What Is EDI?
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the automated exchange of standard business documents, such as purchase orders, invoices and shipping notices, between companies' systems without human input.
EDI replaces emails, faxes and manual data entry with fast, accurate communication between trading partners. Integrated directly with SAP, it streamlines the supply chain, cuts manual effort and lowers costs. This guide covers the essentials of making SAP EDI-ready: the documents and standards, how EDI works inside SAP, IDocs, monitoring, and your options for running it.
Common EDI Documents
The business documents most often exchanged with SAP, with their ANSI X12 numbers.
EDI Standards and Transmission Protocols
The right combination keeps every trading partner connection compatible and secure.
Standards
- ANSI X12: North America, across retail, logistics and healthcare
- EDIFACT: the international standard, common in Europe
- VDA: the automotive sector, especially in Germany
- EANCOM and ODETTE: European retail and automotive
Transmission Protocols
- VAN: an online mailbox that routes EDI messages to the right receiver
- AS2: secure, real-time exchange over the internet
- SFTP and FTP: file-based transfer
- HTTPS, APIs and web services: for web and cloud platforms
How EDI Works in SAP
Four building blocks work together to move EDI data in and out of SAP.
IDocs
Intermediate Documents: SAP's structured electronic messages for exchanging data with other systems, built around standard business transactions.
Message Types
The kind of business document, such as ORDERS, INVOIC or DELVRY. Each message type is linked to an IDoc type that defines the data structure.
Partner Profiles
Set up in transaction WE20, they define which documents each customer or vendor exchanges, and how SAP processes them inbound and outbound.
Ports
The connection point for sending or receiving IDocs, such as your EDI subsystem or another SAP system.
Where EDI Connects to Your Business Processes
Inside an IDoc
Every IDoc has three kinds of records, each stored in its own SAP table.
Control Record (EDIDC)
The envelope: IDoc type, message type, direction, partner, port, date, time and status. Inbound, the message type and sender find the partner profile and process code that handle the data.
Data Records (EDID4)
The business data, in a hierarchy of segments: header segments contain a K (E1EDK01), items a P (E1EDP01) and totals an S (E1EDS01). Segments out of sequence cause structure errors.
Status Records (EDIDS)
The processing history: every step adds a status with a code and message. Codes 1 to 49 are outbound, and 50 to 99 are inbound.
Common IDoc Status Codes
Check IDocs in transactions WE02 and WE05. For inbound, watch statuses 51 and 56 for errors, and 64 for documents waiting to be processed.
Ways to Run SAP EDI
Software is the tool. A managed service is the tool and the skilled operator.
In-House
Your team handles mapping, partner onboarding, monitoring and troubleshooting. It needs specialized staff and constant training, and scaling means hiring.
Cloud EDI Software
Hosted software and tools that scale technically, but your staff still configure maps and resolve the errors the platform flags.
Managed Service
The platform plus an expert team that monitors every transaction, onboards partners and fixes problems before they disrupt your business.
Arcus Cloud EDISAP EDI Readiness Self-Assessment
Is Your SAP System EDI-Ready?
A self-assessment for SAP teams and IT leaders to evaluate their current EDI setup before starting an EDI project.
Download the Self-AssessmentSAP EDI FAQ
What is an IDoc in SAP?
An IDoc (Intermediate Document) is SAP's standard format for exchanging data with other systems. Your EDI translator converts EDI documents into IDocs for SAP, and IDocs from SAP into EDI documents for your trading partners.
How do message types relate to IDocs?
A message type defines the kind of business document, such as a purchase order (ORDERS), invoice (INVOIC) or delivery (DELVRY). Each message type is linked to an IDoc type, or basic type, that defines the structure of the data.
How are SAP partner profiles used?
Partner profiles route EDI data in and out of SAP for each trading partner. They hold the partner number and type (KU for customer, LI for vendor), inbound parameters with the process code that posts each IDoc, and outbound parameters with the message type, process code and port.
Where do we find errors in inbound EDI data?
First in your EDI translator, which catches formatting errors and missing mandatory data. Once data reaches SAP as an IDoc, check transactions WE02 and WE05: statuses 51 and 56 are errors, and 64 is waiting to be processed.
Where can outbound EDI data fail?
Output can fail to save on the document (wrong partner profile, missing condition record or a program error); the IDoc can fail to generate or dispatch; translation can fail in your middleware; the connection to the partner can fail (SFTP or AS2 issues, expired certificates); or the partner can reject it with a negative 997, 824 or 864.
What is the difference between a managed EDI service and handling EDI in-house?
In-house, your own team handles mapping, partner onboarding, monitoring and troubleshooting. With a managed service, the provider does all of that, monitoring transactions, resolving errors and onboarding partners, so your team can focus on other work.
More SAP EDI Solutions
Arcus Cloud EDI
Fully managed cloud EDI for SAP, priced per document.
SAP EDI Integration
SAP-side EDI setup, mapping, testing and support.
EDI 820 Remittance Advice
Automated cash application and lockbox in SAP.
SAP 3PL Integration
Connect SAP to your third-party logistics providers.
EDI 846 Inventory Advice
Keep SAP and your 3PL in sync on inventory.
SAP Factoring Automation
Credit approvals from your factor, straight into SAP.
Let's Talk About Your SAP EDI
No commitments, just a helpful conversation about your SAP EDI readiness.