EDI Standards

Federal Information Processing Standards Publications (FIPS PUBS) are issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology after approval by the Secretary of Commerce pursuant to Section 111(d) of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended by the Computer Security Act of 1987, Public Law 100-235.

1. Name of Standard. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) (FIPS PUB 161-2).
2. Category of Standard. Electronic Data Interchange.
3. Explanation.
   3.1. Definition and Use of EDI. EDI is the computer-to-computer interchange of strictly formatted messages that represent documents other than monetary instruments. EDI implies a sequence of messages between two parties, either of whom may serve as originator or recipient. The formatted data representing the documents may be transmitted from originator to recipient via telecommunications or physically transported on electronic storage media.

In EDI, the usual processing of received messages is by computer only. Human intervention in the processing of a received message is typically intended only for error conditions, for quality review, and for special situations. For example, the transmission of binary or textual data is not EDI as defined here unless the data are treated as one or more data elements of an EDI message and are not normally intended for human interpretation as part of on-line data processing.

An example of EDI is a set of interchanges between a buyer and a seller. Messages from buyer to seller could include, for example, request for quotation (RFQ), purchase order, receiving advice and payment advice; messages from seller to buyer could include, simi- larly, bid in response to RFQ, purchase order acknowledgment, shipping notice and invoice. These messages may simply provide information, e.g., receiving advice or shipping notice, or they may include data that may be interpreted as a legally binding obligation, e.g., bid in response to RFQ or purchase order.

EDI is being used also for an increasingly diverse set of concerns, for example, for interchanges between healthcare providers and insurers, for travel and hotel bookings, for education administration, and for government regulatory, statistical and tax reporting.

   3.2. Standards Required for EDI. From the point of view of the standards needed, EDI may be defined as an interchange between computers of a sequence of standardized messages taken from a predetermined set of message types. Each message is composed, according to a standardized syntax, of a sequence of standardized data elements. It is the standardization of message formats using a standard syntax, and the standardization of data elements within the messages, that makes possible the assembling, disassembling, and processing of the messages by computer.

Implementation of EDI requires the use of a family of interrelated standards. Standards are required for, at minimum: (a) the syntax used to compose the messages and separate the various parts of a message, (b) types and definitions of application data elements, most of variable length, (c) the message types, defined by the identification and sequence of data elements forming each message, and (d) the definitions and sequence of control data elements in message headers and trailers.

Additional standards may define: (e) a set of short sequences of data elements called data segments, (f) the manner in which more than one message may be included in a single transmission, and (g) the manner of adding protective measures for integrity, confidentiality, and authentication into transmitted messages.

3.3. Limited Coverage of this Standard. This FIPS covers only EDI. It does not cover other forms of electronic interchange, for example, systems of interchange that do not consist of messages taken from a predetermined set. Additionally, an interchange application including only one or two predetermined message types using only fixed-length data elements is excluded from coverage of this FIPS. This FIPS also is not intended to cover transmissions from medical, laboratory, or environment-sensing instrumentation.

3.4. The Long-Range Goal for EDI Standards. There are several different EDI standards in use today, but the achievement of a single universally-used family of EDI standards is a long-range goal. A single universally-used family of standards would make use of EDI more efficient and minimize aggregate costs of use. Specifically, it would (a) minimize needs for training of personnel in use and maintenance of EDI standards, (b) eliminate duplication of functionality and the costs of achieving that duplication now existing in different systems of standards, (c) minimize requirements for different kinds of translation software, and (d) allow for a universal set of data elements that would ease the flow of data among different but interconnected applications, and thereby maximize useful information interchange.

This FIPS PUB recognizes the reality that some families of EDI standards were developed to provide solutions to immediate needs, and that inclusion of the goal of universality in their development would have unacceptably delayed their availability. However, a future is envisioned in which the benefits of universality outweigh the sunk costs in specialized solutions, leading first to cooperation among standards developers, then to harmonization of standards, and eventually to a single universally accepted family of EDI standards.

3.5. Adoption of Specific Families of Standards. This FIPS PUB adopts, with specific conditions specified below, the families of EDI standards known as X12, UN/EDIFACT and HL7. This FIPS PUB does not mandate the implementation of EDI systems within the Federal Government; rather it requires the use of the identified families of standards with specified constraints when Federal departments or agencies implement EDI systems.

The UN/EDIFACT standards may be used for any application, domestic or international. The X12 standards may be used for any domestic application. The HL7 standards are adopted as an alternative for certain healthcare applications, specifically for transmission of patient records and of clinical, epidemiological, and regulatory data. HL7 standards are not to be used for healthcare insurance administrative applications, such as for enrollments, claims, and claim payments, or for any aspect of the Government procurement cycle, such as for registration of vendors, RFQ, purchase order, shipping notice, or payment advice.

The cross-use of data elements is encouraged. A data element received through one system of EDI standards, or through a non-EDI interchange, may be re-transmitted as a data element in any of the approved systems of EDI standards.

The adopted standards were developed by the following organizations: the X12 standards by Accredited Standards Committee X12 on Electronic Data Interchange (ASC X12), accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI); the HL7 standards by Health Level Seven, Inc., an ANSI-accredited standards developer; and the UN/EDIFACT standards by the United Nations (UN) Economic Commission for Europe - Working Party (Four) on Facilitation of International Trade Procedures (UN/ECE/WP.4). Technical input from the United States in the development of UN/EDIFACT at the UN is through the Pan American EDIFACT Board (PAEB). The PAEB is separate from ASC X12, and it serves as the coordinating body for national standards organizations of North, Central, and South America.

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