----- Original Message ----- From: Martin Scholl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RE: Trading Partner ID > Thanks for all the input. > That helped a lot with the ISA/GS issue. But how about the loop 1000 , NM1_08 and NM1_09 with the 40/41 qualifier. > What are you guys doing there usually? Again use the same IDs as in ISA 06 and 08?
As has been pointed out by others, the ISA, GS and "between the ST-SE" identifiers are COMMONLY set to the same values. Of course, it is also COMMON for people to go out in the rain without an umbrella; but that doesn't make it smart. One of the "problems" setting the ISA, GS and N1/ NM1/PRV segment identifiers to the same value "solves" is the problem of poorly-designed EDI software. (This does not apply just to "homegrown" systems, it includes several commercial offerings). Poorly-designed software comes from designers who do not understand the purposes for which the various ANSI ASC X12 envelopes were designed: ISA/IEA Envelope: Gets the interchange to the correct destination (application partner, agent or backup processing site); often (well, nearly always) used by VANs to route to the correct destination mailbox, with a check that the VAN receiver has in fact authorized the receipt of interchanges from a certain sender (this is a bad check: it should be done after the file is delivered, but this is not a universally held view). GS/GE Envelope: Routes the functional group to the correct party or department within the destination; e.g, Purchase orders (group PO) and PO changes (group PC) go to the sales department; Invoices (group IN) go to accounting, etc, etc. ST/SE envelope: Delimits documents containing the specific identities for this business transaction; e.g, "My customer/vendor/provider number is xxxx." You mentioned, "If I receive a transaction, I key the trading partner to the ISA_06 element". This is, IMNSHO, an inferior choice. It's like tracking mailed documents based on the post-office of the sender. You don't do this in real life: you track documents based on the identifiers found within the document, don't you? You asked, "For me the issue is: What do I use as a unique key to store trading partner rules and information under? What do others in the field do?" What others in the field do is immaterial, as many of them are limited by their software (and their wetware). Given your druthers (and yes, I understand we don't all get our druthers), use the identifiers within the transaction set. So you have answered this yourself: ".. in the 837 I also have this pesky 1000A loop with another set of Sender IDs. " As the identifiers within the transaction set, these should be your ID's of choice. This does NOT mean you cannot use something else to accomodate your mapping software. For example, you may need to map the transaction set "somewhere" just to figure out if you wish to further process this document from the sending party as identified within the transaction set. However, you should be able to do this kind of mapping without regard to the applications identifiers based solely on the version/release in the GS segment. In an ideal world (give me a break, I grew up in the 1960's and I am an idealist), using this "document" approach will be the long-term winner. Michael Mattias Tal Systems, Inc. Racine WI [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.talsystems.com
