Detailed explanation of the application of EDI in cross-border e-commerce logistics and its workflow
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is an important cross-border e-commerce logistics technology, which plays a key role in improving efficiency, reducing errors and promoting multi-party collaboration. This article will comprehensively introduce the definition, characteristics, workflow and specific application of EDI in cross-border e-commerce logistics.
1. The definition and background of EDI
Definition
The United Nations Organization for Standardization describes EDI as: processing business or administrative transactions in accordance with a recognized standard to form a structured transaction or message data format. The International Telecommunication Union believes that EDI is the structured transaction data exchange from computer to computer. In addition, the United Nations Standardization Committee and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development pointed out that EDI is the process of automatic transmission and automatic processing of structured, standardized business information between users’ computer systems.
Generate background
With the growth of global trade, the use of traditional paper documents has increased dramatically, resulting in inefficient and error-prone work. According to statistics, for every US$1 billion in gross domestic product, paper consumption will increase by 80,000 tons. At the same time, the importance of service factors in market competition has become increasingly prominent, and price is no longer the only determining factor.
2. Characteristics of EDI
The file data transmitted by EDI adopts common standards and has a fixed format; the automatic transmission of data from computer to computer does not require manual intervention, and the application automatically responds, realizing transaction processing and trade automation.
3. EDI workflow
- Generate raw data: The sender’s computer application generates raw user data.
- Mapping and Translation: Map and translate the data of the sent message.
- Send standard messages: The communication software transmits the files converted into standard EDI format to the EDI network center.
- Obtain standard documents: Trading partners automatically receive or query and download standard EDI documents through the computer network.
- Data remapping and translation: Remap and translate the received file data.
- Process translated documents: The recipient application system processes the translated documents.
4. Application of EDI
In the field of cross-border e-commerce logistics, EDI technology can be used to build an information platform to organically connect multiple entities such as transportation companies, cargo owners, customs, commodity inspection, financial companies, warehousing companies, customs declaration companies, and carrier owners to support Interact with order information on e-commerce platforms, support docking with enterprise third-party system data, support docking with customs and commodity inspection system data, and support docking with enterprise financial management and OA system data.
5. Importance of EDI standards
Since EDI is communication between computers on an international scale, the core lies in the international unified standard of business data format. EDI standards need to follow a language that can be used by all parties and should be independent of specific computer models.
To sum up, EDI, as an efficient means of data exchange, plays an indispensable role in promoting the digital transformation of the cross-border e-commerce logistics industry. Through the standardized information transmission mechanism, it not only improves the speed and accuracy of information processing, but also effectively promotes cross-organizational collaboration and provides solid technical support for modern supply chain management.
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