The EDI system can be located either on the user's premises (EDI Classic)
or at a service provider's
(>> Clearingcenter).

EDI Center offers
both alternatives.
We will be glad to advise you
on which solution is the
right one for you.
Get in touch with us!

Phone: +49 (0)821 24659-0
info@edicenter.de

EDIFACT, the United Nations standard, is in our age of globalisation the basis for information exchange across international and industry borders. This allows business processes to be made more economical by optimising them across companies.

EDIFACT allows modelling of a variety of different business processes (ordering, invoicing, customs declaration, pension statement ... – more than 200 such "EDIFACT messages" have been defined to date).

What is required before introducing an EDI solution?
(Illustrated here using EDIFACT in retail by way of example)

EDIFACT is not a rigid standard, rather it leaves business partners a great deal of freedom in choosing the "fields" (termed "data elements") to be included in transfer. For this reason, merchandise management systems (ERP systems) do not as a rule generate an EDIFACT file, but rather an "inhouse format" (intermediary file; e.g. ASCII file with fixed field lengths or a CSV file) which is then implemented specifically for the partner with the aid of a converter. Outsourcing the task out of the main system in this way avoids continually having to modify the EDI interface.

Your ERP system therefore first requires appropriate interfaces. This functionality is generally offered by the system manufacturer in the form of a special EDI module.

In addition to the merchandise management system, an EDI system is required. At its core is a converter which generates a customer-specific EDIFACT file from the in-house format. The EDI system also includes communications software for transferring the EDIFACT file. (The same applies conversely for receiving files.)