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Overview

Etlworks supports four widely used EDI (electronic data interchange) dialects: X12, EDIFACT, NCPDP, and VDA. Etlworks also supports HL7 2.x and HL7 FHIR EDI dialects used by healthcare providers and vendors. 

• X12 is a standard for electronic data interchange (EDI) between trading partners over data networks. X12 is developed and maintained by the Accredited Standards Committee (ASC). For more information, see http://www.x12.org.
• EDIFACT is an international electronic data interchange standard maintained by the United Nations. For more information, see https://www.edibasics.com/edi-resources/document-standards/edifact/.
• NCPDP are consensus-based standards that connect healthcare electronically, streamline the system and safeguard patients. For more information, see https://standards.ncpdp.org/.
• VDA is a set of EDI standards developed for the automotive industry. For more information, see https://www.edibasics.com/edi-resources/document-standards/vda/.

When to use these Formats

Use these formats to read and create EDI messages in X12, EDIFACT, NCPDP, and VDA EDI dialects and generate acknowledgments for messages in X12 and EDIFACT EDI dialects. 

Read how to work with EDI messages in Etlworks.

Difference between EDI connectors 

Etlworks is shipped with two EDI connectors:

Generic EDI format

• Generic EDI format supports four EDI dialects: X12, EDIFACT, NCPDP, and VDA. It is provided as a premium connector and must be enabled for your account. Users with trial accounts have full access to the EDI format (no need to enable anything). It also supports various HL7 versions, but we recommend using our specialized HL7 2.x and HL7 FHIR connectors.  
• EDI format requires access to our public EDI API. Host: https://etlworksedi.azurewebsites.net/api.
• EDI format supports reading and writing EDI messages in X12, EDIFACT, NCPDP, and VDA EDI dialects and creating acknowledgments for messages in X12 and EDIFACT EDI dialects. 
• EDI format internally transforms EDI messages in any dialect into JSON format. The JSON representation adheres to the open-source OpenEDI format based on OpenAPI 3, so it is easier to create EDI documents using the generic EDI format than the specialized X12 format (below) based on unpunished XML specification. 

X12 format

Dedicated X12 format is deprecated. It is recommend to use generic EDI format for reading and creating X12 documents. 

• The X12 format is free and included in every version of Etlworks. It supports reading and writing X12 documents, transforming X12 documents to XML, and generating 997 acknowledgments.
• X12 format internally transforms EDI messages in X12 dialect into XML format.
• X12 format requires a schema for different versions of the X12 dialect. Schema for X12 000401 is loaded by default. Other schemas must be installed by end user or Etlworks support. Read how to install the schema. 
• Setting the Transaction Set (for example 204) is highly recommended when configuring the X12 format.

Generic EDI format

Generic EDI format supports four EDI dialects: X12, EDIFACT, NCPDP, and VDA. It is provided as a premium connector and must be enabled for your account. Users with trial accounts have full access to the EDI format (no need to enable anything). It also supports various HL7 versions, but we recommend using our specialized HL7 2.x and HL7 FHIR connectors.  

EDI format supports reading and writing EDI messages in X12, EDIFACT, NCPDP, and VDA EDI dialects and creating acknowledgments for messages in X12 and EDIFACT EDI dialects. 

Create a generic EDI format

To create a new generic EDI Format, go to Connections, select the Formats tab, click Add Format, select the EDI tab, and select EDI. You can also just type in edi in the Search field.

Configure generic EDI format

Below are the available parameters for the generic EDI Format.

EDI Dialect

• EDI dialect: The EDI dialect. Supported dialects are X12, EDIFACT, NCPDP, and VDA.

Read EDI messages

• Continue on error: whether to continue reading if a corrupt interchange is encountered. The default is true.
• Ignore null values: whether to ignore all null values. The default is false.

Write EDI messages

• Preserve blank data elements: Whether to preserve blank data elements so the output contains multiple delimiters instead of omitting any excess delimiters. The default is false.
• Postix: The postfix is to be applied at the end of each segment, just after the segment separator. This is usually a carriage return (CR), line feed (LF), or both. By default, there is no postfix.
• Same repetion and data element: EDIFACT only. Sometimes the same delimiter is used to denote the data element separator and repetition separator as in IATA transactions. By default, this is false.
• S3 is the default syntax for EANCOM transactions: EDIFACT only. The default syntax for EANCOM transactions. By default, all EANCOM transactions will be constructed according to the rules of Syntax 4. Set this flag to true if you need Syntax 3 to be used.
• Add G1 to header: NCPDP only. Whether to add the G1 to the header or not. The default is false, e.g. it's always produced with a G1.
• Trailer message: NCPDP only. The optional Message_03 in the transmission trailer. By default, there is no message.

Acknowledgment for X12 and EDIFACT messages

• Acknowledgement File Name: Acknowledgement for X12 and EDIFACT messages.
• Detect duplicates: X12 and EDIFACT. If you need to detect duplicates as in functional groups or transactions with the same reference number, set this flag to true. The default is false.
• Transaction Ref Number: X12 and EDIFACT. The default is 1. Set this to whatever the 997 or 999 X12Interchange.ST.TransactionSetControlNumber_02 needs to be. In case there are multiple acknowledgments (for multiple functional groups), this will be starting reference number and every subsequent acknowledgment will have the previous reference number incremented with 1.
• Interchange Ref Number: X12 and EDIFACT. The default is 1. Set this to whatever the 997 or 999 X12Interchange.ISA.InterchangeControlNumber_13 needs to be Ack for valid transactions: X12 and EDIFACT. The default is false. Set this to true if you need AK2 loops included for all valid transactions as well. By default, AK2 loops are generated only for invalid transactions.
• Batch Ack: X12 and EDIFACT. The default is true. Set this to false if you need to generate a separate X12Interchange for each acknowledgment. By default, all acknowledgments are batched in the same X12Interchange
• Technical Ack: X12 and EDIFACT. The default technical acknowledgment TA1 is generated according to X12Interchange.ISA.AcknowledgementRequested_14. You can either enforce it to always generate TA1s or suppress it to never generate any TA1s. This will override the flag in X12Interchange.ISA.AcknowledgementRequested_14.
• Ack: X12 only. The default value is 997. The type of acknowledgment being generated. Set this to 999 if you need to generate an implementation instead of functional acknowledgment.
• The value of the AK9's first element is P: X12 only. The value of the AK9's first element. By default, it is E. Set this to true if you want this value to be P instead.

Common parameters

• Preprocessor: JavaScript code that modifies the contents of the source document. Read more on how to use a Preprocessor.
• Column names compatible with SQL: convert column names to SQL-compatible column names by removing all characters, except alphanumeric and spaces.
• Date and Time Format: a Format for timestamps (date+time).
• Date Format: a Format for date (date only, no time).
• Time Format: a Format for time (time only, no date).
• Parse Dates: if this option is enabled, and the date or time value is not recognized as one of the formats defined above, Etlworks will try to parse it using one of the well-known date+time Formats.
• Trim Strings: if this option is enabled, Etlworks will trim leading and trailing white spaces from the value.
• Treat 'null' as null: if this option is enabled, Etlworks will treat string values equal to 'null' as actual nulls (no value).
• Encoding: the document encoding. The default is UTF-8.

X12 format

The X12 format is free and included in every version of Etlworks. It supports reading and creating X12 documents, transforming X12 documents to XML, and generating 997 acknowledgments.

Create X12 format

To create a new X12 Format, go to Connections, select the Formats tab, click Add Format, select the EDI tab, and select X12. You can also just type in x12 in the Search field.

Configure X12 format

Below are the available parameters for the X12 Format:

• Transaction Set: the transaction set is used to provide a structure for transfer of EDI standards, or portions thereof, in an electronic form. IMPORTANT: The transaction set is required to create XML with human-readable fields, like FTX03_TextReference, so it is highly recommended to enter the correct transaction set of the file in this field. For example, for X12, it can be 204.
• EDI schema Filename or Path: the fully qualified name of the schema file or a base folder with EDI schema files. The schemas are used to assign human-readable names to the EDI segments. Etlworks EDI connectors can download schema files from the local storage. Etlworks already includes schemas for X12 version 00401. Read how to install schema for a different version of X12 formats. 
• Name of the XML file to convert EDI document to: if this property is set, the system will create a file with a specified name by converting the EDI document to XML. Read about saving an X12 file as XML.
• Do not parse EDI document: if this property is enabled, and Name of the XML file is set the system will create an XML file but will not parse it. Enable this property if you want to convert EDI to XML without creating a dataset. Read about saving an X12 file as XML.
• Strict schema validation: enables strict X12 schema validation.
• Enable cross-field validation rules: enables cross-field validation rules. The EDI receive pipeline and EDI send pipeline can perform cross-field/segment validation on transaction-set data elements in X12-encoded messages. This validation is called relational conditions in X12.
• Use long element names: determines whether to use long (human-readable descriptions) or short (codes only) element and segment names in your XML conversions (FTX03_TextReference or FTX03, for example). IMPORTANT: requires valid X12.
• Include Empty Elements: determines whether to include empty data elements in a composite element.
• Include Footers: determines whether to include footer information in the XML.
• Component delimiter: the delimiter character to use to separate components. 
• Element delimiter: the delimiter character to use to separate data elements.
• Segment delimiter: the delimiter character to use to separate segments.
• Release character: the character to use to escape delimiters within values.
• Repetition character: the repetition character.
• Template: this is a template in the X12 Format. If this field is not empty, Etlworks will use it to populate column names and data types. The template is an optional field.
• Preprocessor: JavaScript code that modifies the contents of the source document. Read more on how to use a Preprocessor.
• Default Extension: the default extension is used when the file name doesn't have an extension. If not entered, x12 is going to be the default extension.
• Column names compatible with SQL: convert column names to SQL-compatible column names by removing all characters, except alphanumeric and spaces.
• Date and Time Format: a Format for timestamps (date+time).
• Date Format: a Format for date (date only, no time).
• Time Format: a Format for time (time only, no date).
• Parse Dates: if this option is enabled, and the date or time value is not recognized as one of the formats defined above, Etlworks will try to parse it using one of the well-known date+time Formats.
• Trim Strings: if this option is enabled, Etlworks will trim leading and trailing white spaces from the value.
• Treat 'null' as null: if this option is enabled, Etlworks will treat string values equal to 'null' as actual nulls (no value).
• Encoding: XML document encoding. The default is UTF-8.

Install schemas for different versions of X12 formats

Each version of the X12 format requires a unique schema, which allows the connector to translate short identifiers to human-readable names. The default schema for X12 is 000401.

You don't need to download and install schemas when working with X12 messages using the generic EDI format.

To download and install schemas for different versions of the formats, follow these steps:

Step 1. Request a download link for the selected X12 schema from here.

Step 2. Download the zip archive with the schema to your local drive.

Step 3. Create a Server storage connection that points to the Home folder (if the connection does not exist).

Step 5. Create a new Create folder flow.

Step 6. Add transformation where the source connection is a server storage connection created in step 3, and the FROM is edi/schema_name, for example edi/00501.

Step 7. Execute the Create folder flow. 

Step 8. Create a Server storage connection that points to the Home/edi/schema_name, for example /edi/00501/*.*:

Step 8. In Explorer, upload all files from unzipped schema file into this folder:

(example for Windows)

Step 9. Open EDI format, set Transaction set, set EDI schema to {app.data}/edi.