Project 1: World Wide Web Search

This is a step by step acount of my journey around the WWW in search of information on Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). To start my search I used the WebCrawler Searching (http://webcrawler.cs.washington.edu/WebCrawler/WebQuery.html). The search term I used was edi. This returned 35 possible links.
The first location I tried was:

• Electronic Data Interchange Standards (http://www.premenos.com/EDIStandards.html) Here I found this message: (A general description of what EDI is):
  
  EDI relies on the use of standards for the structure and interpretation of electronic business transactions. All trading partners must use a common standard, which reduces errors and ensures accurate translation of data, regardless of the computer systems involved.

• Understanding EDI (http://www.premenos.com/premenos/edi/edi.html)

  This is an article that describes what EDI is and explains how it can benefit companies. Company benefits come in these catagories:

  • Save Time and Money
  • Improve Customer Service
  • End Repetition - there is only one copy of the documents
  • Expand Customer Base
  Back at the EDI Standards I checked out the protocols for EDI. As it turns out there are only these two supported standards:
  1. UN/EDIFACT (http://www.premenos.com/unedifact/content.html). This is the standard set up by the United Nations. Primarily used by European countries. The actual definition of UN/EDIFACT can be found here http://www.premenos.com/unedifact/untdid/table.html. The actual specification for Syntax Rules, Syntax Implementation Guidelines and Message Design Guidelines (pretty dry reading).
  2. X12 (http://www.premenos.com/X12/index/setindex.html). The ANSI standard, predominately used by the USA and Canada (due to the amount of trade done with the US). A newer standard is being formed that will bring the two standards closer together.
  A company that is using EDI is Nissan (http://www.premenos.com/Guidelines/nissan/toc.html). (There are more but their pages are underconstruction) The EDI Standards has three pictures with sites attached to them.

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  The first is linked to The Electronic Commerce Resource Guide (http://www.premenos.com/index.html). This appears to be a starting point to the EDI Standards (or it is just a circular reference). There is a link to the Electronic Commerce Resources (http://www.premenos.com/Resources/guide.html). From here you can find information about network providers and some periodical. These two topics are covered later. The second picture is linked to About Premenos Corp (http://www.premenos.com/premenos/Premenos.html). Here is a quote from the Premenos:

  Premenos is setting the agenda for true electronic commerce and EDI internationally and on the Internet. Premenos EDI software is an enabling strategy for transforming how corporations conduct business in extended enterprises using electronic communications for commerce.

  Premenos has a number of products, here is EDI/e AT A GLANCE (http://www.premenos.com/premenos/products/edie.html). This is an advanced EDI interface that uses e. This is a patented 4GL.

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  The third picture is a linked to Electronic Commerce Resources (http://www.premenos.com/Resources/guide.html).
  I choose Periodicals (http://www.premenos.com/Resources/per.html) from the menu and found:
  • EDI Forum (http://www.premenos.com/Resources/forum.html). This is a magazine dedicated to EDI. There is only one article on-line, Electronic Data Interchange: A Definition and Perspective. (http://www.premenos.com/Resources/edi_forum/article.html).

  After reading the article I returned to the Electronic Commerce Resources to check out some other menu items.
  Network Providers was were I went next. Here is the list of providers that I found.
  • Advantis (http://www.premenos.com/Resources/network/advantis.html). Advantis talks about what they provide and how it will benefit the customer. They use the mail box analogy.
  • MCI (http://www.premenos.com/Resources/network/mci.html). MCI's EDI network is called EDI*Net. It supports asynchronous, bisynchronous, X.25, X.400, ODETTE FTP, EDI*Net to FAX and UCS open communications standard access.
  • TranSettlements, Inc. (http://www.premenos.com/Resources/network/trans.html) provides complete store-and-forward, store-and-retrieve and value-added services.
  • AT&T EasyLink Services (http://www.premenos.com/Resources/network/att.html) modeled on CCITT MHS X.400 standard. There is link to AT&T's Home Page (http://public.att.com/).
  • GE Information Services Inc. (http://www.premenos.com/Resources/network/ge.html).
    On a tangent I connected to GE's server -GEIS- (http://www.ge.com/geis/index.html) and found Forging Boundaryless Relationships (EDI) (http://www.ge.com/geis/forgingEDI.html). This an indepth look at their EDI*EXPRESS.

  This is as far as I traveled down this path. Next is a jump back to the Electronic Commerce Resource Guide.

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  From picture The Electronic Commerce Resource Guide I checked out What's New (http://www.premenos.com/Whatsnew.html). I found the latest newsletter for PremeNews (http://www.premenos.com/premenos/PremeNews/3qprem.html). Two articles of interest are:
  • EDI on the Internet - The Vision Becomes a Reality (http://www.premenos.com/premenos/PremeNews/3qprem.html#4). Transmission of EDI over and open network like the Internet is done using Templar. Templar uses encrytion at the interchange level.
  • IS EDI BECOMING A "COMMON" THING? (http://www.premenos.com/premenos/PremeNews/3qprem.html#8. This play on words also refers to a Premenos sponsored education program. COMMON is designed to give attendees the tools and education to implement an EDI program or enhance an existing one.

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  Another site from the web crawler vrije Universiteit (http://www.econ.vu.nl/pages/bik/bik.html) pointed me to EDISPUUT (Research on EDI) (http://www.econ.vu.nl/pages/edispuut/edispuut.html). This is a consortium of Ph.D. students of several major Dutch universities and research institutes. Another option from here is completed Ph.D research (http://www.econ.vu.nl/pages/edispuut/complete.html). Unfortunately the 9 papers on various aspects of EDI are all under construction.

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  From the web crawler search I went to the Sterling Software Home page (From the non-graphic one) (http://www.sterling.com/). Options from here are:
  • Sterling Software's Public Archives (http://www.sterling.com/archives.html)
    • EDI Archives (http://www.sterling.com:80/ftp/edi/). An area of interst is docs - Documents relating to EDI (http://www.sterling.com:80/ftp/edi/docs/)
      1. ec_on_internet ( http://www.sterling.com:80/ftp/edi/docs/ec_on_internet )
      2. trade-edi-systems.txt (http://www.sterling.com:80/ftp/edi/docs/trade-edi-systems.txt).
    • fyi.draft - FAQ about EDI meeting the Internet (http://www.sterling.com:80/ftp/edi/FAQ)

  Here is a site with a glossary on EDI (http://www.premenos.com/premenos/edi/ediglos.html). For more definition of terms try here (http://www.premenos.com/Guidelines/nissan/pg4.html).

  As can happen when surfing the Web I got lost. Here are some sites that I found that I do not know the path I took to them.

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• EDI Papers are located at
  • EDICOM '94 ( http://www.premenos.com/edi/papers/edicom94/edicom94.html )
  1. Reengineering Through the Use of EDI (http://www.premenos.com/edi/papers/edicom94/yun/kuo_yun.html)
  2. Automotive Industry EDI in the U.S. and Japan (http://www.premenos.com/edi/papers/edicom94/harada/automotive.html )
  • EURIDIS (http://www.premenos.com/edi/papers/euridis/euridis.html) Nothing interesting here.
  These are some sites I found, but am not sure of the path. There were a couple of boring pages in between. (http://www.premenos.com/Resources/news/1.html )

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  This concludes my travels around the web in search of information about EDI. The information I found will be beneficial to our presentation.