EDI System Architecture


The various architectures tend to track the changing and different needs of different trading partners.

Standalone – A small trading partner will typically use a PC-based EDI system. The main considerations for standalone PC-based systems are:

PC Front-end – The PC front-end system typically communicates with a backend Mainframe-based legacy database system, so human interaction is minimal. The goal is to translate EDI data into non-EDI formats that can be used by the legacy systems.

Considerations:

Co-resident – In this system, the EDI system co-resides with other large systems, like AP, AR, distribution, etc. These are mainframe based systems that can be very expensive, but they provide very efficient integration between the EDI system and other internal business systems.

Gateway/Server – These are large and complex systems that can do EDI communications on a national or global scale.