Reference

Glossary

Some of these words mean something slightly different in other EDI products. This is what they mean here.

WordWhat it means here
AgreementOne document type, in one direction, with one partner. The record that makes a posting send something. Not a contract
AcknowledgementA receipt saying a document arrived and was accepted or refused. Not the same as an order confirmation
AnchorThe order a message belongs to. What puts it on a flow tracker
Business processWhere a document sits in the order flow. What the module routes on, rather than the document type
CompareHolding a staged inbound document against your own data before anything is created. Produces green, yellow or red
Document typeA specific document in a specific format, such as EDIFACT INVOIC. Extensible: you can add your own
EnvelopeThe wrapper around one or more business documents, carrying who sent it and who it is for
FormatThe wire language: EDIFACT, X12, UBL, or one of your own
IdentifierThe number a company is addressed by on the wire: a GLN, a CVR number, a VAT number
InterchangeOne transmission. It may carry several business documents
Lifecycle stageHow far a message got: created, transmitted, stored, processed. Not whether it is healthy
LinkThe record tying a partner to a customer or vendor account, in one company, under one identifier
MessageOne transmission, in one direction, as recorded in the log. Everything known about it hangs off this row
OrganisationYou, on the wire. The identifiers one of your legal entities answers to
PartnerThe company at the other end. One record, shared across your legal entities
Posting gateValidation that runs inside the posting, and can refuse it
RulesetThe published rules a document of a given type is checked against
StagingWhere an inbound document is read to before it becomes a record. It stays afterwards
SupersededReplaced by a newer document of the same kind. Kept, because a partner may have acted on it
TransportHow documents travel to one partner: AS2, AS4 or SFTP
Wire fileThe document exactly as sent or received. Kept, and readable from the message

Three that are easy to confuse

Confirmation and acknowledgement. A confirmation is a business answer: yes, at that price, on that date. An acknowledgement is a receipt: it arrived, and it was accepted or refused. A partner can acknowledge an order and never confirm it.

Format mapping and model mapping. Both are Electronic Reporting configurations. Export binds the format mapping; import binds the model mapping. Swapping them produces an import that runs and lands nothing.

Not applicable and unavailable. The first means there were no rules to check against. The second means there were and they could not be reached. Only the first is a pass.