EDI  - Echange de données électroniques

The primary purpose of the UN/EDIFACT process is to provide standard messages to users to cover their information exchange needs. In theory, taking into account the diversity of information exchange supporting all kinds of business, the number of messages that may be standardised, if not infinite, is great. However, the design approach adopted by UN/EDIFACT of using generic rather than specific data structures promotes reusability and hence helps to limit the number of potential messages. This decision was taken in order to ensure that the UN/EDIFACT standard is not merely a collection of disparate structures corresponding to specific requirements. Rather, the generic approach is based upon shared common exchange structures and allows for the design of fewer structures to support a wide range of requirements thus reducing the maintenance work load

Extrait de [ recommandation Message and Code Handbook. Best Practices for Designers]