Error: Data Element Exceeds Maximum Length

This type of error looks similar to this in the job log:

20001002093806,17, ***************************************20001002093806,18, ******** TRANSLATION LOG *********20001002093806,19, **************************************20001002093806,20,120001002093806,21,SYNTAX ERROR: Data element exceeds maxlength20001002093806,22,ISA=000000013 GS=13 ST=1001 POS IN SET=520001002093806,23,data = N1^ST^^91^WHS1 111111111PFRM499920001002093806,24,20001002093806,25, *************************************20001002093806,26, ****** END TRANSLATION LOG *****20001002093806,27, ****************************************

20001002093806,17,  *****************************************20001002093806,18,  ************ TRANSLATION LOG *************20001002093806,19,  ******************************************20001002093806,20,120001002093806,21,SYNTAX ERROR: Data element exceeds maxlength20001002093806,22,ISA=000000013 GS=13 ST=1001 POS IN SET=520001002093806,23,data = N1^ST^^91^WHS1 111111111PFRM499920001002093806,24,20001002093806,25,  *****************************************20001002093806,26,  ********** END TRANSLATION LOG *********20001002093806,27,  ******************************************

Why has this error occurred?

SYNTAX ERROR: Data element exceeds max. length means an element in the EDI data is larger than that allowed by the ASC X12 standards.

The error message tells you where in the data file the error occurred and what the data is.


`ISA=000000013 GS=13 ST=1001 POS IN SET=5 ELEMENT=WHS1111111111PFRM4999`


Error Message Information	Tells you
ISA=000000013	The ISA control number where the error occurred.
GS=13	The GS control number where the error occurred.
ST=1001	The transaction set where the error occurred.
POS IN SET=5	The position in the data file of the transaction containing the error.
ELEMENT= WHS1 111111111PFRM4999	The data that caused the error. In this example, the element is the Lawson value for an outbound SHIPTO list name. This value is the concatenation of four Lawson fields: Warehouse location (WHS1), Vendor ID (111111111), Vendor Purchase from (PFRM), and Company (4999).

The log also shows the specific data where the error occurred: data = N1^ST^^91^WHS1 111111111PFRM4999. According to ASC X12 standards, the max length of the fourth element of an N1 segment is 17 characters; WHS1 111111111PFRM4999 is 22 characters long. This is why the error "Data element exceeds max. length" has been generated.

How do I correct this error?

The data line (data = N1^ST^^91^WHS1 111111111PFRM4999) in the log file tells you which segment the error is in. In the example, it is an N1^ST segment. It could be a PO1 segment, or an N1^VE segment.

Use the substitution tables information in the Lawson EDI for Supply Chain Management Trading Partner List to identify the trading partner and the transaction set. Then check the Destination elements to identify how the substitution table record should be constructed using Data Substitution Table Setup (ED40.1).


TP / Trans.	List Name	Lawson Value	External Value	Destination
Baxt./ Alleg Corp
850	LC_ O_ SHIPTO	Ship- to locVendor- idPurchase-fromCompany	Vendor- assigned account number	N1^ ST elem. 04

For this example, the data corresponds to a SHIPTO entry. The log file shows the value WHS1 111111111PFRM4999, which is the Lawson value.

To correct this, you would need to access Data Substitution Table Setup (ED40.1) and create an entry for xx_O_SHIPTO, (xx is the Lawson trading partner identifier). The External Value would be the vendor-assigned account number, which you must get from the vendor.

Error: Unit of Measure

A unit of measure error could look something similar to this:

data = PO1^1^5^CSE^35^^IN^2452274IN

The third element of a PO1 segment is the unit of measure. According to ASC X12 standards, the unit of measure is a two-character field; CASE is four characters.