General X12 EDI Questions
1. What is X12 EDI?
X12 EDI is a data format based on ASC X12 standards developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Accredited Standards Committee (ASC). It is used to electronically exchange business documents in specified formats between two or more trading partners. X12 EDI releases are known by a version number. Learn more about PilotFish’s Interface Engine with exclusive X12 EDI tools to process all your transactions.
2. What is the X12 format?
X12 is a standard for Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) developed and maintained by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Accredited Standards Committee (ASC). The X12 standard governs the exchange of business documents (e.g., purchase orders, invoices, healthcare claims, etc.) in standard electronic formats between trading partners – for example, EDI 837 Health Care Claim Transaction Set. PilotFish provides broad support for all X12 standards and HIPAA transactions.
3. What is EDI?
Electronic data interchange (EDI) is the structured exchange of business documents between organizations by electronic means based on widely accepted and agreed to standards. EDI standards govern electronic data exchange in finance, government, healthcare, insurance, retail, transportation and more.
4. What is EDI capable?
EDI capable is the ability to send and receive electronic business documents in a specific format based on established standards. It also refers to having in place an EDI solution that can streamline business workflows and onboard partners quickly. EDI capable can further encompass strategy and solutions that deliver efficiencies and high productivity. Learn more about PilotFish’s EDI Capable Integration Engine with built-in X12 EDI tools.
5. What does EDI stand for?
EDI is an abbreviation and shorthand for Electronic Data Interchange, a structured way to transmit data between computer systems using established message formats and standards. The businesses or organizations exchanging data are called trading partners in EDI terminology.
6. What is an EDI transaction?
An EDI transaction set or EDI transaction is a group of one or more data segments representing a business document exchanged between trading partners to carry out financial or administrative activities – e.g., EDI 820 Payment/Remittance, EDI 999 Acknowledgment, EDI 834 Benefit Enrollment/Maintenance. The standard prescribes the formats, character sets and data elements used. View the format & description of the most common X12 EDI transactions.
7. What is EDI parsing?
EDI parsing is the process of matching the incoming data with a defined schema to identify, flag and/or fix data transformation issues. EDI parsing errors include data type mismatches, invalid records, incorrect values, incorrect segment and element usages, etc. While X12 EDI formats are based on the published standards – in the real world, deviations and differences between X12 EDI transactions are the norm. Learn more about PilotFish’s built-in EDI parser.
8. What is EDI mapping?
EDI mapping is the process through which EDI data is translated and transformed into a format more easily used or required by a trading partner or both. Data mapping is the capability to map source data fields to related target data fields in converting EDI to other formats such as XML, Excel, databases, JSON or other EDI formats. Learn more about EDI mapping with PilotFish.
9. Which is better EDI or API?
EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is used for the transfer of structured data, by agreed message standards, from one computer system to another without human intervention. EDI is one of the safest ways to transfer data. Companies can exchange large amounts of EDI data simultaneously as well as transfer huge volumes via a single transfer. An API (Application Programming Interface) is a connection between computers or between computer programs via calls, working on a request-response basis.
10. Is API better than EDI?
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) work on a request-response basis. They are not intended for transactional interfaces or standards-based integration. While very beneficial in many integration scenarios, creating APIs and integrating with them also requires programming expertise. For most backend internal system integrations, APIs are more costly to develop and maintain. Increasingly, trading partners are using a mix of APIs and EDI.