ProductsMapForceEDI MappingEDI Target Data

Altova MapForce® 2009 enables you to easily transform your data into EDI formats by visually mapping it from a wide variety of other usable file formats, including XML, databases, flat files, other EDI standards, Excel 2007 (OOXML), and Web services.

EDI formats are standards for electronic data exchange and are specifically suited for exchanging information between disparate systems. Mapping proprietary data to EDI for transmission to partner companies via extranets, Web services, or value-added networks (VANs), is a very common business requirement.

MapForce provides strong support for the UN/EDIFACT, ANSI X12 and Health Level 7 (HL7) EDI standards, and its intuitive visual mapping interface facilitates mapping from a multitude of other formats, allowing internal data to be readily mapped and transmitted in the required EDI syntax.

MapForce’s powerful data integration capabilities extend beyond simple EDI mapping operations, enabling you to generate program code in Java, C++, or C# for application integration and recurrent transformations.

The examples below illustrate just a few ways that MapForce can be used to cut costs and add efficiency to your EDI implementation with mapping support for XML, databases, flat files, other EDI formats, Excel 2007 (OOXML), and Web services.

MapForce provides full support for mapping using EDI as a target data format including:

• XML to EDI
• Databases to EDI
• Text/flat files to EDI
• EDI to EDI
• Excel 2007 (OOXML) to EDI
• Web services to EDI

Mapping XML to EDI

Mapping XML to EDI is many times essential for translating your organizations back-end information to a required format for transmission to partners across the supply chain.

To create an XML to EDI mapping, simply insert an XML Schema or DTD, or have MapForce automatically generate an XML Schema to serve as your source component structure.

Associating an XML instance will enable you to view sample results when you click the Output tab.

Then, insert the EDI structure that you wish to map to using MapForce’s extensive EDI library.

When you initially install MapForce, it comes with the appropriate definitions for the latest versions of the EDIFACT, X12, and HL7 message standards, but you can also download EDI collections of previous versions of these standards from the Altova Web site as needed.

Once you have finished inserting the EDI message structure as the target component, you can simply drag lines to connect matching nodes using MapForce’s visual design interface.

MapForce’s extensive library of data processing functions can help you to amend data fields with additional information that needs to be added to your message. For example, in the mapping above, datetime functions are inserted to convert the XML source data to valid X12 syntax.

In addition, a simple custom function was developed using MapForce’s Visual Function Builder, to calculate a tax rate based on price.

Clicking the Output tab shows the result of your mapping. In the case of a mapping with an EDI component as a target, MapForce will generate a valid EDI message that can be used to transmit business data.

In this simple example, we have converted the XML below

into the following EDI X12 transaction set:

For recurrent transformations, which are especially useful when handling a large volume of incoming or outgoing EDI messages, MapForce’s sophisticated code generation support will enable you to automatically execute the same mapping using Java, C++, or C#, and integrate it into your own applications and business processes. The generated code can be used royalty-free, so you don’t incur any runtime license fees.

MapForce also supports mapping multiple sources to multiple targets so that you can combine disparate data formats in your transformations.

Mapping Excel 2007 (OOXML) to EDI

MapForce provides strong support for the spreadsheet file format in the OOXML standard, also the default format for Microsoft® Office 2007. Mapping Excel 2007 data to EDI enables your company’s employees to generate transaction sets on-the-fly from the application that they are most comfortable with.

To begin an Excel 2007 to EDI mapping, simply insert an XLSX file as the source component for your transformation. You will then be prompted to format your source component, providing required datatype input for cells and annotations for column names.

Next, insert the EDI transaction set that will serve as the target component using MapForce’s extensive EDI library.

You can now complete the mapping by simply dragging lines to connect the columns in your Excel 2007 source file with the relevant EDI segments.

Clicking the Output tab shows the result of your mapping. In the case of a mapping with an EDI component as a target, MapForce will generate a valid EDI message that can be used to transmit business data.

In this simple example, we have converted the Excel 2007 data below

into the following EDIFACT message:

MapForce’s sophisticated code generation support enables you to automatically execute the same mapping using Java, C++, or C#, and integrate it into your own applications and business processes. The generated code can be used royalty-free, so you don’t incur any runtime license fees. This is especially useful when handling a large number of incoming or outgoing EDI messages, and allows you to add additional automation to your e-commerce and data integration workflows.

MapForce also supports mapping multiple sources to multiple targets so that you can combine disparate data formats in your transformations.

Mapping Web services to EDI

Modern EDI implementations are increasingly relying on more recent transmission technologies like Web services to handle their business to business transactions. While legacy EDI systems depend heavily on expensive middleware and are often plagued by process and implementation delays, Internet technologies offer cost reductions and the advantage of real-time data exchange.

Of course in most instances you will find that your supply chain partners are adopting new technologies at different rates, so the ability to translate your modern Web services application data to EDI for transmission is a recurring challenge.

In addition, you may find that while you have upgraded your internal business processes to a Web services model, many of your partners have not. In a case like this, you can use MapForce to graphically translate incoming EDI request messages to a Web services requests, convert this data to a Web services response message, and then output a valid EDI response for transmission to your partners – all within one mapping design.

MapForce supports mapping EDI data both to and from Web services so that you can integrate data with emerging XML e-commerce standards such as RosettaNet and ebXML.

Find out how MapForce® 2009 can help you transform your data into EDI formats. Download a free 30-day trial of MapForce.

* “HL7,” and “Health Level Seven” are registered trademarks of Health Level Seven, Inc.