Interchange category

Double-click the Partner Inbound Interchange type to view the components of the interchange.

The first component of the interchange, UNA, is sometimes called a "service string" in EDIFACT. It is optional. It specifies the syntax objects, such as delimiters, that appear in the rest of the interchange.

The second and fourth components collectively define the interchange envelope. The UNB is the envelope header. It specifies the trading partner information and syntactical information when the UNA is missing. The UNZ is the envelope trailer.

The third component defines the functional groups within the interchange. In EDIFACT data, the functional group envelopes are not required. Most often, EDIFACT data contains only a message envelope, which is inside the Inbound Partner Group.

The layout of components in the outbound interchange is similar to the layout in the inbound.