EDI Segment Count Limits 1

[BizWhisperer]

Is there a limit to the number of transactions in a single group?

I use BizTalk 2004/2006 with the included-albeit crippled- EDI functionality from Covast. When I create purchase orders, I get one edi file per transaction (each ST/SE is wrapped in a GS/GE, and each GS/GE is wrapped in an ISA/IEA). If theres a way around this w/o purchasing the full Covast solution, I haven't found it. So I'm looking at writing a component to put all the transactions together into a single group, so that I get one file per trading partner, each with oodles of transactions. However I wanted to make sure that I don't overload the partner (or the intermediary VAN) by putting thousands of transactions in a single group.

Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[BocaBurger]

No limit per spec, but you can create a file too large for some EDI programs to handle.

BocaBurger
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The pen is mightier than the sword, but the sword hurts more!

 

[sayeers]

Many TPs impose a limit on the Number of ST/SEs or GS/GEs that you could send in an ISA.
IMHO, sending an Dcoument per ISA makes everybody's life easier. Unlesss you do such a heavy transactions (like WalMart) that you would have to wrap around your ISA numbers in a week.

 

[BizWhisperer]

Thanks - I ended up doing just that. The code is already in production and we have one VAN that is griping big-time over receiving approximately 1500 ISA records/day for the say mailbox. I say just FTP it direct and take out the middleman!

Still hoping R2 solves this once and for all.

 

[eyetry]

If you are sending you can prob do what you want. As a receiver you should be able to handle whatever 'compliant' files people send you.

I'd be concerned about limiting the number unless you have a TP with limitations. As a receiver I hesitate to get multiple files from a single TP in a given day unless we are working with real-time transactions. Much easier to handle one file (whether it has multiple ISA, GS or ST loops.

I've seen a number of TPs that organize their data by transaction. Those TPs are typically larger corps or third party organizations.

 

[Jo004060]

be carefull if your VAN charge you per kilobytes (of course, its not applicable if you are using ftp, as1 or 2)

ISA segment takes 107 chars, IEA 20.
GS around 51, GE around 10. so its 190 extra chars for every documents you are sending.

Let's say you are sending 1500 docs per day, sending 1 doc per interchange, you will pay for an extra 284 810 chars. over a month, 8 544 300 char. So more than 8 MB of extra VAN fees. at around 0.10$/KB, you will loose 850$ per month,
more than 10 000 $ per year. Of course, it's probably not much for a big company.

But hey, this is an easy 10 000$. (and it looks great at a salary revision meeting)

Jo