Envelope Structure

IBM® Sterling B2B Integrator supports the use of many EDI protocols. The EDIFACT, ASC X12, SWIFTNet, and ODETTE protocols each have three levels of envelopes:

• Interchange (outermost) – Contains an interchange header and trailer, and all the data sent from one sender to one receiver in the same transmission.
• Functional group (middle) – Contains a group header and trailer that surrounds a group of transaction sets of the same type.
• Transaction set (innermost) – Contains the standard (EDIFACT, ASC X12, and so forth) message surrounded by a header and trailer record.

In addition, Sterling B2B Integrator supports CII, TRADACOMS, and ACH-CTX, which only have one level of envelopes—the message group header.