What is ANSI X12

The Accredited Standards Committee X12 (ASC X12) a non-profit organisation that supports America’s cross-industry, electronic exchange of information. The ANSI X12 developed the EDI standard X12 over 40 years ago. The X12 EDI standard is a continuously adaptative language that enables business transactions through its interoperable network. As a syntax-neutral protocol, it is compatible with many syntaxes. X12 is used throughout the United States, similar to EDIFACT in Europe.

Benefits of X12:

Efficiency and accuracy: X12 streamlines business processes and reduces manual data entry.

Cost Savings and faster transactions: The EDI standard reduces paper-based transactions and in turn speeds up the exchange of business documents.

Improved Data Security and Compliance: Offering a secure data transmission method that supports communications between various systems and partners.

Audit Trail: Electronic exchanges provide a record of all transactions for tracking and auditing.

The Accredited Standards Committee break down the EDI standard into five subcommittees those being;

• X12C: Communications and Controls
• X12F: Finance
• X12I: Transportation
• X12J: Technical Assessment
• X12M: Supply Chain
• X12N: Insurance

The subcommittees are developed for specific business functions. In order to effectively maintain and develop the standards, experts within the field chair and monitor the EDI standards to uphold best practices.

Though these industries are different, the commonality between them all is that they utilise EDI, in particular X12 to electronically exchange documents like purchase orders, invoices, and shipping notices with suppliers. Whilst using EDI platforms to track shipments, handle customs documentation, and manage shipping and delivery information.

Example of ASC X12 message type:

Here is an example of the raw EDI data format of an order acknowledgement.

Transmission

ST*855*0001~ BAK*11*AT*XX-7777*20230810***LL555~ PER*SU*XYZ JET3 AIRECRAFT PARTS*TE*1-800-2222-~

PER*SU*XYZ JET3 AIRECRAFT PARTS*TE*1-800-2222-~ CTT*0~ SE*5*0001~

X12 transmission explanation

ST*855*0001~

The ‘855’ is the identifiable EDI number associated with an order acknowledgement. The 001 signifies the transaction set for a purchase order acknowledgment.

BAK*11*AT*XX-7777*20230810***LL555~

This specific line shows the acknowledgment/order response, specifying an acknowledgment type of ‘Accepted’ without specific details. The line includes the purchase order number XX-7777, dated 10^th August 2023, which is associated with contract number LL555

PER*SU*XYZ JET3 AIRECRAFT PARTS*TE*1-800-2222-~

This line identifies the supplier as Jet 3 Aircraft Parts, whilst the number after the final asterisk is the number the company can be contacted.

CTT*0~

The ‘0’ indicates the order acknowledgment contains no line items.

SE*5*0001~

The ‘0001’ is the transaction set control number, the ‘5’ represents the total segments.

Trying to connect via X12?

Our solutions Netix One and Netix Flow can communicate via any EDI standard including X12, EDIFACT, VDA and Tradacoms. Both solutions can translate and transmit various EDI message types into a human-readable format, making it easy for your team to access crucial business information.

If you’re looking to connect to your trading partners via EDI, get in touch today!