>I'm not advocating a single standard for everyone; I'm advocating templates
>which industry groups or 800lb gorillas can mould to their business and
>relationship requirements. This is what X12 and EDIFACT document
definitions
>are all about.
I responded to this. Even among groups with implementation guidelines,
there are those who follow and those who don't. Sometimes the
implementation
guidelines are poorly written. And it does not help those who must cross
industry
borders.
>While I agree that hardly anyone has the exact same content as someone
else,
>almost everyone follows the structure and pays homage to the theory.
This is the big deal. "Almost everyone". Its the usual 80-20 rule. You
expend 80% of resources supporting 20% of your trading partners.
And the 800lb gorillas are usually in that 20% since they don't feel like
they have to conform.
> Even 800lb gorillas don't like to totally reinvent the wheel. Color, look,
size
>and feel maybe but you can still recognize it as a wheel.
My experience with 800lb gorillas is they send you a wheel but call it a
square. I had a great conversation with the edi group at a very large
hardware chain. Their guidelines said they use "XX" to mean "somesuch".
I called them and asked about it. I said according to the standards,
the code for "somesuch" is "YY". They said, when we send "XX", it
means "YY".
Howard Parks
1 Peter 4:10
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