Integration Advisor: Early UN/EDIFACT Versions wit...

Today, I would like to share an update regarding the B2B Library versions included in our Integration Advisor (of SAP Integration Suite) offering. Recently, we added three additional UN/EDIFACT versions from the early 1990s.

Early Versions of the UN/EDIFACT standard

We have added three additional early versions: 90.2 S2, 91.1 S2 and 91.2 S2 – bringing the total number of supported UN/EDIFACT versions to 63.

To the best of our knowledge, even older versions (particularly 90.1 S1) are not in productive use. However, please contact us if you require this S1 version, and we will evaluate whether it can be added.

Interoperability of Syntax Version 2 (S2) and Syntax Version 3 (S3)

UN/EDIFACT syntax versions (defined by ISO 9735) are sets of rules specifying the structure of EDIFACT messages. To date, four syntax versions have been published by the UN/ECE organization: S1, S2, S3, and S4.

These syntax versions are, in a way, orthogonal to the UN/EDIFACT versions / releases (such as 91.2 or D.01B). However, it is common practice to display UN/EDIFACT versions alongside the syntax version that was in use at the time the UN/EDIFACT version was published (e.g., 91.2 S2 or D.01B S3).

Accordingly, Integration Advisor displays all previously published UN/EDIFACT versions with the suffix S3, while the recently added versions are shown with the suffix S2.

It is important to note that syntax versions 2 and 3 are almost identical, differing only in the allowed code pages (UNOA-UNOB for S2 versus UNOA-UNOF for S3) defined in data element UNB > S001 > 0001.

This is why you can also use later UN/EDIFACT versions with syntax version 2 or use earlier UN/EDIFACT versions with syntax version 3.

Code Values for syntax-related Data Elements

The UN/EDIFACT standard includes certain core data elements, typically named 00**, which are used in service segments such as UNB, UNG, UNH, UNT, or UNZ. Originally, the UN/ECE organization did not provide code values for some of these core data elements and only began doing so in the mid-1990s.

Integration Advisor strives to publish B2B Library definitions as provided by the standardization organizations. As a result, the recently added UN/EDIFACT versions do not include code values for data elements 0002, 0052, or 0054.

Handling of Code Values associated with UN/CEFACT codelists

Since 1991, UN/ECE has recommended using UN/CEFACT codelists for certain UN/EDIFACT data elements. The table below lists the affected data elements along with their assigned UN/CEFACT codelists:

Data Element	Description	UN/EDIFACT Codelist	UN/CEFACT Codelist
4053	Delivery or transport terms	4053	Rec 5
4277	Payment terms	4277	Rec 17
4405	Transport status	4405	Rec 24
6411	Measurement units	6411	Rec 20
7065	Package types	7065	Rec 21
8023	Freight and charges identification	8023	Rec 23
8067	Transport modes	8067	Rec 19
8179	Transport means	8179	Rec 28

Accordingly, Integration Advisor provides links from these data elements to the latest version of the listed UN/CEFACT recommendations. This applies to all versions of UN/EDIFACT starting from 91.1 S2. (Please note that the UN/EDIFACT standard did not maintain any code values for these data elements in the earlier version 90.2 S2.)

For versions 91.1 S2 and 91.2 S2, we also provide UN/EDIFACT codelists containing the code values as they were originally published by the UN/EDIFACT standard. In your Message Implementation Guideline (MIG), you have the option to use either the original UN/EDIFACT code values or the current UN/CEFACT code values.

Consumption in Cloud Integration

Since earlier this year, the Cloud Integration capability of SAP Integration Suite has supported all UN/EDIFACT syntax versions (S1 through S4). This means you can process UN/EDIFACT payloads in all the EDI flow steps, such as EDI Splitter, EDI Extractor, EDI-To-XML Converter, and XML-To-EDI Converter, based on all these syntax versions.

Note: You need to use the latest version of these EDI flow steps. In your Integration Flow, simply add the EDI flow steps from the palette to ensure you are using the newest version.

For the older UN/EDIFACT versions, there is one additional detail to note:

Since release D.93A S3 in 1993, UN/EDIFACT has used the value D for field UNH > S009 > 0052. As a result, the EDI flow steps expect an XSD file name like UN-EDIFACT_ORDERS_D96A.xsd.
However, for releases prior to D.93A S3, other values (such as 1 or 2) were used for field UNH > S009 > 0052. In these cases, the EDI flow steps expect an XSD file name like UN-EDIFACT_ORDERS_2912.xsd.

Integration Advisor has recently added a new field Configure EDIFACT Message Version to tab Runtime Context (of your MIG) where this value can be maintained - see the screenshot below.

When you create a new Message Implementation Guideline (MIG), Integration Advisor automatically selects an appropriate default value based on the following rules:

Use D as the default value for all UN/EDIFACT versions starting with D (from D.93A onwards)
Use 1 as the default value for all UN/EDIFACT versions not starting with D and having a minor version of 1 (applies to versions 91.1 S2 and 92.1 S3)
Use 2 as the default value for all UN/EDIFACT versions not starting with D and having a minor version of 2 (applies to versions 90.2 S2, 91.2 S2, and 93.2 S3)

In most cases, the default value should meet your requirements. If not, you can easily redefine this value in your MIG.

Conclusion

With this latest update, Integration Advisor has added three early UN/EDIFACT versions associated with Syntax Version 2. This enables you to build your Message Implementation Guidelines (MIGs) and Mapping Guidelines (MAGs) based on these S2 versions.

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