Electronic Data Interchange and Company Re-engineering - article ; n°2 ; vol.2, pg 281-302

Anne Mayere, Marie-Christine Monnoyer

Description

Réseaux. The French journal of communication - Année 1994 - Volume 2 - Numéro 2 - Pages 281-302
Summary: The aim of EDI - electronic data interchange - is to bypass the bottleneck of print between enterprises by seamless computerization of data processing and exchange across both industrial sectors and national borders. But early sector-based systems, shackled by an outdated rigid division between 'administrative' and 'operational' information, created their own data bottlenecks. EDI is now in transition between the initial trial and error phase and a second stage of maturation, during which the open design of communication systems will centre on the key dimension of adding value to operations in the emerging flexible industrial world of just-in-time production, total quality and worker.
22 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

Informations

• Publié par: RESEAUX-_THE_FRENCH_JOURNAL_OF_COMMUNICATION
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1994
• Nombre de lectures: 19
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Anne Mayere
Marie-Christine Monnoyer
Pauline Ridel
Electronic Data Interchange and Company Re-engineering
In: Réseaux, 1994, volume 2 n°2. pp. 281-302.
Abstract
Summary: The aim of EDI - electronic data interchange - is to bypass the bottleneck of print between enterprises by seamless
computerization of data processing and exchange across both industrial sectors and national borders. But early sector-based
systems, shackled by an outdated rigid division between 'administrative' and 'operational' information, created their own data
bottlenecks. EDI is now in transition between the initial trial and error phase and a second stage of maturation, during which the
open design of communication systems will centre on the key dimension of adding value to operations in the emerging flexible
industrial world of just-in-time production, total quality and worker.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Mayere Anne, Monnoyer Marie-Christine, Ridel Pauline. Electronic Data Interchange and Company Re-engineering. In:
Réseaux, 1994, volume 2 n°2. pp. 281-302.
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/reso_0969-9864_1994_num_2_2_3283DATA ELECTRONIC
INTERCHANGE AND
COMPANY RE-ENGINEERING
Anne MAYERE and Marie-Christine MONNOYER
Translated by Pauline Ridel
Summary: The aim of EDI - electronic data interchange - is to
bypass the bottleneck of print between enterprises by seamless
computerization of data processing and exchange across both
industrial sectors and national borders. But early sector-based
systems, shackled by an outdated rigid division between
'administrative' and 'operational' information, created their own
data bottlenecks.
281 EDI is now in transition between the initial trial and error phase
and a second stage of maturation, during which the open design
of communication systems will centre on the key dimension of
adding value to operations in the emerging flexible industrial
world of just-in-time production, total quality and worker.
282 DATA INTERCHANGE AND COMPANY RE-ENGINEERING ELECTRONIC
ing the subject are due to the fact that it
7 ELECTRONIC DATA is part of a more radical transformation.
This all-encompassing mutation is the
changeover to a new industrial model,
INTERCHANGE which many researchers, for want of a
precise Toyotism'?* term - are - should referring we to as talk post-Tay- about
AND COMPANY lorian or post-Fordist.
For the two foundation stones of the pre
vious industrial model* are now being RE-ENGINEERING shaken: the Taylorian relationship link
ing representation-management norms
with work organization, and the Fordist
relationship linking the previous norms
with a specific form of relationship to the
market, based on assembly-line product
ion and adjustment through stock le
vels*. The transformations are taking
place on two levels:
- work targets, organization and Anne MAYERE and
procedures, as modified by computMarie-Christine
erization and various forms of autoMONNOYER
mation;
- the method of production and ex
change, which is undergoing a radi
cal remodelling of usage values, the
exchange relationship and organizat
ional principles8.
The question What is electronic How do these changes concern EDI? At
data interchange (EDI)?' can be first sight it might seem that the role of
answered on many levels, but EDI would be restricted to the computeriz
even the most resolutely oper ation of the orders/shipping/billing cir
ational definitions strain to come up with cuit between independent companies,
a stable and unified formula. Why should rather than simply within one firm. We
this be so? The most obvious reason can intend to show that such an extremely
be found in the hesitant first steps of an restrictive reading would be largely mis
innovation that we will show to be more taken. EDI is in fact closely bound up
organizational than technological. The in with, and to a great extent inextricable
terpretation that we seek to develop here from, other key developments that are
is that EDI is not an isolated phenomenon helping to create the new industrial model
and that present uncertainties now taking shape. Incidentally, observa-
• Jacot, 1990
t By 'industrial model' we mean a form of economic organization and control of productive
activities, with the term 'industrial' referring to these activities in general, including both
manufacturing and services.
ф Here we are directly following the definitions suggested by Pierre Veltz, whose work on the
current transformation process has to a large extent prompted our analysis. See especially Veltz,
1986 and 1991.
§ Mayère, 1990, gives a suggested matrix analysis, especially of this second aspect.
283 Anne MAYÉRE and Marie-Christine MONNOYER
Salient points about EDI
The initiais stand for Electronic Data Interchange. EDI is sometimes defined as 'the transfer, by
electronic means, of data structured according to pre-established standards for messages between
computers'*.
What does this mean?
The term 'data' is used in a broad sense: it includes letters, characters, symbols and numbers. In
theory therefore there are no restrictions on the content of data interchanges. The primary requirement
is that the data must be structured and organized as standard messages (in fact it would be even
more accurate to say normalized messages). It is not enough for the data to be computer-readable:
the aim is to format them in such a way that they can be automatically interpreted and processed even
when they are exchanged between computer systems using different hardware and software.
The transfer can be effected by a wide range of methods, although considerations of speed mean that
the method of choice is telecommunications. This is the point of the reference in the definition to
electronic means, signifying any system capable of both reading and processing alphanumeric text,
and which includes floppy disks and CD-ROM laser disks, for example.
But this definition becomes very technical. Rather than use the term 'transfer', many specialists prefer
'interchange', as in the abbreviation EDI, because the idea that it is possible for different organizations
to exchange information is to a great extent what is new about EDI.
The term organizations is deliberately used in an all-embracing sense, because EDI is not restricted
to businesses; it is also used by government departments and the public sector. A clear-cut example
of the importance of this 'horizontal' aspect of EDI is provided by the Customs service. This government
department is an obligatory transit point for many businesses: speeding up customs clearance and
simplification of the associated paperwork considerably reduce delays and costs. From the Customs'
point of view EDI allows it to speed up its service while cutting its own transaction processing costs.
EDI is a matter of leapfrogging the islands of automated exchanges that constitute the internal
information systems of large multi-division companies, groups of companies, systems linking principals
with their subcontractors, and certain subsystems of government. The aim is to make these exchanges
widespread and commonplace, by freeing them from the constraints imposed by the various construct
ors' proprietary systems and the myriad 'in-house' standards.
This is why normalization is so important: without a universal transversal norm, EDI is not EDI. The
process really got under way in the 1980s and was given a boost in 1987 with the creation of the
United Nations Joint Electronic Data Interchange (UNJEDI) committee which brought together
representatives of the United Nations economic committee for Europe and the American National
Standards Institution (ANSI)*. In 1988 the ISO* adopted the international standard EDIFACT (Elec
tronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport).
See the introduction by P. Dreyfus, chairman of EDIFRANCE, to issue no. 16, June 1991, of the
AFNOR magazine Enjeux, devoted to EDI.
*For this account of the organization of normalization, we have drawn in particular on V. Sandoval,
Technologie de l'EDI, Editions Hermès, Paris, 1990.
*The International Standards Organization is an intergovernmental body. ISO recognition establishes
the international status of a standard.
284 ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE AND COMPANY RE-ENGINEERING
The process of normalization is now going forward on four levels:
- working groups set up by business, usually based on various branches of industry (there are
examples in the main body of the article);
- national ISO representatives (in France, AFNOR);
- in Europe the EDIFACT Board is responsible for coordinating and validating the work of industry or
national groups; and
- at international level a working group of the UN/EC economic committee ratifies the results of this
work in the form of United Nations recommendations, while the ISO recognizes them as international
standards.
EDIFACT is based on two main standards:
- ISO 7372, establishing a directory of structured data, or TDED (Trade Data Element Dictionary),
which gathers together the universally accepted commerc