EANCOM PART I : EANCOM & EDIFACT
The implementation of an EDI project involves many detailed steps. These steps, along with helpful advice, are documented in an EAN International publication called 'An Introduction to EDI'. In addition to the basic EDI introduction, EAN International has published more detailed documents introducing scenarios for each EANCOM message and guidelines on how they should interact. Currently available in this series are the documents An Introduction to EANCOM in Trade and Transport and An Introduction to EANCOM in Trade and Finance.
These publications, which are all available from all EAN Numbering Organisations, are ideal documents to explain EDI and EANCOM in simple to understand language and may be used and understood by people at all levels in your company.
The EANCOM manual is distributed via the EAN Numbering Organisations. Interested companies should contact their local Numbering Organisation to obtain additional copies of the documentation and further information.
It is important that EANCOM users are properly identified so that they can be informed on a continuous basis about the evolution of the standard and get all relevant documentation.
A condition for a successful implementation of EDI is the stability of the standard used, including the syntax, the messages, the data elements and codes definition. The shortest period between two versions of EANCOM messages has been set to two years.
User companies are asked to migrate from one version to the new one as soon as possible and not later than one year after the publication of a new version.
As it is unlikely that all trading partners will migrate to the next version at the same time, users should be able to handle concurrently two versions of the same messages, i.e. the latest and preceding versions.
The EANCOM codes list will be issued annually and will contain codes added as a result of successful change requests.
When implementing EANCOM, user companies might find that some business requirements are not met. They might wish to enhance the standard and draft proposals for new codes, data elements, segments or messages, covering their genuine requirements. These requirements must be stated clearly and supported by coherent business reasons to support the acceptance of the requested change.
It should be noted that change requests to EANCOM will only be considered when made against the current published version (no maintenance of previous versions).
The following procedure is applicable when changes or additions to EANCOM are requested.
Type of change
Requirements
Addition of new segment. Identification of the message and the position within the message where the segment is to be added. Changes requesting the addition of new segments to an EANCOM message MUST be supported by a proposal as to the data elements required in the segment and their status's, and the code values required for use with the data elements.
Addition of a new code value to the code list for use in all messages. Identification of the data element against which the code is to be added and the segment in which the code is proposed for use. Changes requesting the addition of new codes to EANCOM (i.e. ones that do not exist in the D.96A EDIFACT directory) MUST be supported by a clear definition of the code. Under no circumstances will a code with a definition of self explanatory be accepted for inclusion in EANCOM.
Addition of a new code value to the code list for use in a specific segment within a specific message. Identification of the message, segment, and data element in which the change applies. Changes requesting the addition of new codes to EANCOM (i.e. ones that do not exist in the D.96A EDIFACT directory) MUST be supported by a clear definition of the code. Under no circumstances will a code with a definition of self explanatory be accepted for inclusion in EANCOM.
All change requests. MUST be supported by business justifications explaining the concept of the change and how the acceptance of the change request will facilitate this business justification.
The change request form follows. Please make copies of the
original provided.
(c) Copyright EAN 1997