EDI Message Standards – an Overview
1. Executive summary: EDI message types
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) standards provide a structured, reliable foundation for exchanging business-critical data between trading partners worldwide. Defined by international and industry bodies such as the UN, ANSI, DIN, and VDA, these standards ensure interoperability across diverse systems and sectors. The SEEBURGER BIS Platform enables organizations to seamlessly manage, translate, and integrate EDI standards and subsets at scale – simplifying partner connectivity, ensuring compliance, and accelerating digital business integration across global networks.
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2. What are the different EDI file format standards?
ANSI X12 (the American National Standards Institute Accredited Standards Committee X12), is the EDI file format primarily used in North America, ODETTE and VDA are EDI standards for the automotive industry in Europe and German, respectively.
The TRADACOMS standard is the predecessor of EDIFACT in the UK, while the HIPAA standard (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) was specifically developed in the USA to ensure compliance with patient privacy and data security in the healthcare industry.
| UN/EDIFACT | The most comprehensive and worldwide most common standard is coming from the United Nations (UN/ECE). |
| EDIFICE | Implementation guidelines for EDIFACT messages in the European high-tech industry. |
| ANSI X12 | Standard mainly used in North America. |
| VDA | Standard for the German automotive industry. |
| EANCOM | Standard for the European retail industry. |
| ODETTE | Standard for the European automotive industry. |
| GALIA | Automotive standard especially in France, very similar to Odette. |
| ebXML | Open standard from OASIS and CEFACT. |
| XBRL | For the preparation of financial reports in electronic form. |
| RosettaNet | A non-profit consortium of more than 500 companies, mainly from the electronics industry. The goal is the development and implementation of open eBusiness standards and services in the industry. |
| TRADACOMS | Standard of the UK retail industry. |
| HIPAA | Standard of the North American healthcare industry. |
White Paper3. What are the different EDI message types?
All EDI file format standards have corresponding EDI message types for the respective business process, as detailed in the following table:
| EDIFACT (Worldwide Standard) | ODETTE (European Standard) | VDA (Legacy Standards) | VDA (GLOBAL) | ANSI X12 (North America Standard) | TRADACOMS (UK Standard) | Business Transaction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DELFOR | DELINS | VDA 4905 | VDA 4984 | 830 | ~ | delivery forecast |
| INVOIC | INVOIC | VDA 4906 | VDA 4938 | 810 | INVFIL | invoice message |
| REMADV | REMADV | VDA 4907 | VDA 4988 | 820 | SRMHDR | remittance advice |
| INVOIC | CREDIT | VDA 4908 | VDA 4938 | ~ | CREHDR | credit entry |
| DESADV | AVIEXP | VDA 4913 | VDA 4987 | 856 | DELHDR | dispatch advise message |
| INVRPT | STOACT | VDA 4913-EDL VS35 and VS36 | VDA 4990 | 846 | SNPSTS | inventory reports |
| RECADV | STOACT | VDA 4913-EDL VS30 | VDA 4989 | 846 | ~ | receipt advise |
| SLSRPT | STOACT | ~ | ~ | 852 | ~ | outgoing sales report |
| ORDERS | ORDERR | ~ | ~ | 850 | ORDHDR | purchase order message |
| ORDCHG | ~ | ~ | ~ | 860 | ~ | purchase order change request |
| DELJIT | DELINS (CALL-OFF) | VDA 4915 | VDA 4985 | 862 | ~ | JIT delivery |
| DELJIT | SYNCRO | VDA 4916 | VDA 4986 | 866 | ~ | JIT |
| DELJIT | CALDEL | VDA 4916 | VDA 4986 | 866 | ~ | JIT direct delivery call |
| IFTMIN | TRINAD | VDA 4920 | ~ | 858 | ~ | instructions of transport |
| CONTRL | ~ | ~ | VDA 4937 | 997 | ~ | functional acknowledgement |
4. EDI message standards: industry, regional and global importance
Why do different message standards exist at all? Primarily to better serve business processes in specific industries and regions. The following diagram illustrates the regional and global importance of the EDI message standards:
With today’s rapidly changing requirements flexibility is a key business requirement. Your integration platform needs to be able to work seamlessly with every type of EDI file format, EDI message and EDI document.
5. More about EDI standards and SEEBURGER EDI/EDIFACT solutions
Do you work in a sector with its own specific needs?
Take a look at the SEEBURGER range of industry-specific solutions
