Validating sample edi-X12 data

The Solution:

1. The ISA - IEA segments are the first ones to be checked. The ISA segment is fixed length(105). It is always best that you use a ruler to make sure the elements of this segment is on the right positions. When you copy from a PDF document, the number of spaces might not be brought over when you paste it to your text editor. Insert spaces and align the end-of-element with the ruler's position.

2. Compare and fix the ISA control number with the IEA control number (they should be the same).

3. Check and fix the other control numbers.

4. When you start counting the segments from ST to SE, SE01 will be the sequence number for the SE segment.

Other segments/elements that need attention would be:

a. CTT01 - count of detail records.

b. Might need to review P0109 and P0110.

5. Lastly, check the segment separators.

Make sure that the last segment IEA, will have a segment separator at the end of it.

For this particular example, the segment separator is two characters - CR (x'0D')LF (x'25').

Use Notepad ++ to view the special characters.

Alternatively, your trading partner might require a specific segment separator, like tilde (~) as shown in this example.

The software allows one character to become its segment separator. And Carriage Return x'0D' can not become a segment separator. Carriage Return, Line Feed or both can be fixed via the network configuration.