Optimize EDI Integration with Advanced Trading Partner Management and Audit Trails

Simplify EDI trading partner setup, ensure X12 compliance and gain real-time visibility into EDI transactions with PilotFish’s advanced EDI integration tools.

PilotFish’s Trading Partner Management and Audit Trail component is now integrated into the eiConsole for X12 EDI. Designed to streamline EDI integration, this feature-rich solution simplifies managing trading partner profiles, creating X12-compliant transaction envelopes and maintaining detailed audit logs. With powerful filtering options, real-time envelope previews and robust transaction tracking, organizations can achieve seamless data exchange, enhance compliance and boost operational efficiency within their EDI ecosystems.

Trading Partner Management Dashboard

When exchanging transactions using EDI indirectly using third-party networks such as Value-Added Networks (VANs), clearinghouses, or similar organizations, electronic envelopes are employed to facilitate the addressing, delivery, tracking and acknowledging of exchanges between the submitter and the receiver. This is very similar to the processes employed for paper document exchanges. For EDI implementations, there are three different envelopes: Transaction Envelopes, Functional Group Envelopes and Interchange Envelopes.

Trading partners need to exchange the necessary addressing information contained in these envelopes, usually in a Trading Partner Agreement or similar document. This information includes:

Interchange Envelopes – contain information needed for the exchange between organizations

• Authentication Information
• Sender Identification (like a return address for paper envelopes)
• Receiver Identification (similar to the addressee for paper envelopes)
• Interchange Control Number that uniquely identifies the Interchange Envelope (like a serial number)
• ASC X12 version for the Interchange Envelope
• Code indicating the sender’s request for an interchange acknowledgment

Functional Group Envelopes – contain information needed by the receiver for internal routing of transaction data

• Application Sender ID identifies the application that created the transactions (mutually agreed upon between trading partners)
• Application Receiver ID identifies the application that is to receive the transactions (mutually agreed upon between trading partners)
• ASC X12 version for the Interchange Envelope
• Functional Group Control Number that uniquely identifies the Functional Group Envelope (similar to a serial number)

Transaction Envelopes – contain one or more business transactions

• Transaction Set Control Number that uniquely identifies the Transaction Set (like a serial number)

The control numbers in each of these envelopes facilitate tracking, acknowledgments, and auditing of transactions. Within PilotFish, users set the starting control number. Every time an envelope of each type is created, PilotFish will increment the control number by 1, assuring each control number will be unique.

Enhance your EDI integration with PilotFish’s industry-leading Trading Partner Management and Audit Logging – now integrated into the eiConsole for X12 EDI.

Trading Partner Management Dashboard (Click to Enlarge)

Interchange Envelopes: The left-hand column allows for the filtering of trading partners and a tree view of the trading partners, their associated functional group(s), and transaction sets. The right-hand column allows users to fill in the above agreed-upon values. As the information is entered, a sample of the envelope is created at the bottom to be copied and shared with your trading partner. Buttons on the bottom allow users to update the example based upon new entries, reset the envelope values, delete the interchange, and add new functional groups for this trading partner.

Setting Up Interchange Envelopes (Click to Enlarge)

Functional Group Envelopes: The right-hand column allows users to fill in the above agreed-upon values. As the information is entered, a sample of the envelope is created at the bottom to be copied and shared with your trading partner. Buttons on the bottom allow users to update the example based upon new entries, cancel functional group maintenance, delete the functional group, and add new transaction sets to the functional group for this trading partner.

Functional Group Envelope Configuration (Click to Enlarge)

Transaction Envelopes: the right-hand column allows users to fill in the above agreed upon values. As the information is entered, a sample of the envelope is created at the bottom to be copied and shared with your trading partner. Buttons on the bottom allow users to update the example based upon new entries, cancel functional group maintenance, delete the functional group and add new transaction sets to the functional group for this trading partner.

Transaction Envelope Creation (Click to Enlarge)

Trading Partner Audit Logs

Trading Partner Audit Logs include extensive filtering capabilities to search for specific transactions. Filters include:

• Date/time range filtering
• Transaction direction filtering (inbound or outbound)
• Transaction status filtering (rejected, accepted or accepted with errors)
• Trading partner name filtering
• Specific file name filtering
• Specific transaction set filtering
• Filtering by control numbers, including the Interchange Control Number, Functional Group Control Number or Transaction Set Control Number

Once the filter option(s) have been selected, they are applied with the Apply button to see the transaction(s) that meet the filtering criteria. The list of transactions will be displayed with pertinent identifier values, as shown below.

EDI Audit Logs & Filtering Options (Click to Enlarge)

To view a specific exchange, click the value in the ID column. Suppose the particular exchange has an associated acknowledgment such as a function acknowledgement, implementation acknowledgement, etc. Then, in that case, the St Ack Status column becomes active and can be clicked to see the associated acknowledgment.

After clicking the item in the ID column, one or more windows will open below the transaction to show the transaction content and reporting. The example below shows an outbound EDI 837 healthcare claim. The window includes two buttons, one to download the EDI file and the second to search the transaction.

Viewing EDI Transactions & SNIP Validation (Click to Enlarge)

For EDI transactions, an additional window containing the HTML output for the SNIP compliance report will open. The window includes buttons to download the HTML contents that can be opened in a browser – a search button and a beautify toggle that will format the HTML for improved readability.

HTML Output for SNIP Compliance Report (Click to Enlarge)

The following window shows the EDI file converted to XML representation. The window includes buttons to download the XML file, a search button and a beautify toggle to format the HTML for improved readability.

EDI File Converted to XML (Click to Enlarge)

The last window provides the SNIP validation details in XML format. This window also contains buttons to download the XML information, a search button and a beautify toggle that will format the XML for improved readability.

SNIP Validation Details in  XML Format (Click to Enlarge)

When selecting non-X12-based exchanges such as comma-separated values files (CSVs), two windows will open showing the CSV file and the XML representation of the CSV file with buttons for downloading the file, searching and a button to beautify the XML representation.

CSV Data (Click to Enlarge)

XML Representation of CSV Data (Click to Enlarge)