The ANSI X.12 Standard
Managing Electronic Records -- LIS389C.5 -- Summer 1996
http://www2.echo.lu/oii/en/edi.htm
This is the site of the Open Information Interchange Initiative which is dedicated to disseminating documents about standards to stimulate product development in the multimedia area, primarily. X.12 is covered. This site purports to link to the actual standard when it is available and legal to do so. The OII initiative is supported primarily by European area groups and is maintained by individuals at IC Focus Limited and the SGML Centre.
http://www.iso.ch/infoe/intro.htm
This site contains information about the International Standards Organization itself, it’s liaison organizations, committee, subcommittees, financial support, and organization. I took note of it because it also contains the ISO Catalog for ordering. It is maintained by the ISO. I was unable to determine if ISO has a complementary standard to ANSI X.12.
http://www.itsi.disa.mil/lcfs/itsi_lib.html
This was a useful site for me. It is a standards document library useful in determining which standards the Department of Defense is using and expecting its business partners to use. It includes links to ANSI, IEEE, ISO, MIL-STD, EC/EDI Implementation conventions, and contains a section entitled: How to get Standards, especially those that aren’t on-line with the Defense Information Systems Agency Library. The site is maintained by the Department of Defense, Defense Information Systems Agency.
This site contains the most useful information concerning ANSI ASC (Accredited Standards Committee) X.12 including the membership directory of those who are voting members, and a product catalog listing all versions, releases, subreleases, and publications with prices. Minutes of all meetings of the Data Interchange Standards Association and its subcommittees are also posted here. Links to other sites are provided along with lists of regional resources. The site is maintained by Data Interchange Standards Association, Inc., a not-for-profit organization.
http://www.ips.id.ethz.ch/%7Eparish/standard.html
Links to helpful sites.
http://www.ummu.umich.edu/library/STANDARDS
Did not successfully get to this one.
http://www.ansi.org
Did not successfully get to this one.
http://www.aiim.org/industry/standards/intro.html
Primarily interested in imaging.
http://www.ietf.cnri.reston.va.us/home.html
Internet Engineering Task Force site.
ANSI (American National Standards Institute) X.12 is the official name of the standard. Textual references are also made using the terms US ANSI X.12, X12, and ANSI X12.
It is a standard which has been adopted by the American National Standards Institute, a private, non-profit organization responsible for the development and approval of voluntary consensus standards in the United States. It’s membership is comprised of over 1000 companies and organizations.
ANSI ASC X.12, the ANSI Accredited Standards Committee X.12 is composed of government and industry members from North America. It was chartered in 1979 by ANSI to develop uniform standards for electronic data interchange documents. This committee has a long history and continues to reach for new milestones in its history. By 1997, it is expected to align itself with EDIFACT, United Nations Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce, and Transport. Many recognizable names are on the ASC X.12 800 name membership list including 3M, Xerox, Pillsbury/Grandmet, and Texaco.
The ASC X.12 body comes together three times each year to develop and maintain standards. They recently met in June of 1996, but have not posted minutes of the meeting yet on the web site www.disa.org. Proposed standards are approved through a consensus process before a standard or a change to a standard is approved and registered with ANSI. The ASC X.12 Standards that have been designated as American National Standards are Version 3 published in March 1992 and Version 2 published in 1986. The most current release is Release 3060 priced at $215 for members and $415 for non-members.
Since 1979, this standard has been updated and changed. These changes have been described using terms like versions, releases, and subreleases. ANSI X.12 is a large standard with over 200 transaction sets attached to it. Each of these transaction sets supports a business function such as warehousing, insurance, purchasing, and finance.
The Federal Government of the United States has endorsed the use of the ANSI X.12 standards for Electronic Commerce/Electronic Data Interchange with the government. This selection was made because so many in private industry in the United States were already in compliance with ANSI rules for standards development. The government felt that it was investing in a mature and tested methodology and that would result in potential for quick implementation and a large trading partner base in the United States. The gradual alignment of ANSI X.12 with EDIFACT in 1997 is forecasted to help everyone benefit from a single global EDI standard.
ANSI ASC X.12 is supported by the Data Interchange Standards Association, Inc. (DISA), a not-for-profit corporation which manages the ASC X.12 membership, balloting processes, standards development and maintenance, publications, and communications with ANSI. DISA can be reached at 703-548-7005. The web site maintained by DISA is at www.disa.org. The entire membership list can be found there along with the product catalog.
The problem addressed by this standard involves the transmission of a business document. Transaction sets were devised that become the electronic equivalent of a business document. The user encloses transactions sets in electronic envelopes, and ships the documents to the intended receiver. If the message is to be received in the way the sender intends, the computers must communicate accurately using a number of components to facilitate the communication. The standard addresses a syntax or set of rules for structuring the data, a data element directory, a code directory, a segment directory, and a message directory. At an overview level, we can say that all documents within the standard are based on the same agreed format, using similar structures and labels. The transaction sets provide the details for a number of different documents. A transaction set is equivalent to documents such as a purchase order, an invoice, or a shipping notice. Within the transaction set, the data elements and data segments are defined. It becomes more detailed from there.
The standard has been implemented by a wide variety of vendors and is used by a variety of industries. Some of the transaction set names illustrate the variety:
A closely related standard is EDIFACT. It is felt by some that EDIFACT is becoming the foremost international EDI standard. The encouraging fact is that ANSI ASC X.12 and EDIFACT appear to be working together to reach alignment. At the end of 1995, ASC X.12 balloted its members with regard to migration to EDIFACT and the result was a vote favorable toward the migration. Some feel that most U.S. companies will opt to implement the requirements of both standards until such time as a migration strategy is developed to assist companies in migrating to whatever is developed out of the 1997 planned alignment effort. Others feel that the length of time required to get thousands of people involved in the process of standards development can be totally avoided by using the Internet for finding trading partners and doing business with them using the strength of Internet mail transport protocols and either public or private security features. Other proprietary EDI communities include ODETTE , Organization for Data Exchange Through Tele-transmission in Europe; SWIFT, Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications; and TDI, Trade Data Interchange.
Where the Standard is Available in Full Text and Cost:
I did not locate the full text of the standard on a Web site. I did locate the order information at the Data Interchange Standards Association web site. DISA is located at 1800 Diagonal Road, Suite 200, Alexandria, Virginia 22314. Orders are phoned to 1-888-363-2334 or a PDF Order Form can be used.
The ASC X12 Standards that have been designated as American National Standards are Version 3 published in March 1992 and Version 2 published in 1986. The cost of the 1992 product is $175 for members and $335 for non-members.
The most current release is Release 3060 priced at $215 for members and $415 for non-members.
Numerous choices are given in the product catalog for ordering the format you can best use. CD-ROM and diskettes along with paper are available. Prices vary.
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