Friday, May 30, 2008

Electronic Data Interchange

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is the interchange of structured data by agreed message standards, from one computer system to another, by electronic means. It allows electronic exchange of routine business transactions between computers. EDI was first used in transportation industry. The first set of EDI standards were developed by the transportation data coordinating committee (TDCC).

EDI can bring strategic, operational and opportunity benefits to organizations. Strategic benefits brings faster trading cycle, ability to adopt new business processes,ability to win new business and ability to respond to highly competitive new market entrants. Operational benefits brings reduced costs,improved cash flow, security and error reduction and acknowledged receipt. Opportunity benefits brings Enhanced image, competitive edge and improved corporate trading relationships.

A request is placed for analysis process during the initial stage of establishing the EDI message interchange process. Business requirements and technical details are passed on to the EDI analyst for analyzing and designing the EDI specifications. These specifications are used by EDI developers to define and develop EDI message prototypes. EDI testers test the new EDI connection to validate this information.

Once a new connection tested, it's deployed in the production system. EDI is widely used in manufacturing, shipping, warehousing,utilities, pharmaceuticals, construction, petroleum, food processing, and health care industries. EDI can bring benefits to business's by improving overall business quality through better record-keeping, fewer errors in data, reduced processing time, less reliance on human interpretation of data, and minimized unproductive time. Reduce order time since EDI allows businesses to process orders much faster etc.


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