News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Launch HN: Onedoc (YC W24) – A better way to create PDFs. Parent comment

Re:Launch HN: Onedoc (YC W24) – A better way to create PDFs by nradov on Monday March 11, 2024 @12:24PM (#39670151)
For supply chain workflows the ASC X12 Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) industry standard works much better than PDFs. Unfortunately, despite being around for decades in has only been adopted by forward thinking organizations such as Walmart. Most smaller companies and their vendors still haven't implemented EDI.

https://developer.walmart.com/home/us-edi/

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Launch HN: Onedoc (YC W24) – A better way to create PDFs by calvinmorrison on Monday March 11, 2024 @12:55PM (#39670591)
Insanity.

EDI is the only place where people are regularly still paying for message by the kilobyte, where unsecured FTP over the open internet is still a norm, and where entire cottage industries exist to support AVOIDING using EDI.

Source: I work in EDI. it's a pain in the rump.

Also, EDI is really only good for things like PO's, shipping notices, invoices, sales orders, etc.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Launch HN: Onedoc (YC W24) – A better way to create PDFs by ochrist on Monday March 11, 2024 @02:11PM (#39671515)
You don't have to pay for message by the kilobyte. This is only true if you use an external vendor for the conversion or use a VAN for transmission: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-added_network

Source: Worked in EDI for a few years

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Launch HN: Onedoc (YC W24) – A better way to create PDFs by calvinmorrison on Monday March 11, 2024 @03:37PM (#39672392)
you absoultely don't need to use a VAN, yet a LOT of people do. Even when they're not using a VAN for comms, they might pay a VAN to host their FTP. The whole thing is backasswards.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Launch HN: Onedoc (YC W24) – A better way to create PDFs by oldandboring on Monday March 11, 2024 @01:34PM (#39671078)
> Also, EDI is really only good for things like PO's, shipping notices, invoices, sales orders, etc.

Don't forget health insurance claims, eligibility & benefits, and prior auth requests!

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Launch HN: Onedoc (YC W24) – A better way to create PDFs by ochrist on Monday March 11, 2024 @02:09PM (#39671493)
EDI is used in a lot of situations for machine-to-machine communications, but outside USA I believe EDIFACT is much more used (X12 is mostly used in USA).

Today many EDIFACT documents have been converted to ebXML: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EbXML

Source: Worked in EDI for a few years

[ Parent | on HN ]