EDI document reference

EDI purchase order document reference

Segment level references for the X12 documents that carry a purchase order, its acknowledgment, its changes, and its ship notice, with the non-EDI equivalent for each.

7 detailed buyer pages0 signup walls1 source-to-commitment model

Read the documents in the order they travel

An order flow is easier to reason about as a sequence than as a list of numbers. A buyer sends an 850. The receiving translator returns a 997, which reports only that the interchange parsed. The supplier returns an 855, which is the first commercial answer in the exchange. A buyer change travels as an 860 and is answered by an 865. When goods ship, an 856 reports what is on the truck. Each reference here covers the segments a buyer reads, the code values that carry the answer, and the questions the document leaves open.

Separate a transport receipt from a commitment

The most expensive mistake in an EDI order flow is counting acknowledgments from 997 data. A functional acknowledgment reports syntax acceptance and nothing else, so a dashboard built on it can show a healthy acknowledgment rate across a supplier base where no line has a promised date. Sent, delivered, parsed, viewed, replied, accepted at line level, and committed after a buyer decision are seven different states. Only the last two describe an obligation, and no report should merge them.

Plan for the suppliers who are not on EDI

EDI covers the largest trading partners and leaves a long tail that responds by email. In most purchasing organisations that tail is the majority of orders by count and carries a disproportionate share of the schedule risk, because none of its promises are structured. Pacteva collects the same line level acknowledgment from those suppliers through a secure accountless link and keeps ordered, proposed, decided, and committed values distinct. Pacteva does not transmit X12, act as a VAN, or replace an EDI translator.

01 · Guide

EDI 855 purchase order acknowledgment: segments and status codes

Reference for the X12 855: BAK acknowledgment type codes, ACK line item status codes, promised dates, and what an 855 cannot tell a buyer.

Read a BAK header and an ACK line without opening the implementation guide
Tell an accepted line apart from a changed, backordered, or rejected one

Open guide 02 · Guide

EDI 850 purchase order: segment map and the fields that must round-trip

Reference for the X12 850: BEG purpose and order type codes, header segments, the PO1 loop and product identifier qualifiers, and what an 855 must return.

Map an 850 from ISA envelope to CTT totals without an implementation guide
Choose BEG purpose and order type codes deliberately rather than by default

Open guide 03 · Guide

EDI 856 advance ship notice: hierarchical levels and what buyers check

Reference for the X12 856 ASN: BSN structure codes, the HL shipment, order, pack, and item hierarchy, SSCC labels, and how an ASN reconciles to the acknowledged order.

Read an HL hierarchy from shipment down to item
Check an ASN against the acknowledged order rather than the original order

Open guide 04 · Guide

EDI 860 purchase order change request: BCH and POC change codes

Reference for the X12 860 buyer initiated change: BCH purpose codes, the POC loop and change type codes, and how to keep a change from erasing the original order.

Distinguish a cancellation from a change at the header level
Choose the right POC change type code for quantity, price, add, and delete

Open guide 05 · Guide

EDI 865 purchase order change acknowledgment: two uses, one transaction set

Reference for the X12 865: the BCA segment, its dual role as a reply to an 860 and as a seller initiated change, and how to tell the two apart.

Tell an acknowledgment of your change from a change the supplier is proposing
Read the BCA header and the POC and ACK line detail together

Open guide 06 · Guide

EDI 997 functional acknowledgment: what it proves and what it does not

Reference for the X12 997: AK segments, AK501 and AK901 status codes, the difference from a TA1 and a 999, and why a 997 is not a supplier commitment.

Read AK501 and AK901 status codes correctly
Separate transport level acknowledgment from commercial acknowledgment in reporting

Open guide 07 · Guide

EDI transaction code list for purchasing, warehouse, and transport

Lookup list of the X12 transaction set numbers a purchasing team meets, grouped by order to cash, warehouse, and transportation, with GS01 functional identifier codes.

Identify any transaction set number you meet in an order flow
Know which documents are business answers and which are transport receipts

Open guide

The acknowledgment gap

Turning a sent PO into a current supplier commitment.

Pacteva is in development. Tell us how source review, supplier response, exception handling, and commitment reporting work in your purchasing team today.