Applications
Computer programs or systems that create or process business documents. Detail area
The section of a transaction set that contains line item detail (e.g., quantity, price, etc). Document
One complete business document (e.g., invoice, purchase order, etc.). EDI standards
A published set of formats produced and controlled by either a national or international organization. Standards ensure EDI documents use the same file format. Functional acknowledgement
A transaction set, which an EDI receiver returns to the sender to indicate that a transmission has been received and that the content of the transmission has been validated against the EDI standards. Functional acknowledgements have a built-in mechanism to ensure the recipient successfully received everything the sender intended. Header area
The beginning segments of a transaction set which contain information that applies to all the information in the transaction set (e.g., invoice number, general sender, or receiver data). Segment
A group of logically related data elements in a defined sequence. Segments have a predetermined segment identifier that comprises the first characters of the segment. Summary area
The last section in a transaction set that contains summary information. Trading partners
Business organizations that agree to exchange business documents via EDI. Transaction set
A group of segments, in a predefined sequence, that provides all the data required to define a complete business transaction. Transaction sets are identified by a three-digit number (e.g., 810 for invoices and 850 for purchase orders). Transmission
The means by which data is transferred between trading partners, either over a public telecommunications network or via the internet. Translation
The process of converting business documents from an application format to a standard EDI format for outbound documents and from a standard EDI format to an application format for inbound documents. Translation software
Dual-purpose software that converts files to or from an EDI format. In the case of outbound documents, an internal application file format is converted into an EDI format. For inbound documents, the EDI format is converted into an internal application file format. Value-added network (VAN)
A third-party service provider that receives stores and transmits data between trading partners, VANs eliminate the need for compatible communications hardware and protocols. | 
