element value elsewhere in the interchange. From highest to lowest level, the separators and terminator are segment terminator, data element separator, and sub-element separator.

DISA

Data Interchange Standards Association. A non-profit organization funded by X12 which serves as the Secretariat for XI 2.

Direct Transmission

The exchange of data from the computer of the sending party directly to the computer of the receiving party. A third party value-added service is not used in a direct transmission.

Draft Standard for Trial Use

Represents a document approved for publication by the full Xl2 committee following membership consensus and subsequent resolution of negative votes (Final Report of X12 Publications Task Group). The Draft EDI Standard for Trial Use document represents an ASC Xl2 approved standard for use prior to approval by ANSI. See ANSI Standard.

EB

The EDIFACT Board

EBCDIC

Extended binary-coded-decimal interchange code.

EDI

Electronic Data Interchange, the computer-to-computer exchange of information which has traditionally been communicated using paper documents.

EDICC

Electronic Data Interchange Council of Canada

UN/EDIFACT

Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce, and Transport.

EDIFACT Board

Advisory and support team for a number of the UN/EDIFACT Rapporteurs

EDI Translation

The conversion of application data to and from the Xl2 standard format.

EDI Translator

Computer software used to perform the conversion of application data to and from the X12 standard format.

EDX

Electrical Data Exchange

EIDX

Electronics Industry Data Exchange

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

The computer application to computer application exchange of business information in a standard format.

Electronic Envelope

Electronic information which groups a set of transmitted documents being sent from one sender to one receiver.

Element Delimiter

A single character delimiter which follows the segment identifier and each data element in a segment except the last, which is followed by a segment delimiter.

Electronic Mailbox

A term used to refer to the place where an EDI transmission is stored for pickup or delivery within a third party service provider's system. Trading partners can also maintain mailboxes within their own domain.

Encryption

A process of transforming cleartext (data in its original, unencrypted form) into ciphertext (encrypted output of a cryptographic algorithm) for security or privacy. (Security Transaction Set 815)

Functional Acknowledgment

A transaction set (997) transmitted by the receiver of an EDI transmission to the sender, indicating receipt and syntactical acceptability of data transmitted according to the ASC Xl2 standards. The functional acknowlegement allows the receiving party to report back to the sending party any problems encountered by the syntax analyzer as the data is interpreted. It is not intended to serve as an acknowledgment of data content. See also Xl2.6.

Functional Group

A group of one or more transaction sets bounded by a functional group header segment and a functional group trailer segment.

Functional Group Segments

GS/GE segments identify a specific functional group of documents such as purchase orders.

Hexadecimal

Base 16 notation commonly used to represent binary values.

Industry Conventions

Define how the ASC X12 standards are used by the specific industry.

Industry Guideline

Defines the EDI environment for using conventions within an industry. It provides assistance on how to implement the Xl2 standard.

Interchange Control Segments

ISA/IEA segments identify a unique interchange being sent from one sender to one receiver (see electronic envelopes).

Interchange Control Structure

The interchange header and trailer segments envelope one or more functional groups or interchange related control segments and perform the following functions: (1) define the data element separators and the data segment terminators, (2) identify the sender and receiver, (3) provide control information for the interchange, and (4) allow for authorization and security information. (Xl2.5)

Loop

A group of semantically related segments; these segments may be either bounded or unbounded. (Xl2.6) The N loop, which includes segments Nl to PER for name and address information, is an example of a loop.

Mandatory(M)

A data element/segment requirement designator which indicates that the presence of a specified data element is required.

Mapping

The process of identifying the relationship of standards data elements to application data elements.

Max Use

Specifies the maximum number of times a segment can be used at the location in a transaction set.

Message

The entire data stream, including the outer envelope.

NACHA

National Automated Clearing House Association

Optional(O)

A data element/segment requirement designator which indicates that the presence of a specified data element/segment is at the option of the sending party or is based on the mutual agreement of the interchange parties.

Petroleum Industry Data Exchange

Proprietary Format

A data format specific to a company, industry, or other limited group. Proprietary formats do not comply with the ASC X12 series of standards.

Qualifier

A data element which identifies or defines a related element, set of elements, or a segment. The qualifier contains a code taken from a list of approved codes.

Rapporteur

An individual expert appointed by the United Nations for specific objectives.

Repeating Segment

A segment that may be used more than once at a given location in a transaction set. See Max Use.

Security

System screening which denies access to unauthorized users and protects data from unauthorized uses.

Segment

Segments consist of logically related data elements in a defined sequence. A data segment consists of a segment identifier, one or more data elements, each preceded by an element separator, and ends with a segment terminator. (Xl2.6)

Segment Directory (Xl2.22)

Provides the purposes and formats of the segments used in the construction of transaction sets. The directory lists each segment by name, purpose, identifier, the contained data elements in the specified order, and the requirement designator for each data element.

Segment Identifier

A unique identifier for a segment, composed of a combination of two or three uppercase letters and digits. The segment identifier occupies the first character position of the segment. The segment identifier is not a data element. The segment identifier in EDIFACT is a component data element--part of a composite data element consisting of a segment identifier and an explicit looping designator.

Segment Terminator

A unique character appearing at the end of a segment to indicate the termination of the segment.

Sub Element Separator

A unique character used to delimit the component data elements within a composite data element.

Syntax

The grammar or rules which define the structure of the EDI standards (i.e. the use of loops, qualifier, etc). Syntax rules are published in ANSI X12.6.

Trading Partner

The sending and/or receiving party involved in the exchange of electronic data interchange transmissions.

Transaction Set

A transaction set unambiguously defines, in a standard syntax, information of business or strategic significance and consists of a transaction set header segment, one or more data segments in a specified order, and a transaction set trailer segment.

Transaction Set ID

An identifier that uniquely identifies the transaction set. This identifier is the first data element of the transaction set header segment.

Translation

The act of accepting documents in other than Xl2 standard format and translating them to the Xl2 standard format.

UCC

Uniform Code Council

UCS

Uniform Communication Standard

UIG

Utility Industry Group

VAN

Value Added Network. Third-party service organizations.

Version/Release

Identifies the edition of the standard being used for the generation or the interpretation of data in the X12 standard format. Is communicated in the Functional Group Header Segment (GS) and in the Interchange Control Header Segment (ISA). See Control Segment.

VICS Committee

Voluntary Inter-Industry Communications standards for electronic data interchange.

WINS

Warehouse Industry National Standards guidelines

X12

The ANSI Accredited Standards Committee responsible for the development and maintenance of standards for Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).

Xl2.5

Interchange Control Structure. This standard provides the interchange envelope of a header and trailer for the electronic interchange through a data transmission, and it provides a structure to acknowledge the receipt and processing of this envelope. Separate segments and data elements not in Xl2.22 or Xl2.3.

Xl2.6

Application Control Structure. This standard describes the control segments used to envelope loops of data segments, transaction sets, and groups of related transaction sets.

8.2

Industry Glossary

Not used

8.3

Company Glossary

Not used.