Renoir,


>>We had a fairly good discussion over on the fox.wikis a while back about EDI. Here's the link --> http://fox.wikis.com/wc.dll?Wiki~EDI~softwareEng which should take you to the article. Perhaps this can help.
>
>Thanks! I won't have a chance to read all the discussion and articles until later... Quick question - Is there actual an interface/program that handles EDI or is it more a matter of standards/procedures or language? Renoir

Well, I worked on such an animal back in 1995-6 or so. It was a combination desktop and backend server that was developed by The EC Company (now www.adx.com).

There are two basic and fundamental issues that need to be resolved here.

One is that the standard for each document is really more of a guideline. That is, within each document specification there is enough "wiggle room" to require that some data & field mapping be done.

Secondly, the next issue is how do we really get that data (once mapped correctly) in and out of your company's system. That often means a whole series of programming issues. What triggers a 'send' in some cases and not others in the case where some of your customers are EDI enabled and the others are not. A whole series of issues that require careful planning.

XML looks to be a big helper here in that it sort of standardizes the data transportation mechanism - but that's really about all it does. You still need the data mapping and integration.

I'd think we'll see a fair amount of effort invested into development of 3rd party "in between" enabling applications that are somewhat generic but allow for three things: 1) Effective data mapping, 2) Access to the local data store and 3) The ability to generate rules, triggers and events that are independent of the 'native' data system and that are able to run independently of it and co-habitate peacefully with it. This way you could at least leverage your current system and buy some time until you are able to acquire an EDI-enabled replacement application.

Does that help?