Glossary

ANSI

American National Standards Institute (ANSI). This organization is the coordinator for national standards in the United States. It is a member of non-treaty international standards organizations, and coordinates the activities involved in US participation in these groups.

ANSI Format

Stream file format that uses transactions, segments, elements, identifiers and delimiters. All data lengths are variable in this format.

ANSI Standard

A document published by ANSI that has been approved through the consensus process of public announcement and review. Each such standard must have been developed by an ANSI committee and must be revisited by the committee within five years for updating.

Application Acknowledgment

A transaction set whose purpose is to return a response to a transaction set that has been received and processed in an application program. The Purchase Order Acknowledgment Transaction Set 854 is an example of an application acknowledgment. It is used to respond to the Purchase Order Transaction Set 850 presenting such things as whether the receiver can fulfill the order and if it can be done on time.

Application Advice (824)

A transaction set that accepts, rejects or identifies errors in the content of any transaction set beyond the normal syntax checks.

Application Software

Software used in a business environment to perform functions specific to the job requirements. Functions typically performed in the mortgage banking industry include loan origination, loan servicing and investor reporting.

Area Transaction Set

A predefined area within a transaction set (header, detail, summary) containing segments and their various attributes.

AS1

Applicability Statement 1 (AS1) is Electronic Data Interchange over the Internet (EDI-INT) specification that uses a well-known standard using SMTP to transport data.

AS2

Applicability Statement 2 (AS2) is Electronic Data Interchange over the Internet (EDI-INT) specification that uses a well-known standard using HTTP to transport data.

AS3

Applicability Statement 3 (AS3) is Electronic Data Interchange over the Internet (EDI-INT) specification that uses a well-known standard using FTP to transport data.

ASC X12

Accredited Standards Committee X12 (ASC X12), Electronic Data Interchange. An ANSI committee chartered to develop uniform standards for the electronic exchange of business transactions.

ASN

Advance Ship Notice

Asynchronous Transmission

In modem communication, a form of transmission in which data is sent intermittently, one character at a time, rather than as a steady stream with characters separated by fixed time intervals.

Authentication

A mechanism that allows the receiver of an electronic transmission to verify the sender and the integrity of the content of the transmission through the use of an electronic “key” or algorithm shared by the trading partner. This algorithm is sometimes referred to as an electronic signature.

Bailment

The term bailment is derived from the French term “bailer” which means “to place in the hands of.” It refers to the situation where temporary possession – as distinguished from title – of personal property is transferred from one person (bailor) to another (bailee) for a specific purpose. The characteristics of bailment are:

The bailee (Warehouseperson) has care, custody and control of the product while the bailor (The depositor) retains ownership of the product.

Since the title to the bailed property resides with the bailor, he/she retains the risk of loss or damage. The bailee is only responsible to the bailor for such loss or damage to the bailed property as results from his negligence. In other words, the warehouseman’s liability is limited to loss or damage to the depositor’s goods attributable to the warehouse’s negligence.

Bandwidth

The amount of data that can be transmitted in a fixed amount of time. A larger amount of information can be sent in a given amount of time over a telecommunications method with a greater bandwidth. For digital devices, the bandwidth is usually expressed in bits-per-second (bps) or bytes-per-second.

Bill of Lading

A bill of lading (BL – often referred to as BOL) is a document issued by a carrier to a shipper, acknowledging that specified goods have been received on board as cargo for conveyance to a named place for delivery to the consignee who is usually identified. The term derives from the verb “to lade” which means to load a cargo onto a ship or other form of transportation. A Through bill of lading involves the use of at least two different modes of transport from road, rail, air, and sea.

Bisynchronous Transmission

A form of transmission in which data is encoded in either ASCII or EBCDIC. Messages can be of any length and are sent in units called frames, optionally preceded by a message header.

Business-to-Business (B2B)

Business-to-business e-commerce entails companies buying from and selling to each other electronically, but it has also evolved to include Supply Chain Management (SCM).

Business-to-Consumer (B2C)

Business-to-consumer electronic commerce is the purchase of consumer goods or services online.

Case Pick

Case picking is the gathering of full cartons or boxes of product, often onto a pallet, for delivery.

Certification

This is one step above compliance testing for EDI-INT (See Compliance Checking). Certification has a legal connotation signifying that a third-party organization has put its stamp of approval on the outcome and has, in a sense, guaranteed the products meet the conditions of the test. This has a significant risk factor to the certifying entity, and should only be done when the benefits outweigh the risks.

Communication Protocol

This is an agreed upon format for transmitting data between two devices (e.g, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). The protocol may determine, for example, the type of error checking and data compression method used.

Communications Software

Software necessary to add appropriate protocols to an EDI document in preparation for transmission over telecommunications networks.

Compliance Checking

This is a checking process used to ensure that a transmission complies with ANSI X12 syntax rules.

Conditional (C)

This is a data requirement designator that indicates that the presence of a specified data element is dependent on the value or presence of other data elements in the segment. The condition must be stated and must be able to be processed by a computer.

Conformance Testing

Focuses on demonstrating that EDI-INT solutions are written in a manner that implements the specification. Usually, there are degrees of compliance. Sometimes the specification defines these degrees, and other times the testing suite defines these degrees of compliance. Complete compliance testing to a specification document may be quite arduous and time-consuming depending upon how the specification was written and how complex the described interactions happen to be. Issues like risk (legal business processes such as POs are often involved) and distance (necessary yet sufficient to accomplish the marketing goal) indicate the degree of compliance, from basic to complete, which may be reasonably accomplished. As a result, compliance with a specification often does not guarantee interoperability.

Consignee

In a contract of carriage, the consignee is the person to whom the shipment is to be delivered whether by land, sea or air.

Consignor

The consignor, in a contract of carriage, is the person sending a shipment to be delivered whether by land, sea or air. Some carriers, such as national postal entities, use the term “sender” or “shipper” but in the event of a legal dispute the proper and technical term “consignor” will generally be used.

Contract Warehouse

A contract warehouse is a warehouse that handles shipping, receiving, and storage of products on a contract basis. Contract warehouses will generally require a client to commit to a specific period of time (generally in years) for the services. Contracts may or may not require clients to purchase or subsidize storage and material handling equipment. Fees for contract warehouses may be transaction and storage-based, fixed, cost plus, or any combination. See also public warehouse and third-party logistics.

Control Segment

This is a segment that has the same structure as a data segment but is used for transferring control information for grouping data segments. Control segments may be loop control segments (LS/LE), transition set control segments (ST/SE) or functional group control segments (GS/GE), defined in X12.6, or interchange control segments (ISA/IEA/TA), defined in X12.5.

Control Validation

A confirmation that information within the control segments is correct.

CPFR

Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) is the sharing of forecast and related business information among business partners in the supply chain to enable automatic product replenishment.

C-TPAT

The Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism is a voluntary supply chain security program led by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). It focuses on improving the security of private companies’ supply chains with respect to terrorism. Through this initiative, US Customs asks businesses to ensure the integrity of their security practices and communicate and verify the security guidelines of their business partners within the supply chain.

Cycle Count

A cycle count is an inventory management procedure where a small subset of inventory is counted on any given day. Cycle counts contrast with traditional physical inventory in that physical inventory stops operation at a facility while all items are counted at one time. Cycle counts are less disruptive to daily operations, provide an on-going measure of inventory accuracy and procedure execution, and can be tailored to focus on items with higher value, higher movement volume, or that are critical to business processes.

Data Element  

Smallest named item in the EDI standard (qualifier, data value or textual comment) with two primary attributes: length and type. This is the basic unit of information in the EDI standards containing a set of values that represents a singular fact. It may be single-character codes, literal descriptions or numeric values. It is similar to a field in a database record. (See Element.)

Data Element Length  

This is the range, minimum to maximum, of the number of character positions available to represent the value of a data element. A data element may be of variable length and range from minimum to maximum, or it may be of fixed length in which the minimum is equal to the maximum.

Data Element Reference Number  

Number assigned to each data element as a unique identifier.

Data Element Requirement Designator

This is a code defining the need for a data element value to appear in the segment if the segment is transmitted. The X12 codes are mandatory (M), optional (O) or conditional (C). The government may consider a segment “mandatory” even through it is “optional” by X12 standards.

Data Element Separator

This is a unique character preceding each data element that is used to delimit data elements within a segment. Government uses “*” as the delimiter.

Data Element Type

A data element may be one of six types: numeric, decimal, identifier, string, date or time.

Delimiter

A special character used to separate fields of data. The three different delimiters that are used in an EDI file are the segment delimiter, the element delimiter and the sub-element delimiter.

DES

Data Encryption Standard

Direct Store Delivery

Direct store delivery (DSD) is a business process that manufacturers use to both sell and distribute goods directly to point of sales (POS) or point of consumption (PoC) It is an alternative distribution model to centralized distribution and tends to be used extensively in the food industry for fresh products such as milk and bread where minimizing the number of days in the supply chain is a key concern. Similarly, DSD is used effectively for full truckload orders where bypassing distribution centers makes economic sense.

Direct Transmission

The exchange of data from the computer of the sending party directly to the computer of the receiving party. A third-party value-added service is not used in a direct transmission code.

DISA

Data Interchange Standards Association (DISA) is the Secretariat for ANSI ASC X12 and a nonprofit organization funded by ASC X12 members.

Document

Structured file that is sent to a trading partner. With ASC X12 usage, a document is a transaction set.

DSTU

Draft Standard for Trial Use (DSTU) represents a document approved for publication by the full X12 committee following membership consensus and subsequent resolution of negative votes (Final Report of X12 Publications Task Group). The Draft EDI Standard for Trial Use Document represents an ASC X12–approved standard for use prior to approval of ANSI. (See ANSI Standard.)

DUNS Number

A nine-digit number assigned and maintained by Dun & Bradstreet to identify unique business establishments. DUNS numbers are assigned worldwide and include US, Canadian and international organizations.

EAN

European Article Numbering (EAN) is the European equivalent of a UPS number.

ebXML

Electronic Business extensible Markup Language (ebXML) provides an open XML-based infrastructure, enabling use of e-business information in an interoperable, secure and consistent manner by all parties.

E-commerce

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is a business-to-business (B2B) initiative aimed at communicating business transaction documents on a real-time or near real-time basis between known trading partners, such as suppliers, customers and, increasingly, between a supplier’s supplier or a customer’s customer.

EDI

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is commonly defined as the computer-to-computer electronic exchange of business documents in a standard format.

EDIFACT

UN/EDIFACT is commonly known as EDIFACT and stands for “Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport.” EDIFACT is the international EDI standard introduced by the United Nations Economic Commission.

EDI-INT

EDI over the Internet (EDI-INT) is a standard for transmitting data over the Internet using AS1, AS2 or AS3.

Electronic Envelope  

An electronic envelope consists of codes that mark the boundaries of electronic documents. The electronic envelope contains EDI documents and sender and receiver information.

Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)

Automatically transferring payment to a provider’s or supplier’s bank account.

Electronic Mailbox

A term used to refer to the place where an EDI transmission is stored for pickup or delivery within a third-party service system. Trading partners can also maintain mailboxes within their own domains.

Electronic Signature

A form of authentication that lets you identify and validate a transaction by means of an authorization code.

Element

A building block in an EDI document. Elements are grouped together to produce segments, which in turn are grouped together to form an EDI document. (See Data Element.)

Encryption

A process of transforming clear text (data in its original form) into cipher text (encryption output of a cryptographic algorithm) for security or privacy (Security Transaction Set 815).

FIFO

FIFO stands for first-in, first-out, meaning that the oldest inventory items are recorded as sold first but do not necessarily mean that the exact oldest physical object has been tracked and sold; this is just an inventory technique.

Flat File

Sometimes referred to as an interface file, a flat file is designed to hold EDI data prior to and following translation or transmission to and from a trading partner.

Freelancer

Freelance, the freelancer, or freelance worker, are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed, and not committed to any one particular employer long-term.  Many Freelancers work in teams, and agencies often work as freelancers. 

Freight Forwarder

A freight forwarder, forwarder, or forwarding agent, is a person or company that organizes shipments for individuals or other companies and may also act as a carrier. A forwarder is often not active as a carrier and acts only as an agent, in other words, as a third-party (non-asset-based) logistics provider that dispatches shipments via asset-based carriers and that books or otherwise arranges space for these shipments. Carrier types include ships, airplanes, trucks, and railroads.

FTP

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a common way to move files between computers over the Internet. Anonymous FTP gives users access (without an ID and password) to areas on a remote system that contain public files.

Functional Acknowledgment

An ASC X12 transaction set (997), which acts as a certified mail receipt to confirm that the intended recipient actually received the EDI documents that have been sent. Provides transaction syntax-level error reporting.

Functional Group  

Collection of related transaction sets. Beginning (GS) and ending (GE) segments are used to envelop a complete functional group.

Functional Group Segments (GS/GE)

These segments identify a specific functional group of documents such as purchase orders.

Gateway

The interconnection between public or private networks, allowing the transmission of documents in X12 format across multiple networks. Also called an interconnect.

Handling

A process by which something is handled in a commercial transaction; especially: the packaging and shipping of an object or material.

Hardware

The physical equipment (computers, modems and printers) used in data processing.

Hazardous Goods

Hazardous goods are solids, liquids, or gases that can harm people, other living organisms, property, or the environment. They are often subject to chemical regulations. “HazMat teams” are personnel specifically trained to handle dangerous goods. Hazardous goods include materials that are radioactive, flammable, explosive, corrosive, oxidizing, asphyxiating, biohazardous, toxic, pathogenic, or allergenic. Also included are physical conditions such as compressed gases and liquids or hot materials, including all goods containing such materials or chemicals, or which may have other characteristics that render them hazardous in specific circumstances.

HIPAA  

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. HIPAA was enacted by the United States Congress in 1996.

HL7  

A standard for the healthcare industry.

HTTP

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), an Internet standard.

Interchange

Collection of functional groups sent from one trading partner to another.

Interchange Control Segments (ISA/IEA)

These segments identify a unique interchange being sent from one sender to one receiver. (See Electronic Envelope.)

Interchange Control Structure

The interchange header and trailer segments that envelop one or more functional groups or interchange-related control segments and perform the following functions: (1) define the data element separators and the data segment terminators, (2) identify the sender and receiver, (3) provide control information for the interchange and (4) allow for authorization and security information (X12.5).

Intermodal Freight Transport

Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation (rail, ship, and truck), without any handling of the freight itself when changing modes. The method reduces cargo handling, and so improves security, reduces damages and losses, and allows freight to be transported faster.

Internet

A network connecting computers all around the world.

Internet EDI

See EDI-INT

Interoperability Testing

Validates that two EDI-INT solutions work together, although neither may be in compliance with the specification. This often happens when sets of two products are tested in a pair-wise manner but the sets are not tested with each other. This situation occurs for various reasons—foremost being the lack of universal test cases and unclear testing procedures. The principal risk in this sort of testing is that pair-wise subsets of the product may be interoperable, yet the overall set of products fails to communicate properly.

Inventory

The term inventory has developed from a list of goods and materials to the goods and materials themselves, especially those held available in stock by a business, equivalent to the term “stock” in British English. In accounting, inventory or stock is considered an asset.

Inventory Turnover

In accounting, the inventory turnover is a measure of the number of times inventory is sold or used in a time period such as a year. The equation for inventory turnover equals the cost of goods sold divided by the average inventory. Inventory turnover is also known as inventory turns, stockturn, stock turns, turns, and stock turnover.

IP Address

Internet Protocol (IP) is a unique identifier for a computer or device on a network.

ISA

An interchange control header identifier.

ISO

The International Standards Organization (ISO) is the organization that oversees the ongoing development and support of international standards.

ISP

An Internet Service Provider (ISP) is a company that provides service to the Internet.

Java

A programming language for the Internet developed by Sun Microsystems.

Java Script

A scripting language for the Internet developed by Netscape.

Just In Time

Just in time (JIT) is a production strategy that strives to improve a business return on investment by reducing in-process inventory and associated carrying costs. Implemented correctly, JIT focusses on continuous improvement and can improve a manufacturing organization’s return on investment, quality, and efficiency. To achieve continuous improvement, key areas of focus could be flow, employee involvement and quality.

Less Than Truckload (LTL) Shipping

Less than truckload (LTL) shipping is the transportation of relatively small amounts of freight. Usually the deliveries are consolidated into a container to make delivery time and effort much more efficient. The alternatives to LTL carriers are parcel carriers or full truckload carriers. Full truckload carriers move freight that is loaded into a semi-trailer. Semi-trailers are typically between 26 and 53 feet and thereby require a substantial amount of freight to make such transportation economical.

Logistics

Logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and often security. Logistics is a channel of the supply chain which adds the value of time and place utility.

Loop

A group of semantically related segments; these segments may be either bounded or unbounded (X12.6). The N1 loop is an example of a loop that includes Segments N1 to PER for name and address information.

Mandatory (M)

An EDI data element/segment requirement designator that indicates the presence of a specified data element is required.

Mapping

A process of identifying the relationship of standard EDI data elements to application data elements. A map is the link between a trading partner’s proprietary data format and the related EDI transaction set.

Message

The entire data stream including the outer envelope.

MIME

Multipart Internet Message Extensions

Non-repudiation of Receipt (NRR)

NRR is the basis of a “legal event” between sending and receiving parties that occurs when the original sender of an EDI/EC interchange has verified the signed receipt coming back from the receiver. NRR is NOT a functional or a technical message.

Optional (O)

An EDI data element/segment requirement designator that indicates the presence of a specified data element/segment is an option for the sending party and can be used upon the mutual agreement of the interchange parties.

Order Fulfillment Logistics

Order fulfillment is in the most general sense the complete process from point of sales inquiry to delivery of a product to the customer. Sometimes order fulfillment is used to describe the more specific act of distribution or the logistics function; however, in the broader sense it refers to the way firms respond to customer orders.

Outsourcing

The term outsourcing is used inconsistently but usually involves the contracting out of a business function – commonly one previously performed in-house – to an external provider. The concept of outsourcing helps companies to perform well in their core competencies and mitigates the rise of skill or expertise shortage in areas where they want to outsource.

PGP

Pretty Good Privacy

PGPMIME

Digital envelope security based on the Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) standard (Zimmerman), integrated with MIME Security Multiparts.

Pick and Pack

Pick and pack is a part of complete supply chain management process that is commonly used in, but not limited to, the retail distribution of goods. It entails processing small to large quantities of product – disassembling truck or trainloads of product, picking the relevant product for each destination and re-packaging with shipping label affixed and invoice included.

PKCS  

Public Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS), a series of documents published by RSA Data Security.

Pool Distribution

Pool Distribution is the distribution of product to numerous consignees within a particular geographic region. This is a highly superior and cost-effective alternative to the higher cost of LTL shipments. In some instances, this could represent a 30%-70% savings vs. traditional LTL. Instead of LTL direct to a consignee, product is shipped to regional terminals or DC’s in truckload quantities. There it is off-loaded, then segregated and sorted by consignee and then reloaded on local delivery trucks for delivery to pool destinations. Pool Distribution reduces transit times, reduces claims and damages and allows for significant savings over LTL rates.

Proprietary Standards

Industry-specific or company-specific data formats that do not comply with X12, EDIFACT or other widely used EDI standards.

Public Warehouse

A public warehouse is a business that provides short or long-term storage to companies on a month-to-month basis. Public warehouse fees can be a combination of storage fees and inbound and outbound transaction fees. A public warehouse can charge per pallet, per carton, per hundred weight (cwt) or charge for each square foot of storage that is used by a company.

Qualifier

Data element used to identify the type of information that gives a segment or element meaning.

Quality Assurance (QA)

Quality assurance (QA) refers to the systematic measurement, comparison with a standard, monitoring of processes and an associated feedback loop that confers error-prevention. This can be contrasted with Quality “Control”, which is focused on process outputs. Two principles included in QA are: “Fit for purpose”, the product should be suitable for the intended purpose; and “Right first time”, mistakes should be eliminated. QA includes management of the quality of raw materials, assemblies, products and components, services related to production, and management, production, and inspection processes.

Quality Control (QC)

Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. It emphasizes testing of products to uncover defects and reporting to management, who make the decision to allow or deny product release. This contrasts with Quality Assurance, which attempts to improve and stabilize production (and associated processes) to avoid, or at least minimize, issues which led to the defect(s) in the first place.

Receipt

The functional message that is sent from a receiver to a sender to acknowledge receipt of an EDI/EC interchange.

Reverse Logistics

Normally, logistics deal with events that bring the product towards the customer. In the case of reverse logistics, the resource goes at least one step back in the supply chain. For instance, goods move from the customer to the distributor or to the manufacturer.

RFC

Request for Comments (RFC) is a series of documents published by the Internet Society covering a wide range of Internet issues, especially Internet protocols and standards.

RosettaNet

Non-profit consortium dedicated to the development and deployment of standard electronic commerce interfaces to align the processes between supply chain partners.

RosettaNet PIPs

RosettaNet Partner Interface Processes (PIPs) is an XML specification designed to align a specific business process between supply chain partners, which creates new areas of alignment within supply chain e-business processes.

Router

A device used to interconnect networks that use different protocols and media. Identifies the optimal path for sending data across complex inter-networks.

S/MIME

A format and protocol for adding cryptographic signature and/or encryption services to Internet MIME messages.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

An encryption protocol developed by Netscape for transmitting documents securely over the Internet. It allows for authenticated and encrypted communication between browsers and servers, or between different servers.

Segment

A group of elements which, when appropriately assembled, comprise an EDI document.

Segment Directory

This provides a purpose and format for the segments used in the construction of transaction sets. The directory lists each segment by name, purpose, identifier, the contained data elements in the specified order and the requirement designator for each data element.

Segment Identifier

A unique identifier for a segment, consisting of a combination of two or three upper-case letters and digits. The segment identifier occupies the first-character positions of the segment. It is not a data element.

Segment Terminator

A unique character appearing at the end of a segment to indicate the termination of the segment (e.g., N/L).

Sender/Receiver ID

A unique number or series of characters which identifies a trading partner on all EDI networks.

Service Bureau  

A commercial service providing data storage, reporting and telecommunications links. Also a third-party supplier of EDI services.

Signed Receipt

Same as Receipt, but with a digital signature applied. (See Receipt.)

SMTP

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is a protocol for sending electronic mail messages between computers.

SOAP

Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is an XML-based protocol for information exchange in decentralized and distributed environments.

Standard

An EDI format created by consensus of industry participants.

Stock-Keeping Unit

A stock-keeping unit or SKU (pronounced as either an acronym, / “skew”/, or as a set of initials /S K U/ ) is a number or code used to identify each unique product or item for sale in a store or other business. SKUs are not always associated with actual physical items but are more appropriately billable entities.

Storage

Normally, logistics deal with events that bring the product towards the customer. In the case of reverse logistics, the resource goes at least one step back in the supply chain. For instance, goods move from the customer to the distributor or to the manufacturer.

Straight Bill of Lading

On this bill, the importer/consignee/agent is named in the bill of lading, and it is called “straight bill of lading.” It is a document in which a seller agrees to use a certain transportation to ship a good to a certain location, where the bill is assigned to a certain party. It details the quality and quantity of goods being delivered.

Supply Chain Management (SCM)

The delivery of customer and economic value through integrated management of the flow of physical goods and associated information, from raw materials sourcing to delivery of finished products to consumers.

Sustainability

Sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well-being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of stewardship, the responsible management of resource use.

Syntax

The grammar or rules that define the structure of the EDI standards (i.e., the use of loops, qualifiers, etc.). Syntax rules are published in ANSI X12.6.

TCP/IP

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) defines and establishes the method by which data is transmitted over the Internet between two computers.

Third-Party Logistics (3PL)

A third-party logistics provider (abbreviated 3PL, or sometimes TPL) is a firm that provides service to its customers of outsourced (or “third party”) logistics services for part, or all, of their supply chain management functions.

Throughput

Throughput can be best described as the rate at which a system generates its products / services per unit of time. In the 3PL industry, average throughput is calculated by adding receipts plus shipments over a specific time period and then dividing by 2.

TLS

Transport Layer Security (TLS), an Internet standard similar to SSLv3.

Trading Partner

Term used by customers, suppliers and vendors to indicate they are in an EDI relationship.

Trading Partner Agreements (TPA)

A contract between two trading partners detailing their relationship with regard to EDI.

Transaction Set

A document that unambiguously defines, in the standard syntax, information of business or strategic significance and consists of a header segment, one or more data segments in a specified order and a trailer segment.

Transaction Set ID

An identifier that uniquely identifies the transaction set. This identifier is the first data element of the transaction set header segment.

Translation

The act of accepting documents in something other than the standard format and translating them to the standard.

Translation Software

Software that is used to translate EDI data to a company’s proprietary format, and vice versa.

Transloading

Transloading is the process of transferring a shipment from one mode of transportation to another. It is most commonly employed when one mode cannot be used for the entire trip, as when goods must be shipped international from one inland point to another, i.e. truck to an airport, airplane overseas, truck at destination airport to consignee.

Truckload Shipping

Truckload shipping (TL) is the movement of large amounts of homogeneous cargo, generally the amount necessary to fill an entire semi-trailer or intermodal container. A truckload carrier is a trucking company that generally contracts an entire trailer-load to a single customer. This is as opposed to a less-than-truckload (LTL) company that generally mixes freight from several customers in each trailer.

UCC

Uniform Code Council

UCCnet

A division of the UCC that helps drive global data synchronization between suppliers and buyers.

UN/EDIFACT – EDIFACT

This is EDI for administration, commerce and transport. It is widely used throughout Europe.

UPC 

A Universal Product Code (UPC) is a unique product identification number that is used by items that will be scanned at Point-Of-Sale.

URI

Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) have been known by many names: WWW addresses, Universal Document Identifiers, Universal Resource Identifiers and, finally, a combination of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) and Names (URNs). As far as HTTP is concerned, URIs are simply formatted strings that identify—via name, location or any other characteristic—a resource.

URL

Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a standard naming convention on the Internet

Value-Added

The enhancement added to a product or service by a company before the product is offered to customers.

VAN

A Value-Added Network (VAN) is a third-party service that acts as an electronic postal system for EDI transactions. VANs are equipped to accept a variety of telecommunications protocols, enabling connectivity between other VANs using telecommunications protocols on behalf of subscribers.

VICS

Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Standards (VICS) is used by the general merchandise retail industry. VICS EDI is a subset of the ASC X12 national standard. For more information consult, the VICS website (Now GS1).

Warehouse Legal Liability

The enhancement added to a product or service by a company before the product is offered to customers.

Warehouse Management System (WMS)

A warehouse management system, or WMS, is a key part of the supply chain and primarily aims to control the movement and storage of materials within a warehouse and process the associated transactions, including shipping, receiving, putaway and picking. The systems also direct and optimize stock putaway based on real-time information about the status of bin utilization.

Warehouse Receipt

A warehouse receipt is a document that provides proof of ownership of commodities (e.g., bars of copper) that are stored in a warehouse, vault, or depository for safekeeping. Warehouse receipts also guarantee existence and availability of a commodity of a particular quantity, type, and quality in a named storage facility.

Web-based EDI Application

Application providing an online data entry screen for issuers to submit loan-level data.

WORM

Write once, read many.

WSDL  

Web Services Description Language (WSDL) is an XML-based protocol for information exchange in decentralized and distributed environments.

X12

The ANSI committee responsible for the development and maintenance of standards for EDI.

X12.5 Interchange Control Structure

This standard provides the interchange envelope of a header and trailer for the electronic interchange through a data transmission, and it provides a structure to acknowledge the receipt and processing of this envelope.