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When working with EDIFACT, it is important to understand that there are three basic structures in an EDIFACT document. They are:
• The following sections provide a basic description of each of these structures. For more detailed information on each of these structures, please refer to the EDIFACT standard.The interchange is the basic unit of electronic data transfer. It contains at least one functional group or one message and is started by either a service string advice (UNA segment) or by an interchange header (UNB segment). The interchange is identified by the interchange header and terminated by an interchange trailer (UNZ segment).Figure 1 depicts the structure of an interchange structure.Figure 1 Interchange StructureSegments starting with UN are called service segments. They constitute the envelope which groups the EDIFACT messages.The following example of an EDIFACT interchange contains a BANSTA (Banking Status) message:
UNB+UNOB:1+Interchange sender identification:1:Interchange s+Interchange recipient identificatio:1:Interchange r+009266:4372+Interchange co+Recipient refe:AA+Application re+A+1+Interchange agreement identifier+1'UNG+BANSTA+Application sender identification:1+Application recipient identificatio:1+027900:6798+Group referenc+AA+D:98A:Associ+Application pa'UNH+Message refere+BANSTA:D:98A:AA:Associ+Common access reference+7:C'BGM+1:12:1:Document/message name+Document/message number:Version:Revisi+1+AA'
Normally all of the data in an EDIFACT interchange would be on one line. The example here has the data split across several lines in order to fit on the page. However, it is not unusual for EDIFACT data to be split on segment boundaries or even blocked at a particular number of characters.A functional group is a group of messages. You can group messages of different types in one functional group.A functional group begins with a functional group header (UNG segment), which contains internal routing identifiers, and ends with a functional group trailer (UNE segment).In EDIFACT, an interchange can contain zero or more functional groups. An interchange without any groups is called an empty group. An empty group is useful if internal routing is not necessary.A message contains the data for a well defined business function. For example, there are EDIFACT messages for purchase orders, invoices, and financial statements. An EDIFACT message is the equivalent of an ANSI X12 transaction.The entire EDIFACT message structure is bounded by a UNH header segment and a UNT trailer segment. The user data segments of a message are organized into the following three sections:
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• Detail section Contains information that may be repeated and provides the details for the business function of the message.
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