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Technical:
Global standards for electronic business messaging are based on two components: GS1 EANCOM and GS1 XML.
1- GS1 EANCOM
The messages available in the EANCOM standard cover the functions required to affect a complete trade transaction:
- the messages which enable the trade transaction to take place, e.g. price catalogue, purchase order, invoice, etc;
- the messages used to instruct transport services to move the goods;
- The messages used in settlement of the trade transactions through the banking system.
The flows and trading partners catered for in EANCOM can be simply represented as follows:
The business messages available in EANCOM can be divided into the following categories:
Master Data Messages
These contain data that rarely undergoes a change (product measurements, names and addresses, etc):
Business Transaction Messages
These cover the general trading cycle from quotation request to remittance advice:
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Quotation messages include all details relevant to the supply of the goods or rendering of services requested by the potential buyer (delivery terms, payment terms, price, allowances and charges, etc).
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Purchase Order set of messages relates to the ordering process from a proposed order, subsequent changes and the eventual order confirmation (relevant quantities, dates, location of delivery, etc).
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Transport and Logistics messages provide information on dispatch transport and receipt of previously ordered products.
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Invoice and Remittance Advice messages relate to the payment of the goods supplied. The buyer can automatically reconcile the suppliers invoice using the product receipt information.
Report and Planning Messages
These messages include general trading reports that permit partners to look ahead for the future:
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They enable trading partners to exchange valuable information in order to understand each other's requirements;
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They provide valuable and up-to-date reports and forecasts concerning delivery, sales and stocks and enable the partners involved to plan their activities and marketing strategies.
Syntax and Service Report Message
The Syntax and Service Report message may be sent by the receiver of any EDIFACT message to acknowledge or refuse an interchange, functional group or message.
General Message
The General message may be used to send data with no specific standard message.
Security Messages
These messages are only available in the EANCOM version 2002, Syntax 4.
- The secure authentication and acknowledgement message is used in order to transmit the digital signature, related information to verify the recipient's signature, and the references to the data secured.
- The security key and certificate management message can be used to transmit the public key of the sender to the recipient. The recipient is then able to verify digital signatures in further transmissions. It is also possible to make references to certificates from certification authorities (trust centers).
2- GS1 XML
XML is an acronym for "Extensible Markup Language". The XML is designed for online information exchange. Within a GS1 set of standards, XML is used for Electronic Data Interchange - GS1 eCom.
The GS1 XML standards are not intended to compete or replace GS1 EANCOM - the GS1 standard for "traditional" EDI. GS1 XML standards initially addressed different user groups than the existing EANCOM standards, but currently both technologies are put to use in parallel.
The GS1 XML standards provide a set of XML schemas which can be employed in order to develop XML instance documents and validate them within the course of business information exchange. These documents are business messages equivalent to paper business documents.
The GS1 XML schemas have been developed based on UML models of business processes. This practice ensures that the business message models are syntax neutral and real business processes-based. These models can be mapped to any technical syntax that allows actual business data exchange. This makes them future-proof and can be mapped to any syntax or data exchange technology that will emerge. |
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