Standards are imposed in
order to synchronize the data that is being communicated between
the sender and the receiver. There are two major sets of EDI
standards. UN/EDIFACT is the only international standard (in
fact, a United Nations recommendation) and is predominant
in all areas outside of North America. ANSI ASC X12 (X12)
is popular in North America and used worldwide. These standards
prescribe the formats, character sets, and data elements used
in the exchange of documents and forms, such as purchase orders
(called "ORDERS" in UN/EDIFACT and an "850"
in X12) and invoices.
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