B2B integration and EDI: what it is and when you need it

For many suppliers, B2B integration starts with a letter from a large customer: “From the first of next quarter, we will only accept orders, despatch advices and invoices electronically.” A supermarket chain, a DIY retailer or a car manufacturer wants to send purchase orders as EDI messages and receive the rest the same way. Suddenly a company that was happy with emails and PDFs needs to talk EDI.

This guide explains what EDI is, the standards and transports you will meet, how partner onboarding works, how EDI relates to APIs and e-invoicing, and how to compare the tools on the market.

What EDI is

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the exchange of business documents between companies in a standard, machine-readable format. Instead of a person reading a PDF purchase order and typing it into the ERP, the customer’s system sends a structured message that your systems process automatically.

The value is not the format itself. It is what disappears: typing errors, delays, phone calls about “the order we sent on Monday”. Large retailers process thousands of orders a day; EDI is how they do it with a handful of people.

A typical supplier exchange with a retailer looks like this:

Step	Document	X12	EDIFACT
1	Purchase order	850	ORDERS
2	Order response	855	ORDRSP
3	Despatch advice (ASN)	856	DESADV
4	Invoice	810	INVOIC
-	Technical acknowledgement	997	CONTRL

The standards: X12 and EDIFACT

Two families cover most of the world:

ANSI ASC X12 is used mainly in North America. Documents are called transaction sets and have numbers: 850 for a purchase order, 810 for an invoice.
UN/EDIFACT is the international standard used across Europe and much of the rest of the world. Documents are called messages and have names: ORDERS, INVOIC, DESADV. European retail commonly uses EANCOM, a GS1 subset of EDIFACT, and the automotive industry has its own conventions (for example VDA and Odette).

Both are compact, segment-based text formats. An EDIFACT order fragment:

UNH+1+ORDERS:D:96A:UN:EAN008'
BGM+220+PO-45871+9'
DTM+137:20261023:102'
NAD+BY+5200000000017::9'
LIN+1++5201234567890:EN'
QTY+21:24'
UNT+7+1'

The standard is only the starting point. Every large trading partner publishes an implementation guide that says which segments they use, which are mandatory and what the codes mean for them. In practice you integrate with “Retailer X’s ORDERS”, not with “EDIFACT ORDERS”.

The transports: AS2, SFTP and VANs

The message has to travel somehow. The common options:

AS2 sends documents over HTTPS, signed and encrypted with certificates, and returns a signed receipt (an MDN) that proves delivery. It is the standard choice for direct connections with large retailers. We cover the setup in Setting up AS2 with a trading partner in Boomi.
SFTP is simpler: files are placed in or collected from a folder on a server. Widely supported, but delivery receipts and non-repudiation have to be handled at the EDI level.
A VAN (Value-Added Network) is a provider that acts as a post office: you connect once, and the VAN delivers to all your partners that are on it, often including those on other VANs. Convenient, usually charged per message or per volume.
Sector-specific transports also exist, such as OFTP2 in automotive, and AS4, which is used for example by the Peppol network.

Acknowledgements: 997 and CONTRL

EDI has a layered idea of “received”:

Transport receipt. The AS2 MDN says “your file arrived intact”.
Functional acknowledgement. The 997 (X12) or CONTRL (EDIFACT) says “your message was syntactically valid” or lists the errors. Many partners require it within a set time.
Business response. The 855 / ORDRSP says “we accept this order, with these changes”. This is a business decision, not a technical one.

Missing functional acknowledgements are a classic cause of partner complaints and, with some retailers, of compliance charges. Automate them.

Trading partner onboarding

Onboarding a new partner follows a predictable sequence:

Get the partner’s implementation guides and connection details.
Exchange identifiers: interchange IDs, qualifiers, GLNs.
Set up the transport and test connectivity (for AS2, exchange certificates and send test files).
Build the mappings between their messages and your ERP, including code lists for products, units and locations. (See Cross-reference tables in Boomi for keeping code translations out of the maps.)
Run test cycles with real-looking documents, usually certified by the partner.
Go live, then watch the first weeks closely.

The first partner takes the longest. With a good platform, the second and third reuse most of the work.

EDI vs APIs

APIs have not replaced EDI, and they won’t soon. They solve different problems:

	EDI	APIs
Typical use	High-volume document exchange between companies	Real-time queries and actions
Timing	Batch or near real time	Real time
Standards	Strong, shared (X12, EDIFACT)	Each partner defines its own
Adoption	Mature in retail, logistics, automotive, healthcare	Growing, especially with marketplaces and newer platforms

Many suppliers end up with both: EDI with established retailers, APIs with marketplaces and e-commerce platforms. A platform that handles both avoids running two worlds.

E-invoicing in Greece and the EU

Electronic invoicing is related to EDI but driven by tax authorities rather than trading partners. Some context, with the caveat that requirements and dates change and should always be checked with the official sources:

In Greece, myDATA is the AADE platform where businesses transmit invoice data. Greece has also been phasing in mandatory B2B electronic invoicing through certified e-invoicing providers, with the obligations depending on the size of the business.
For invoices to the public sector across the EU, e-invoicing follows the European standard EN 16931, and many countries use the Peppol network to exchange those invoices.
At EU level, the VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package moves towards e-invoicing and digital reporting for cross-border B2B transactions in the coming years.

For an integration team, the practical consequence is that the invoice your ERP produces may have to go to a customer over EDI, to an e-invoicing provider in a national format and to the tax authority, sometimes all three. Design the invoice flow once, with clear mappings per destination.

Do you need an EDI platform?

You probably do if:

One or more large customers require EDI, or you expect them to.
You exchange more than a few dozen orders or invoices per day with the same partners.
People spend hours retyping orders from PDFs or portals into the ERP.
You have been charged or warned for late or incorrect ASNs or invoices.

You probably don’t yet if a single retailer offers a web EDI portal and your volume is low: you type the documents into their portal and that is enough for now. Revisit when the second retailer arrives.

Common mistakes

Mapping straight into the ERP with no validation. Check prices, products and delivery locations before creating a sales order, and send a clear response when something doesn’t match.
Ignoring acknowledgements. No 997/CONTRL, no monitoring of MDNs, and nobody notices a failed transmission.
Hard-coding partner specifics in one huge map. Partner differences belong in configuration and code tables.
Treating certificates as a one-time task. AS2 certificates expire. Put the renewal dates in a calendar.
No test environment with the partner. Testing in production with a retailer is how you end up shipping 240 cases instead of 24.

How to compare tools

Do you want software or a service? Some vendors give you a platform you run; others run EDI for you as a managed service, including mapping and partner onboarding.
Which partners and standards? Check that the vendor has experience with your partners’ guides (EANCOM, X12, automotive) and the transports they require.
How does it connect to your ERP? EDI is only half the job. The other half is getting orders into the ERP and invoices out of it.
How fast is the next partner? Ask to see how a second partner is onboarded, not just the first.
What is the pricing model? Per partner, per document, per kilocharacter, or a subscription. Model it on your real volumes.
Do you also need APIs and e-invoicing? A single platform for EDI, APIs and application integration reduces the number of moving parts.

Tools in this space

These are the products we come across most often, in alphabetical order.

Boomi. Boomi B2B/EDI Management runs on the same platform as Boomi Integration: trading partners, EDI profiles for X12, EDIFACT and other standards, and transports such as AS2 and SFTP are configured as components, and the ERP side is built with the same processes and connectors. It fits best when you want EDI and the ERP, e-shop and API integrations in one place and have (or partner with) people who build integrations.
Cleo. Cleo Integration Cloud combines EDI, managed file transfer and API integration, with strong roots in secure file transfer. Popular with mid-sized manufacturers, distributors and logistics companies, and available as software or with managed services.
IBM Sterling. IBM Sterling B2B Integrator and the Sterling supply chain network are long-standing choices in large enterprises, banking and retail, known for handling very high volumes and complex partner communities.
OpenText. OpenText’s B2B integration offering, built on the former GXS business, includes one of the largest B2B networks and a range of managed services. Common in large global supply chains.
SPS Commerce. A full-service retail EDI network focused on suppliers selling to retailers, with a large catalogue of pre-built retailer connections and managed services. Strongest in North American retail.
TrueCommerce. EDI and supplier connectivity aimed at small and mid-sized suppliers, with web EDI, managed services and integrations with common ERP and accounting systems.

If an existing partner or provider already handles part of your EDI, factor that in: switching transports and re-certifying partners takes time.

Where to go next

Two practical articles show the patterns from this guide in Boomi:

Receiving purchase orders via EDI and creating sales orders with Boomi: EDIFACT ORDERS / X12 850 into the ERP, with functional acknowledgements.
Setting up AS2 with a trading partner in Boomi: certificates, MDNs, testing and a go-live checklist.