What is EDIFACT?
EDIFACT is the international EDI standard for electronic trade messages. Below you can read how it is structured and where you encounter it.
EDIFACT (UN/EDIFACT) is the United Nations' international EDI standard for electronic trade messages. Message types such as ORDERS, DESADV (packing slip) and INVOIC define exactly how an order or invoice is built up, so parties worldwide understand each other's data.
The international EDI language
EDIFACT (in full UN/EDIFACT) was drawn up by the United Nations so that companies worldwide understand each other's trade messages. It defines exactly how a message is built up: from segments, data elements and codes.
Each message type has its own name. Commonly used ones are ORDERS (purchase order), DESADV (packing slip or shipping notice), INVOIC (invoice) and ORDRSP (order confirmation). Because the structure is fixed, software can read and create the messages automatically.
EDIFACT in practice
In Europe, EDIFACT is the most used EDI standard, especially in retail, food and logistics. The North American counterpart is ANSI X12. We translate between EDIFACT and your ERP's format, so that messages from trading partners are processed automatically.
Connect or build something?
In a free one-hour process scan, we look at your systems and the manual work between them. After that, a fixed-fee quote. No surprises afterwards.