ANSI ASC X12


These are the two major standards used in the world today: ANSI X12 and UN/EDIFACT. From a technical point of view, the differences between these two standards are very small, but how they are managed is very different.

ANSI X12: ANSI stands for American National Standards Institute. Inside of that organization are many Accredited Standards Committees (ASC) that maintain industry standards for a variety of industries. All of the committees that maintain standards have a name, and all of the committees that have anything to do with the topic of communication begin with the letter X. The 12th committee deals with EDI issues. So ANSI ASC X12 is a committee that manages the EDI standard that we use in the United States.

The ANSI X12 standards are maintained in code books. The ANSI X12 book is like an unabridged dictionary. This is important to understand in designing an EDI system because, like an unabridged dictionary, you are going to use only a relatively small subset of what you find in the ANSI X12 reference books.

EDIFACT: This is the European standards body which acts under the auspices of the United Nations. It stands for Electronic Data Interchange For Administration, Commerce and Transport. UN/EDIFACT is the normal way to refer to this standards body. The US national standard for EDI is ANSI X12; the international standard for EDI is UN/EDIFACT.

While there are some differences in the standards defined by the ANSI X12 and UN/EDIFACT committees, the differences are relatively minor. There is an effort underway to bridge the gaps between ANSI X12 and EDIFACT.

Some other EDI-related terms:

There are 5 additional EDIFACT boards throughout the world. Of all six, ours is the only one that is commercially funded – all others are government funded.

Within ANSI X12 there are various subcommittees:

Other subcommittees for other industry groups also exist.