Supporting the First Stryker Brigade in Iraq - Army Logistics ...

to maintain a DODAAC-to-SPLC cross-reference
file. In its role as the DOD information gatekeeper,
DAASC obtains and reviews the critical data elements
that ensure accuracy in the Defense Transportation
Payment Program.
Another major benefit of DAASC is the fact that it
facilitates network protocol interoperability. When
users communicate with DAAS using their internal
communications protocols, DAASC translates these
protocols so they can be delivered to and received by
the ultimate destinations. For example, if originators
send extensible markup language data using the file
transfer protocol, but the destination requires delivery
using X12 and MQSeries-type protocols (messaging
middleware from IBM), DAASC has the capability to
overcome these differences.
EDI
DAAS is central to the DOD efforts to foster electronic
data interchange (EDI). With the advent of
the Internet and improvements in telecommunications,
electronic commerce has increased exponentially.
Business-to-business transactions and
business-to-government transactions, which once
were completed painstakingly in a handwritten or
keypunched format, now are being processed by
computers and passed between the interested parties
over the Internet using EDI.
EDI is the computer-to-computer exchange of business
data in standard formats. In EDI, information is
organized according to a specified format agreed upon
by two parties, thereby permitting both to conduct a
computer-to-computer transaction that requires no
human intervention or keypunching on either end.
When EDI is used throughout a supply chain by all
vendors, suppliers, and contractors, huge cost savings
and efficiencies result. The focus of EDI is on business
data that are structured for exchange among trading
partners, including procurement, transportation,
logistics, and financial data. EDI’s standard format is
application neutral, which allows data to be extracted
and read into a variety of application systems for further
analysis and reporting.
ASC X12 and UN/EDIFACT
To exploit fully the power of digitization, private
businesses and governments throughout the world have
established organizations that provide guidelines on
standardizing the formats and procedures for exchanging
logistics-related information. The American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) is one such organization.
In 1979, ANSI chartered the Accredited
Standards Committee (ASC) X12 to develop uniform
standards for EDI. On the global level, the United
Nations Electronic Data Interchange for Administration,
30
Commerce, and Transport (UN/EDIFACT) was established
to serve a similar purpose.
Many of the standards promulgated by ASC X12
are incorporated by UN/EDIFACT; the latter adopts
the international EDI standards that are designed to
meet the needs of both the governments and private
industries. As the key U.S. organization for advancing
electronic data interchange, ASC X12 develops,
maintains, and publishes the EDI standards for the
United States. According to the ASC X12 Web site,
www.x12.org/x12org/about/X12Strategy.cfm, “Hundreds
of organizations representing . . . Fortune 500,
small and mid-sized companies, industry associations,
and government agencies participate in ASC
X12. More than 300,000 companies worldwide use
the X12 electronic data interchange standards in
daily business transactions.”
A clear distinction must be made between standardized
formats and the means to transmit and
receive them. The EDI standards and the telecommunication
methods of transporting the standard
data formats are two separate entities. Fortunately,
the standard formats can be exchanged over any
electronic messaging service. The X12 and
UN/EDIFACT standards specify only the format and
data content of e-business transactions. They do not
define how users will establish the required communications
links needed to exchange EDI data. Users
may choose any EDI and communications software
that support the use of the standards. One of the
many advantages of DAAS is that it facilitates the
use of a variety of telecommunication methods in
both DOD and the commercial sector.
Today, EDI data are moving over many types of
electronic messaging services, including the Internet,
which makes it easy to implement EDI at minimal
cost using many commercial off-the-shelf application
tools. Data can be transmitted over the Internet to
DAAS by DOD users and commercial providers.
Transaction Sets
Routine business documents that once were completed
by hand, printed on paper, and stored in steel
file cabinets now are captured electronically and
processed automatically on computers in what are
called transaction sets. ASC X12 has published over
300 different transaction sets that can be used to
record a wide variety of electronic commerce
transactions. Many of them are applicable to DOD.
Each transaction set can be identified by a brief written
description and a three-digit code. Here are
a few examples—
104 Air Shipment Information.
109 Vessel Content Details.
309 Customs Manifest.
JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2005