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Altova tools allow you to easily integrate EDI data with XML, databases, flat files, Excel 2007 (OOXML), Web services, and other EDI formats. Learn about EDI integration and relevant support in Altova tools below.

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is set of widely-used formats that define a standard syntax for the computer-to-computer transmission of business documents. EDI systems are designed to allow trading partners to exchange common documents such as purchase orders, invoices, insurance claims, etc., more efficiently, eliminating much of the time, paper, human interaction, and errors previously associated with these types of transactions. Two of the most popular EDI standards in use today are:

• ANSI X12 (American National Standards Institute X12), the de facto EDI standard used in North America.
• UN / EDIFACT (United Nations Electronic Data Interchange for Administration Commerce and Transport), the most prevalent international EDI standard.

X12 and EDIFACT EDI systems have proven beneficial for allowing organizations across diverse industries to increase productivity by exchanging large amounts of information with partners in a quick, standardized way. Despite these benefits, EDI systems are typically not interoperable with the other data formats that fuel today’s connected e-business and Web services applications. Learn more about EDI integration and how Altova tools can help by clicking the links below.

Applications that integrate EDI data with other information formats allow organizations to leverage their investments in EDI technology while still exchanging data with partners that do not employ EDI systems, and vice versa. Unfortunately, these applications can be extremely complex, and developing them is often time consuming and expensive since developers need to understand the intricacies of each data format being integrated.

Altova MapForce® 2008 takes a unique approach to EDI integration. With full support for the most prevalent EDI standards in use today, MapForce simplifies EDI data integration by allowing you to easily define mappings between X12 and EDIFACT vocabularies and other universal data formats using an intuitive visual mapping process. MapForce supports XML, databases, flat files, EDI messages, Excel 2007 (OOXML), and Web services as the source and/or target of any mapping project.

Once you've defined a data mapping, you can execute it directly within MapForce and save the results. Or, MapForce can autogenerate Java, C++, or C# program code to implement the transformation in a customized server-side data integration application.

MapForce includes built-in support for all the messages included in UN/EDIFACT, the most prevalent international EDI standard. This allows you to define and execute mappings for integrating EDIFACT data with XML, databases, flat files, Excel 2007 (OOXML), Web services, and ANSI X12 EDI data.

MapForce provides complete support for all the transaction sets in then ANSI X12 standard, which is the de facto EDI format used in the United States and most of North America. MapForce supports EDI as the input and/or output of any mapping, allowing you to integrate ANSI X12 data with XML, databases, flat files, Excel 2007 (OOXML), Web services, and EDIFACT data formats with ease.

See how easy visually mapping EDI to XML, databases, flat files, Excel 2007 (OOXML), Web services, and other EDI formats can be with MapForce® 2008. Download a free trial today!