The EDI system is an electronic document management system. Description, instructions and references

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) in English means "electronic data exchange." Before this scheme appeared, trade relations went a long way. Any company that has decided to join such a form of documentation forwarding is able to cooperate with all members of the system. For such a process, installation of the EDI-gateway in the enterprise is required.

What is the purpose of this form of communication?

The EDI system is capable of exchanging information of a commercial nature (orders, deliveries, money transfers, etc.). This facilitates rapid cooperation between companies in the field of trade relations. Electronic Data Interchange refers to innovative technologies.

Advantages of EDI

The EDI ordering system has several advantages:

• All actions are performed at the automatic level, without delays and errors, as opposed to manually entering documents.
• The use of automated procedures increases the speed and accuracy of the collection of necessary data and enables firms to focus on the main problems, rather than on paper delays.
• Any retailer, supplier or logistics company carries out only one connection. Thus, there is an unlimited opportunity to communicate with minimal costs with all participants. At the same time, their accounting systems, document turnover and personnel qualification are not taken into account.
• The EDI system can resolve controversial situations in which one partner claims that the order was sent to them, and another - that it did not receive it. This situation is common. In this case, the system captures all operations and is able to provide detailed information about an action with the documentation. This helps to quickly resolve the conflict.

What guarantees the authenticity of the documentation?

EDI is an electronic data interchange system. In Europe, its software is the guarantor of the authenticity of all the documentation passing through it. Counterfeits are not possible. If the tax service is interested in the details of certain reports, including the VAT indicator, then all data can be extracted from the system electronic archive. The right to conduct transactions with documents in electronic, and not in paper form, is fixed at the legislative level.

Example of calculating the efficiency of using EDI

What is the level of efficiency of the EDI system? Examples of calculation serve as a visual confirmation.

It is easy to clarify the number of different exchange agreements to be concluded by the participants in a particular case:

• For six participants, the following calculation is used: N = 6 x (6-1) / 2 = 15.
• For 100 collaborating people, the calculation is: N = 100 x (100-1) / 2 = 4450.

As the number of participants increases, the growth of the figure increases exponentially.

The number of users is equal to the number of exchanges, each partner acts in accordance with common rules and connects to a common platform. In this case, the method of connecting other providers does not interest him at all. EDI provider for everything is responsible for itself due to a certain standardization of messages.

Let's proceed to the analysis of economic efficiency. For a basis we shall take a trading network, sending 4000 orders in a month. Manual order processing takes about half an hour. The electronic EDI system can do this in five minutes. If the trade organization has several thousand suppliers, then even half an hour of time savings on each partner gives a significant result.

What do users think about such a device as the EDI system? Electronic document circulation reviews are praised. Users argue that the work of the scheme is clear and uninterrupted. Without such a system, it would be difficult to conduct business in the modern business world, where every minute is expensive.

EDI Providers in Russia

For example, the commercial form of the system in our country is possible thanks to the existing localized standard of information exchange at the electronic level of EANCOM. There is also a global local information structure and service providers that undertake the implementation of all projects on electronic document exchange.

In 2004, the ECR-Rus Technology Committee held a tender, which resulted in the selection of companies that received the right to provide electronic document exchange services. The Committee intends to continuously increase the number of providers. The main criterion in the choice is technological mobility in the EDI service, as well as the price of the services provided to users.

The main task of ECR-Rus is the application of EDI system technologies not only in the sphere of medium and small business.

The Committee concludes an agreement with all service providers, which enables monitoring and support of the basic quality standards established by ECR-Rus.

Obligations of providers

Providers of EDI systems are required to outsource their own IT structure and provide the user with access to a processing center that has a high level of performance and reliability. The services of the system should be available all year round and at any time of the day.

Unlike the IT structure of most companies, the processing center is provided with uninterrupted power supply, multilevel protection against hacking, guarantees of safety of information for any malfunctions. The time for which the document is sent from one point to another should not exceed 10 minutes.

The provider is responsible for the speed of the service, guarantees the forwarding of messages and the checking of errors in them. In this case, the providers communicate via the Internet, and direct contacts between users are provided by means of a network with an additional function (VAN).

The difference between the domestic model of the use of the system from the European

EDI is an electronic data interchange system. How does this scheme work in Russia? The use of EDI in our country is fundamentally different from the European and American model. In these countries, the form appeared in the 70s of the last century, and here it was introduced 20 years later. Therefore, providers offer different connection systems that depend on the level of IT in the company, the amount of documents sent and communication tools. This allows each company to solve its problems in the best way. You should integrate your accounting system and become the owner of a web interface that will ensure the exchange of documentation with business partners.

Various tasks and methods for their solution assume different levels of connection and maintenance. Providers in our country serve both large companies and small partners - suppliers and customers.

At first, some companies with large turnover are so interested in cooperation with the EDI provider that they offer him the payment of transactions of their counterparties at their own expense or they introduce a low subscription fee for the use of the network.

Basic requirements for service providers

The customer sets forth his requirements in a written agreement. It indicates the duration of the service, support, response to the client request, and the elimination of failures. Other important points are also fixed.

Typically, providers offer different schemes for connecting to the system, as well as various tariffs that are depending on the level of network service.

Client requirements can be much broader than the main provisions established by ECR-Rus.

For example, for large companies, guarantees are required for the processing and delivery of messages, which are not counted in minutes, but in seconds. It is assumed that one message will be sent no more than 10-20 seconds.

The main requirements for the services of providers include:

• Support for all types of transmission;
• Low total cost of ownership;
• Connection security;
• Interoperability with partners;
• Simplicity of installation and configuration;
• Audit of documents forwarding through the network;
• Translation of the document from one format to another;
• Fast connection of business partners;
• Localization and development of EDI software;
• Consulting services, training and development of solutions in the system;
• Technical support of users.

Degree of risk when using the system

Even with a reliable EDI service provider, some internal changes are possible. For example, many Russian companies use internal codes without resorting to GLN code.

Before using EDI, you need to get these codes and enter them into the system. The risk of implementing EDI depends on the level of IT. With scrappy automation, the threat will come from the lack of a normal accounting system.

Risks of retailers of large companies are connected with the poor development of the EDI market. The brake of development is legislation, despite the fact that the law on electronic signature was adopted. Companies doing business in Russia are required to archive all documents issued on paper. Partners from the regions are afraid of the electronic form of doing business and refuse it, not submitting to the retailer.

Cost of EDI

As for the cost, the EDI system can not be expensive for users, since it is designed to optimize logistics costs. However, for small companies, such a technology may seem unimaginable if they are not used to cooperation with IT, their business is not different. It is unlikely that such firms will receive monetary benefits when using electronic document exchange systems.

What is included in the infrastructure?

The infrastructure includes dial-up, cable lines, networks. The Internet in the development of the electronic sphere offered many open networks (BITNET, etc.) and intracorporate specialized networks (EDI-Express General Electric, IBM Information Exchange Network). Backbone networks were widely spread, which differed in speed.

Transmission scheme

Transportation is via e-mail, Telnet and HTTP. Other common protocols are SMTP, POP3 (ISP), IMAP, HTML.

Electronic document management system EDI can provide transactions and without the use of generally accepted protocols. In European countries, VPN (Virtual Private Network), FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and EDIINT (EDI over the Internet), as well as networks with additional services VANs (Value-added Networks) became direct means of connection.

Two standards have also been created: AS1, which allows the transmission of EDI documents via the SMTP (e-mail) protocol , the AS2 standard, serving for transmission over HTTP.

Basic principles of using the EDI system on the Internet with the AS1 and AS2 standards:

• The concealment of information from unauthorized persons - the possibility of acquaintance with documents only by the sender and the recipient;
• Authentication - authentication by checking an electronic signature;
• The reliability of the document - the impossibility of changing its content without the participation of the recipient;
• Reliable notification - the impossibility of rejecting the received message.

XML Basics

Rapid development of the Internet involved more and more users in the network. Requirements for the exchange of documentation through the Internet have increased. The HTML protocol has ceased to satisfy the requests of many participants.

How was the system reformed? XML EDI was approved in early 1998 by the international organization W3C as a new specification.

XML (Extensible Markup Language) became the basis for creating new languages. There are also many Web servers that use XML technology to organize the information stored on them.

Through XML, you can describe a whole class of data objects that have been named documents oriented to a particular subject area. The system makes it possible to determine whether it is permissible to type tags and their attributes.

XML provided an opportunity to attract customers of medium and small businesses to the electronic market. Existing systems in the modern world of EDI are expensive (from 10 000 to 100 000 thousand dollars). Many small companies they simply can not afford.

Presentation and standards

This level involves defining the data structure through syntax and semantics. An important issue is the creation of standards for the structuring of data using the widely known ANSI X.12 standards used in the USA, UNECE EDIFACT, applied in Europe and Asia.