e the requirement for data interchange on their suppliers or customers. They essentially dictated the terms under which electronic trading would take place.While this did provide some standards, real problems arose when equally stubborn partners collided with each other. “The result of such conflicts was that the smaller or newer players in the EDI market place were forced to observe a variety of conventions, depending on who the recipient of the information was to be. Confusion aside, an unavoidable consequence was increased cost for EDI implementation.”11As the various standards collided in the market place, the result was the development of industry interest groups formed to try to reduce the chaos and confusion to manageable levels. The first was the Transportation Data Coordinating Committee, whose interest area was the standardization of the transactions required for trade and transportation. Beginning in the late 1980's, many of these standards bodies began to combine their separate standards under the agency of the American National Standards Institute. All major American EDI transaction groups are now covered under the general umbrella of the Accredited Standards Committee, (ASC), and are referred to as the X12 group of standards.The ASC X12 Standards apply only for the United States. However, more and more companies are required to participate in the international exchange of electronic data. The increasingly global extent of many business enterprises requires that companies may have to at least be aware of the other major standards groups. The United Nations has provided a forum to provide a common set of international standards, under the general authority of the United Nations. Thus the Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport (EDIFACT) group was formed. EDI cannot be undertaken without software. “There is a broad range of options available, whether for low-cost first-time imp...
