File formats

Unlike the transmission paths, it is not possible to present a list for EDI formats, as there is a wide variety of different formats and versions of these. In this respect, an individual mapping must always be set up.

Introduction

EDI formats can be divided into 4 groups according to their syntax.  

Flat file formats or ASCII formats

Here, each piece of information is assigned a specific position in the file, e.g. in line 2 from position 75 to 99, the supplier’s city name must be positioned.

Well-known examples are e.g. flat IDoc and the old VDA format.

000123456      Campus-Boulevard 55       Aachen       52074       DE

XML formats

This is probably the largest group of EDI formats. Each piece of information is placed between an opening and a closing TAG <City>Aachen</City>. Individual pieces of information are sorted into groups, which significantly increases readability.

Well-known examples are openTRANS, XML-IDoc and our myOpenFactory in-house format. Many ERP systems also use XML as an exchange format.

<Company>
  <City>Aachen</City>
  <CompanyID>123456</CompanyID>
  <Country>DE</Country>
  <Name>myOpenFactory Software GmbH</Name>
  <Street>Campus-Boulevard 55</Street>
  <ZipCode>52074</ZipCode>
</Company>  

Segment-based formats

EDIFACT

The EDIFACT standard was developed by the UN in the 1970s and is still maintained today by a UN organization (UN/CEFACT). EDIFACT is the established standard in some industries and is still widely used today.
NOTE: EDIFACT is not the same as EDI, the latter stands for Electronic Data Interchange, i.e. describes the general process of electronic data exchange!

In an EDIFACT file, the information is grouped in individual segments, which are specified by an introductory identifier, e.g. NAD+BY stands for Name And Address of the BUYER (customer). The segment is concluded with an apostrophe.

NAD+BY+123456++myOpenFactory Software GmbH+Campus-Boulevard 55+Aachen++52074+DE'

ANSI X12

This standard was developed in the late 1970s by the American National Standards Institute and is therefore widely used in the USA. Here, too, the information is grouped into individual segments, which are specified by corresponding identifiers; here N1*BY stands for the buyer’s address data.

N1*BY*myOpenFactory Software GmbH*92*123456'
N3*Campus-Boulevard 55'
N4*Aachen**52074*520'

Table formats

CSV stands for Comma Separated Value and is essentially a table format. CSV files can therefore also be displayed natively in MS Excel, or Excel tables can be exported as a csv file.

In a CSV file, there are columns in which the value is specified, e.g. column 15 contains the supplier’s city name.

Sometimes different information is transferred for different rows, with each row containing different column information.
For example, the first line contains the header information of the document and the following lines contain each article item in a line.

K;123456;;;;;;myOpenFactory Software GmbH;Campus-Boulevard 55;DE;52074;Aachen;DE;

Application

As myOpenFactory, we support every file format. We are always guided by the technical specifications and possibilities of our customers. We require documentation and sample documents in order to be able to create the appropriate mapping.

Sometimes we are also asked whether we can provide documentation for a file format. Please contact us if required, we can also help you in this case.