1/5/23, 12:51 PM X12 EDI Basics: a Guide to The X12 Standard

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X12 EDI Standard

X12 is the default U.S. EDI standard. Outside of the U.S., EDIFACT
(https://arc.cdata.com/resources/edi/standards.rst#edifact) is the X12 equivalent. EDI transactions
within the United States must conform to the X12 EDI standard and require compliant, quality software
for translation.

In this guide, we'll quickly walk you through the X12 EDI standard, so you can up and running with X12
EDI.

What is X12 EDI?

X12 is formally known as ASC X12 EDI (Accredited Standards Committee X12, Electronic Data
Interchange), and is a standard established to govern the use of EDI
(https://arc.cdata.com/resources/edi/) to electronically exchange information between organizations.
X12 EDI includes a set of standards and corresponding messages that define specific business
documents widely used across industries today.

Benefits of X12 EDI

The X12 standard allows U.S. companies to communicate information and transfer documents from
business-to-business without the hurdles of incompatible software or unsecure connections that leave
proprietary data vulnerable to outsiders. X12 has been developed to provide a standardized, data
transfer system that creates efficiency in business communications.

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As the most common EDI standard in the United States, X12 users represent a vast number of
and allow us to remember you. We use this information in order to improve and customize your browsing experience and for analytics
businesses
and metrics aboutand
ournumerous
visitors both industries. It's
on this website andespecially
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(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulations enacted in 1996. The law requires a
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national standard for electronic health care transactions. Transaction sets for HIPAA EDI are based on
X12.

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1/5/23, 12:51 PM X12 EDI Basics: a Guide to The X12 Standard

One of the most valuable X12 assets is its comprehensive transaction set which includes commonly
used business transactions or documents such as invoices, shipment
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notices, or purchase orders. X12 
boasts over 300 transaction standards within five industry-based subsets, or sub-standards.

X12 EDI Subsets

Due to the prevalent use of X12 across industries, it is considered an umbrella standard with five
industry-specific sub-standards or subsets for increased efficiency.

The five functional transaction sets or subsets include:

Communications & Controls

Finance
Transportation
Supply Chain
Insurance

Each industry uses a specific subset based in the X12 standard. For example, the grocery industry uses
subset UCS for its EDI communications and apparel retail uses VICS.

Industry-Specific X12 Subsets:

HIPAA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
UCS - Uniform Communication Standard
VICS - Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Standards
AIAG - Automotive Industry Action Group
CIDX - Chemical Industry Data Exchange
EIDX - Electronics Industry Data Exchange Group (CompTIA)
PIDX - American Petroleum Institute

What X12 Covers

The X12 EDI standard uses a highly specific structure to ensure clear communications across
businesses, industries, and national borders. Here, we explore some of its core structural elements.

Syntax Rules to Structure Data

Syntax rules govern the message structure and ensure uniformity regardless of the company, industry,
or document. The result is a data transaction that delivers a clear message to all receivers, regardless
of the software platforms used. The standardized structure optimizes files transfers by reducing
unnecessary content.
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Interactive Exchange Protocol (I-EDI)
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Policy (/company/legal/privacy/).
The X12 EDI standard uses Interactive Exchange Protocol, which allows companies to exchange
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business-related messages and documents directly. This dynamic exchange improves
communications for both parties, providing shorter response times and removing the problem of
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delayed responses and inefficient data connections.

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Standard Messages for Multi-Country and Multi-Industry Exchange
X12's standardized messaging optimizes data flow not only between businesses but also between
industries and countries. Many transaction sets map between X12 and UN/EDIFACT (used
internationally), which allows clear communication between the two EDI standards.

Over 300 standardized message types (https://arc.cdata.com/edi/standards/x12/) are available

through X12.

Common X12 Message Types (Transaction Sets)

204 Motor Carrier Load Tender
276 Claim Status Inquiry
277 Claim Status Response
383 Trading Partner Profile
753 Request for Routing Instructions
754 Routing Instructions
810 Invoice
820 Payment Order/Remittance Advice (EFT)
830 Planning Schedule/Material Release
834 Benefit Enrollment and Maintenance
846 Inventory Inquiry/Advice
848 Material Safety Data Sheet
850 Purchase Order
852 Product Activity Data
855 Purchase Order Acknowledgment
856 Ship Notice/Manifest (ASN)
858 Shipment Information (Bill of Lading)
859 Freight Invoice
861 Receiving Advice
990 Load Tender Response
997 Functional Acknowledgement

Data Element Directories

Data elements are simply the raw data of each transaction, and they function as data fields that
comprise the segments within the transaction set. The X12 standard identifies each data element with
a reference number as listed in the Data Element Dictionary. In addition, the data element directories
for EDIFACT are updated and published every six months by the UNECE
(http://www.unece.org/info/ece-homepage.html) (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe).
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When a U.S. company communicates internationally, these directory updates are crucial for uniformity
and allow us to remember you. We use this information in order to improve and customize your browsing experience and for analytics
and
and for expanding
metrics the scope
about our visitors both on of
thistransaction setsmedia.
website and other between X12
To find and UN/EDIFACT
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(https://arc.cdata.com/blog/edi/20190412-x12-vs-edifact).
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1/5/23, 12:51 PM X12 EDI Basics: a Guide to The X12 Standard

Guidelines for Electronic Interchange of Structured Data Between Computer

Systems
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Every standardized system must follow strict guidelines for efficient regulation and uniformity. The
current X12 EDI standard is guided by interrelated publications (http://www.x12.org/x12-work-
products/x12-edi-standards.cfm) including:

Transaction Set Dictionary

Segment Dictionary
Data Element Dictionary
Interchange Control Structures
Interconnect Mailbag Control Structures
Security Structures
Implementation of EDI Structures
Application Control Structure
ASC X12 Design Rules and Guidelines

Elements that Comprise X12

The X12 EDI standard is characterized by a very specific structure for each of its transaction sets, or
documents. While data elements will vary between EDI documents such as purchase orders, invoices,
or shipping notices, the general document structure remains the same, promoting uniformity and
consistency.

Data Segments
Data segments in X12 are simply categories that organize data, guiding information to the appropriate
locations, much like an outline. For example, in the Purchase Order Transaction Set below the required
information for the document is outlined and given a unique identifier.

ID DATA SEGMENT TITLE

ST: Transaction Set Header

BEG: Beginning Segment for Purchase Order
CUR: Currency
REF: Reference Identification
PER: Administrative Communications Contract
TAX: Tax Reference
FOB: F.O.B.-Related Information
CTP: Pricing Information
PAM: Period Amount
CSH:stores
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TC2: remember you. We use this information in order to improve and customize your browsing experience and for analytics
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Transaction Set Envelope

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(/) the transaction set (or document) has been built using the necessary data segments and

Once
elements, it's ready to be organized for transmission purposes. X12 uses a three-level enveloping
system that allows for the careful transfer of multiple transaction sets in one data transfer. The
Transaction Set Envelope is the innermost envelope that contains the transfer information for a single
transaction set (or single document).

Functional Group Envelope

The middle envelope, or Functional Group Envelope, groups similar types of transaction sets together
for a single transmission. Each data transfer may contain several Functional Group Envelopes, each
group containing one or more documents of similar type.

Interchange Envelope
The Interchange Envelope is the outer envelope that houses all the Functional Group Envelopes for one
data transfer. It's contains data for final transmission and includes information such as:

Interchange control numbers

Structured mailbox addresses of the sender and receiver
Counts of the Functional Groups within the interchange
Version of the interchange envelope
Time/date stamp

The Interchange Envelope allows for the efficient transfer of multiple, differing documents or
messages in one transmission.

X12 Envelope System Enveloping Data Pairs

The beginning and ending of each envelope are defined by data pairs or specific data segments that
are assigned for this purpose. Enveloping data pairs provide organization between envelopes,
promoting a clear and orderly interchange of data.

Envelope Beginning Ending

Transactional Set ST SE
Functional Group GS GE
Interchange ISA IEA

X12 Background
ANSI established a standards organization known as Accredited Standards Committee X12 (ASC X12)
in 1979.
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storespurposed to create
cookies on your andThese
computer. maintain
cookiesEDI standards
are used to collectand XML schemas.
information X12interact
about how you grew with
in our website
and allow us to remember you. We use this information in order to improve and customize your browsing experience and for analytics
popularity
and during
metrics about the late
our visitors 1980s
both on thiswhen
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and other media. Tobody groups
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more about theUnited
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their(/company/legal/privacy/).
EDI standard. Today, ASC X12 is comprised of 3,000 standard experts who represent over 600
Acceptin the U.S.
companies across diverse industries. X12 remains the most widely used EDI standard Decline

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