Tecnet EDI: Fiscal conformity at any reach.

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the concept of communicating information electronically. The two classic examples of such information are purchase orders and invoices. There are clear technical standards for EDI to facilitate parties trading such instruments without having to make special arrangements.


EDI has existed since at least the early 1970s, and there are many EDI standards (including X12, EDIFACT, ODETTE, etc.), some of which address the needs of specific industries or regions. It also specifically refers to a class of standards. In 1996, the National Institute of Standards and Technology defined electronic data interchange as "the exchange of information between computers by means of strictly defined messages that represent other than monetary instruments."


EDI involves a series of messages between two parties, as data originators or recipients. Data in standardized formats, representing documents, can be transmitted from initiator to recipient via telecommunications or physically transported on electronic storage media.


The National Institute of Standards and Technology distinguished only electronic communication or data exchange, stating that "in EDI, the usual processing of received messages is done only through the computer. Human intervention in processing a received message is intended only for error conditions, quality review. For example, the transmission of binary or textual data does not constitute EDI as defined in this concept, unless the data is treated as one or more data elements of an EDI message and is not normally intended for human interpretation as part of online data processing."


In summary, EDI can be defined as the transfer of structured data, according to agreed message standards, from one computer system to another without human intervention.