Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) – a Definition

What is Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)?

EDI stands for electronic data interchange. EDI means the electronic exchange of business documents, such as orders, delivery slips and invoices. These documents are exchanged among business partners in structured data form and without manual intervention. There are set standards for this which apply internationally.

The goal of EDI is the easy and secure exchange of data between companies, independent of formats or merchandise management systems. Furthermore, companies should be able to further process this data without having to manually record it again. Data exchange via EDI is faster, more efficient, and less prone to error than exchange via other processes.

What Are the Advantages of EDI?

Processes Are Made Simpler, which Lowers Costs

Business Processes Are Faster and More Transparent (Data Transfer within Seconds!)

Coordinated Processes Improve Business Partner Relations

High Data Quality that Requires No Manual Intervention and No Media Disruption

High Adaptability

The ZUGFeRD Suite from SEAL Systems Supplements Existing EDI Standards

With ZUGFeRD, the exchange of invoices between businesses and the public domain is standardized and made easier. In contrast to EDI, ZUGFeRD places no demands on the transmission of invoices and no requirements on the transmitted data sets.

The ZUGFeRD invoice is based on the PDF/A-3 ISO standard and consists of an archivable representation of the invoice as PDF and the embedded invoice data as digitally evaluable XML data sets.

Along with the automated creation of ZUGFeRD invoices, you’ll receive extensive options for the adding additional documents (proof of performance, directives, purchasing documents) and for the output of documents via e-mail, FTP, Sharepoint, and many other channels.