Integration of non-Oracle software into an oracle application: The implementation of financial EC/EDI at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Electronic data interchange (EDI) is the first universally visible catalyst for permanent change in the way that intercompany and interpersonal business will develop. It marks the beginning of a profound evolutionary change in business practices. EDI is in the forefront of applications for the converging technologies of communication and computing coupled with global trading markets. The marked difference in EDI and other emerging technologies is that EDI was designed for the end user to apply, not the information systems specialist or the network communications guru. Fundamentally, EDI is the interorganizational computer-to-computer (and, preferably, application-to-application) transfer of data representing business documents in an agreed format or standard. It is a rapidly growing network application that addresses a business fundamental: paperwork reduction in routine business transactions. Some of the routine transactions include purchase orders, invoices, payments, and the like. Memos, letters, interpersonal messages, etc. are not a part of EDI.