Reporting Syntactical Errors

Framework EDI can automatically generate an acknowledgement to report syntactical errors of a document.  The correctness of the syntax in a document is dependent on the controlling standard's fundamental rules (ASC/X12 or UN/EDIFACT), and the implementation guideline on which the document is based.  It is the receiver that generates the acknowledgment that is then sent to the sender.  The receiver specifies a code in the acknowledgment to indicate the result of the action taken on the document - either it has been received and/or accepted or rejected.

• Generating Acknowledgments
• Functional Acknowledgment
• Interchange Acknowledgment

Generating Acknowledgments

Currently, FREDI can only generate the following acknowledgments for ASC/X12 and UN/EDIFACT.

• ASC/X12 Functional Acknowledgment (997)
• ASC/X12 Interchange Acknowledgment (TA1)
• UN/EDIFACT Syntax and Service Report (CONTRL)

To automatically generate an acknowledgment, take the following steps:

1. The properties EnableFunctionalAcknowledgment and/or EnableInterchangeAcknowledgment  have to be set to TRUE to enable generation of the Functional Acknowledgment and/or Interchange Acknowledgment respectively.
2. For the ASC/X12 Interchange Acknowledgment, if the acknowledgment option OptAcknowledgment_IgnoreAckRequest is disabled, the Interchange Acknowledgment is generated depending on the value of the Acknowledgment Requested Data Element (I13).  If the value of DEI13 is "1" then the Interchange Acknowledgment is enabled.

   The following is a summary of how the Interchange Acknowledgment (TA1) or Functional Acknowledgment (997) is generated in ASC/X12 depending on the OptAcknowledgment_IgnoreAckRequest option, EnableInterchangeAcknowledgment  and EnableFunctionalAcknowledgment.
   

   DE I13	OptAcknowledgment_IgnoreAckRequest	EnableInterchangeAcknowledgment	EnableFunctionalAcknowledgment	TA1	997
   0	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	NO	NO
   0	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	NO	YES
   0	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	NO	NO
   0	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	NO	YES
   0	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	NO	NO
   0	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	NO	YES
   0	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	YES	NO
   0	TRUE	TRUE	TRUE	YES	YES
   1	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	NO	NO
   1	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	NO	YES
   1	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	YES	NO
   1	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	YES	YES
   1	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	NO	NO
   1	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	NO	YES
   1	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	YES	NO
   1	TRUE	TRUE	TRUE	YES	NO

3. For the UN/EDIFACT Syntax and Service Report, if the option OptAcknowledgment_IgnoreAckRequest is disabled, the acknowledgment is generated depending on the value of the Acknowledgment Requested Data Element (0031).  If the value of DE0031 is "1" then the acknowledgment is enabled.

   The following is a summary of how the CONTRL acknowledgment is generated in UN/EDIFACT depending on the OptAcknowledgment_IgnoreAckRequest option, EnableInterchangeAcknowledgment  and EnableFunctionalAcknowledgment.

   DE 0031	OptAcknowledgment_IgnoreAckRequest	EnableInterchangeAcknowledgment	EnableFunctionalAcknowledgment	CONTRL
   0	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	NO
   0	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	YES
   0	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	YES
   0	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	YES
   0	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	NO
   0	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	YES
   0	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	NO
   0	TRUE	TRUE	TRUE	YES
   1	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	YES
   1	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	YES
   1	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	YES
   1	FALSE	TRUE	TRUE	YES
   1	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	NO
   1	TRUE	FALSE	TRUE	YES
   1	TRUE	TRUE	FALSE	YES
   1	TRUE	TRUE	TRUE	YES

4. The implementation guideline provided and used to process the document must also have the ASC/X12 Transaction Set or UN/EDIFACT Message definition that will be used as a guideline to create the acknowledgment.
   • For ASC/X12, the Functional Acknowledgment Transaction Set identifier is "997".
   • For ASC/X12 Interchange Acknowledgment, the definition of the Data Segment identifier is "TA1".
   • For UN/EDIFACT the acknowledgment (or syntax and service report) Message identifier is "CONTRL".  

Errors detected while processing the EDI document are mapped to acknowledgment error codes, and recorded.  Internally, a hierarchical document tree is created that matches the hierarchical structure of the acknowledgment transaction set/message defined in the implementation guideline.  Data is automatically populated with default values wherever a data segment and data element can be identified and their semantic meanings understood.  Because data segments and data elements are organized hierarchically in a tree, methods and properties are provided such that they can be located, accessed and edited before saving the acknowledgment document to disk.

Functional Acknowledgment

The Functional Acknowledgment reports syntactical errors to the sender.  When the subject document is received, the receiver verifies it for syntactical correctness and reports back the error to the sender using the functional acknowledgment.

ASC/X12.  The subject document is checked for syntactical correctness:

• in the functional group envelope (GS/GE),
• transaction set envelope (ST/SE), and
• the data segments and data elements in the transaction set body.  

Errors are recorded in the functional acknowledgment transaction set (997) as follows:

• Errors found in the functional group envelope (GS/GE) are recorded in the reporting level AK1 to AK9. 
• Errors found in the transaction set header/trailer envelope (ST/SE) are recorded in the reporting level AK2 to AK5.
• Errors found in data segments of the transaction set body are recorded in AK3.
• Errors found in data elements of the transaction set body are recorded in AK4.

UN/EDIFACT .  The subject document is checked for syntactical correctness:

• in the interchange envelope (UNB/UNZ),
• the functional group envelope (UNG/UNE) , if any,
• the message envelope (UNH/UNT), and
• the data segments and data elements in the message body. 

Errors are recorded in the service report message (CONTRL) as follows:

• Errors found in the interchange envelope (UNB/UNZ) are recorded in the reporting level UCI.
• Errors found in the functional group envelope (UNG/UNE) are recorded in the reporting level UCF.
• Errors found in the message envelope (UNH/UNT) are recorded in the reporting level UCM.
• Errors found in data segments of the message body are recorded in UCS.
• Errors found in data elements of the message body are recorded in UCD.

Interchange Acknowledgment

The interchange acknowledgment is used to notify the sender of interchange receipt, and what action has been taken on the subject document.  The interchange envelope is also checked for correctness, and any syntactical errors are recorded in the interchange acknowledgment.

ASC/X12.  Errors in the interchange envelope are recorded in the Interchange Acknowledgment (TA1) data segment.

UN/EDIFACT.  Errors in the interchange envelope are recorded in the Interchange Response (UCI) data segment in the service report message (CONTRL).