| Cross-VAN Interconnects and ASC-X12 |
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| Written by Scott Koegler | ||||||
| Thursday, 04 February 2010 | ||||||
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Does every P.O. you send (or receive) travel directly between you and that of your trading partner? If you're using AS2, that's a given. But if you're using a VAN or other EDI service provider, there's a good possibility that every transaction you exchange with your TP is routed between two networks - the one you use, and the one your TP uses. Bill Alletzhauser, Acting Secretary for the Connectivity Caucus knows the problems this kind of interaction can make all too well, and after the organization's recent conference, is working with the participants to resolve them. According to Alletzhauser, there are four main issues affecting the transfer of transactions across a van interconnect. All result from the fact that there are no current standards that govern, or even suggest, the way these transactions should be handled. At the heart of the problem is the fact that once an EDI transaction leaves the source network, there is no method in place to track the transaction to its intended destination, and report on the success or failure of the transfer. Four primary issues affecting cross-VAN interconnects: 1 - There are no standards beyond the 10 year old X12.56 'mailbag' which does not go far enough. 2 - Even the deficient mailbag document is not adopted by all networks, VANS, and EDI services. 3 - The inherent flexibility of the X12.56 document allows for easy misinterpretation. 4 - Even if the X12.56 is supported, receiving networks may have a variety of restrictions in place that prevent the transfer of messages, such as number of documents, types, and sizes of documents they will accept. Trading partners in time sensitive environments are the most likely to suffer from the lack of automation in cross-VAN transactions. The missing 997 or 855 is a routine event in this scenario, leaving the sender to either wait for the order to be fulfilled, or to pick up the phone and confirm that the order has been received and is in process. Having lived with the pain of dealing with cross-VAN interconnect miss-connection for many years, Alletzhauser is emphatic that the proper protocols and documents be created and implemented. And he is not alone. At the January 26, 2010 ASC-X12 Trimester meeting, held in Seattle, WA, the Marketing and Business Development Task Group hosted the VAN/Clearing House Summit and expected 19 companies to attend. When 32 companies showed up at the event, a seeming critical mass was created. During the conference, the group created a draft Project Plan for the X12C (Communications) committee that was subsequently accepted and assigned to a task group. Rob Fox of Softshare, and Mike Rawlins of Inovis spearheaded the documentation project, and Fox now sits on the X12C committee that will work on the project. According to Alletzhauser, "Hopefully, the result of these efforts will be a set of X12 transaction standards that will resolve the areas of messaging, operations, and directory services." He expects that there will be an additional set of EDI documents and other X12 guidelines designed specifically to address and resolve the issues surrounding cross-VAN interconnects. If your company is feeling the pain of cross-VAN interconnects, Alletzhauser invites you to contact the group and find out how you can be involved. Bill Alletzhauser:
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