Module for EDI 9.12 | Understanding EDI Concepts | Using Module for EDI Decoupled from Trading Networks | Processing of Inbound EDI Documents | Services to Process the Inbound EDI Document
 
Services to Process the Inbound EDI Document
Module for EDI provides built-in services that you use as building blocks for creating services that process your inbound EDI documents. Typical ways to process an EDI document might be to map the data from the EDI document to another format (for example, the format that a back-end system requires) or to map data from the EDI document to the inputs of a service.
The following diagram illustrates the basic processing you might want to include in a service that processes an EDI document. In the diagram, the service lists actions in both black and blue. The actions in black are those for which the Module for EDI provides built-in services. For more information, see the tables after the diagram.
The service receives the EDI document in the edidata variable in the pipeline. The tables below provides more details about the type of processing the service can do:
Action
Description
Built-in service provided for?
1
Generate a functional acknowledgment (FA) for the EDI document. For more information, see Generating Functional Acknowledgments.
Yes
2
Perform an interchange envelope validation that includes validating field lengths, code lists, ranges, and partitions.
Yes
3
Perform a compliance check to check for matching interchange control numbers, matching group control numbers, matching transaction control numbers, segment counts, transaction counts, and group counts.
Yes
When processing an EDI document, the majority of the effort will most likely be in processing the individual transaction sets within the EDI document. You can perform the following when processing a transaction set within the EDI document:
Action
Description
Built-in service provided for?
4
Convert the EDI transaction set from a String or InputStream into an IData object and validate its structure.
To be able to convert a transaction set to an IData object, the Module for EDI uses a flat file schema that defines the structure of the transaction set. Additionally, it uses the flat file schema to validate that the structure of the EDI transaction is correct. For more information, see Flat File Schemas.
Yes
5
Map data from an EDI transaction to a target.
After the transaction set is in an IData object, you can map the data from the IData object for the EDI transaction set. For example, you can map the data to the inputs of another service or to an internal-format document (for example, a format required by a back-end system).
Yes
6
If the service mapped EDI data to an internal-format document (for example, the back-end system document), convert the internal-format document from an IData object to a String or InputStream.
To be able to convert this document, the Module for EDI uses a flat file schema that defines the structure of the your back-end system. For more information, see Before You Process EDI Documents.
The internal-format document as a String or InputStream is now in a format that you can use to deliver it (for example, to the back-end system).
Yes
For information about how to create a service to process an inbound EDI document, see webMethods Module for EDI Installation and User’s Guide.