Boomi EDI - Trading Partner

EDI stands for Electronic Data Interchange, EDI profiles represent the structure of the various EDI documents sent through processes, including all the segments, data elements, looping, and other configuration information.

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is used to exchange business data from one system to another system using a public standard format. EDI makes things easier, with using EDI we send data by mail or by facsimile and replace the traditional processes of preparing data in paper form.

EDI helps developers to build solutions for the following specifications provided by the company or trading partner.EDI is independent of a company's internal application systems. EDI formats consist of interrelated document components. The core components are defined below:

• Segment — Business document data logically grouped with one or more data elements.

• Data Element — Basic units of information containing a set of values that represent a singular fact.

• Delimiter — Unique character that separates individual data elements.

• Segment Terminator — Unique character that identifies the end of a segmented string.

• Qualifier — Specific value of a data element that can be predefined to classify key data.

• Loop — A section or group of segments that can repeat within one document instance.

• Instance Identifier — A flag in the EDI structure that identifies a specific data set based on numeric occurrence, qualifier, or both.

Note: The EDI profile is included in its own Boomi Integration edition. To have EDI, B2B, and Trading Partner capabilities enabled in your account, contact your Boomi representative.

You can also organize segments in the Header, Detail, and Summary loop sections.

Working with EDI profiles:

Use the EDI Profile’s Data Elements tab to manually add or import segments that define the field structure of the EDI document you are going to process.

• If you are creating an X12, HL7, or EDIFACT EDI profile, select a version. If you are creating an HL7 profile, additionally select the message type. Then select the transmission type — either an X12 transaction set, an HL7 transmission type or an EDIFACT message type — and then select and import pre-configured segments for the selected version. Based on the looping section you are constructing, the segment(s) are added to the appropriate section loop and appear on the Data Elements tab.

• If you are creating a Tradacoms or ODETTE EDI profile, select the message type and then select and import pre-configured segments for the selected message type. Based on the looping section you are constructing, the segment(s) are added to the appropriate section loop and appear on the Data Elements tab.

• If you are creating a user-defined EDI profile, manually add the child loops, segments, data elements, and instance identifiers on the Data Elements tab.

EDI profile standards and options

EDI documents have a hierarchical, looping, segment/element structure. An EDI document consists of segments, data elements, and values that are either delimited with a specific value or data-positioned. Different EDI standards handle data differently but automatically handle basic EDI functions, such as enveloping and segment counts.

The following standard EDI profile types are available:

• X12, the standard primarily used for EDI, defines specific standards for many EDI document types and subsets, which serve particular vertical markets.

• EDIFACT is an international standard that was developed by the United Nations to provide syntax rules, an interactive exchange protocol, and a set of standard messages so that countries and industries can exchange electronic business documents.

• HL7 is a standard for facilitating the interoperability of health information technology.

• ODETTE, a standard based on EDIFACT, is primarily used in the European automotive sector.

• Tradacoms is a standard primarily used in the UK retail sector.

EDI profile segments and data elements:

EDI documents contain rows of data, called segments, which contain information or data elements defined for the segment.

Entities may alter or add a segment or the data elements contained within it. For user-defined EDI definitions, segment and data element information is created entirely by the business specification developed by the EDI professional.

EDI segments contain header, detail, or summary loop sections. For example, a purchase order document may contain buyer and seller information, shipping addresses, requested delivery dates and times, and special instructions in the header segments. Specifics about product orders, quantities, packaging information, and pricing information may be stored in the detail segments. The summary may contain the total charges for all line items ordered, the total weight for the shipment, and the total number of pieces ordered.

EDI profile elements, composites, and sub-composites:

EDI segments contain data elements. Data elements may have one or more components (called composites). Components can be composed of one or more sub-components (called sub-composites). If a data element has composites or sub-composites, you can display and use them.

A composite's name contains the data element name, a decimal point, and the composite name (a number). A sub-composite's name contains the data element name, a decimal point, the composite name (a number), a decimal point, and the sub-composite name (a number).

Consider a data element named PV107, which has composites and sub-composites:

• The first composite is PV107.1, which appears in the tree. Pausing on the composite's name in the tree shows the contents of the Purpose field (Attending Doctor | Person Identifier) from the EDI Element Details panel. Because the composite is the first in PV107, the Composite field in the panel is set to Composite Start.

• PV107's second composite (PV107.2) has sub-composites. The first sub-composite is named PV107.2.1. Pausing on the sub-composite's name in the tree shows the contents of the Purpose field (Attending Doctor | Family Name | Surname) from the EDI Element Details panel. Because the sub-composite is the first in PV107.2, the Composite field in the panel is set to Sub-Composite Start.