EDIFACT for business computers: has it succeeded?

■ EDIFACT is a standard for electronic data interchange (EDI). It defines a universal language—lingua franca —for business computers by specifying a syntax for EDI messages and a set of generic EDI message types. The generic message types are used in national and industry organizations for developing more specific message types. A characteristic feature in the international EDI standardization is its dynamic nature. Business products and practices as well as laws concerning business are continually changing: when an international agreement has been found for a collection of information, new demands have already been created. The dynamic nature of international EDI standardization has not been given much attention. We describe and evaluate this phenomenon as well as the problems it causes. While our study is mainly based on an evaluation of the EDIFACT standard issues and on the more specific experiences concerning national EDIFACT standardization in Finland, we also discuss the relationship of the EDIFACT and ANSI X12 standardization. DIFACT defines United Nations rules for electronic data interchange for administration, commerce and transport. Development of the rules is the responsibility of Working Party 4 on Facilitation of International Trade Procedures (WP.4) set up by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE). According to the definition agreed upon by WP.4 (UN/ECE, Issue S.93.A), the rules “comprise a set of internationally agreed standards, directories and guidelines for the electronic interchange of structured data, and in particular that related to trade in goods and services between independent, computerized information systems.” Figure One describes EDI communication between two partners whose applications are associated with translators. In the sender’s computer, the information produced by its application is translated into an intermediate language agreed upon by the partners and sent as an EDI message to the receiver. In the receiver’s computer, the message received is translated to the input form of its application. The meaning of the received message is interpreted by the application of the receiver, not by a human reader. Human involvement is needed only for control purposes; for example, in cases where some erroneous behavior has been noticed in the partner’s application. The main purpose of EDI is to increase the effectiveness of business data processing.