About EDI Translators

To send and receive transactions electronically, you must access a translator.

After you export flat file transactions from SyteLine's EDI database tables to flat files, these files are sent to the translator. Prior to importing transactions from the flat files into the EDI database tables, these files are created by the translator. The translator takes the flat file information and reformats the transaction according to the ANSI X12 or EDIFACT standard format.

For information about the flat-file layout, see these topics:

The following graphic illustrates the movement of transactions through the translator.

Translators

Infor SyteLine EDI can interface with several different translators: Inovis EDI, Sterling's GENTRAN:Server, Radley's RADEDI/CARaS or TSI's Mercator. You must purchase and install one of these separate programs in order to complete your EDI communication system. For more information, contact your Infor account representative.

For more information on your system translator, refer to the translator's documentation. If you use a translator other than those listed above, you must set up the translator to use the correct lock file, to ensure that only one program accesses the flat file at one time.

VANs

You must also arrange for communication lines and a mailbox to meet the physical requirements of EDI. (When your customer sends you an order, it arrives in your mailbox. You use your translator to retrieve it from there. Your customers and vendors do the same for documents you send to them.)

Typically this is done through the use of a value-added network, or VAN. VANs can handle all connectivity and services such as mailboxes for transactions, protocol conversion, implementation assistance, security, and auditing.