Glossary You Are @ Home/ Glossary A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z E EDI Standards Criteria that define the data content and format requirements for specific business transactions (e.g. purchase orders). Using standard formats allows companies to exchange transactions with multiple trading partners easily. EDI Transmission A functional group of one or more EDI transactions that are sent to the same location, in the same transmission, and are identified by a functional group header and trailer. EDIA Electronic Data Interchange Association. A national body that propagates and controls the use of EDI in a given country. All EDIAs are nonprofit organizations dedicated to encouraging EDI growth. The EDIA in the United States was formerly TDCC and administered the development of standards in transportation and other industries. EDIFACT Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce, and Transport. The United Nations EDI standard. Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) A strategy in which the grocery retailer, distributor and supplier trading partners work closely together to eliminate excess costs from the grocery supply chain. EFT Electronic Funds Transfer. Sending payment instructions across a computer network, or the company-to-company, company-to-bank, or bank-to-bank electronic exchange of value. Electronic Commerce (EC) Also written as e-commerce. Conducting business online. In the traditional sense of selling goods, it is possible to do this electronically because of certain software programs that run the main functions of an e-commerce website, such as product display, online ordering, and inventory management. The definition of e-commerce includes business activity that is business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C). Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Intercompany, computer-to-computer transmission of business information in a standard format. For EDI purists, "computer-to-computer" means direct transmission from the originating application program to the receiving, or processing, application program, and an EDI transmission consists only of business data, not any accompanying verbiage or free-form messages. Purists might also contend that a standard format is one that is approved by a national or international standards organization, as opposed to formats developed by industry groups or companies. Electronic Mail (E-Mail) The computer-to-computer exchange of messages. E-mail is usually unstructured (free-form) rather than in a structured format. X.400 has become the standard for e-mail exchange. Electronic Signature A form of authentication that lets you identify and validate a transaction by means of an authorization code. Encryption The transformation of readable text into coded text for security purposes. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System A class of software for planning enterprise-wide the resources needed to take customer orders, ship them, account for them and replenish all needed goods according to customer orders and forecasts. Often includes electronic commerce with suppliers. Enveloping An EDI management software function that groups all documents of the same type, or functional group, and bound for the same destination into an electronic envelope. EPS Encapsulated Postscript. An extension of the PostScript graphics file format developed by Adobe Systems. EPS lets PostScript graphics files be incorporated into other documents. Ethernet A commonly used type of local area network (LAN). Exception-Based Processing Applications that automatically highlight particular events or results that fall outside pre-determined parameters. This saves considerable effort by automatically finding problems and alerting the right persons. Extranet A private network that links separate organizations and that uses the same software and protocols as the Internet. Used for improving supply chain management. Back To Top