XML/EDIFACT is an electronic data interchange (EDI) format used in business-to-business transactions. It plays a key role in the digitization of logistics flows and allows EDIFACT messages to be used by XML systems, combining EDIFACT vocabulary with modern XML syntax.
- Hybrid format: Combines the EDIFACT structure with XML syntax
- B2B usage: Primarily used for business-to-business transactions
- Compatibility: Enables modern systems to process EDIFACT messages
- Current solution: Docloop automates EDIFACT to XML conversion in 2025, promoting the digitization of logistics flows.
In our blog today, we discuss the origins of the EDIFACT language, its evolution, and its conversion to XML.
EDIFACT D96A is a formal description of electronic business documents. It uses a syntax similar to delimiter-separated files. This syntax was designed in the 1980s to minimize file size.
With the rise of the Internet around 2000, XML became the most widely supported file syntax. However, an invoice remains an invoice, containing information about the buyer, seller, product, and amount. EDIFACT is perfectly suited to the content, but many software systems have difficulty handling its syntax.
That is why combining EDIFACT D96A vocabulary and grammar with XML syntax gives rise to XML/EDIFACT D96A. This approach resolves compatibility issues while preserving the richness of the EDIFACT standard.
XML/EDIFACT is used in B2B scenarios, particularly for the digitization of logistics flows, as shown below:
- The latest B2B systems are not always able to process EDI syntax directly.
- A company does not want to invest in new vocabularies from scratch.
- XML/EDIFACT reuses the business content defined in UN/EDIFACT
- Since 1987, the UN/EDIFACT library has been expanded to meet global business needs.
- Large companies can order goods from small businesses via XML/EDIFACT.
- Small businesses use XSLT style sheets to browse content
Unfortunately, not all countries apply this standard in the same way. To complicate matters further, different industries only use certain segments that correspond to their e-commerce needs.
And like many people who are new to EDI, we searched the Internet to familiarize ourselves with the standard. We didn't find much information, except for some companies and other solutions. We quickly realized how difficult it was to learn this message.
That's how we started developing Docloop to create something useful, capable of automatically converting EDIFACT to XML.
Today, our Docloop tool can automatically convert an EDIFACT D96A data field into XML. Thanks to a selection of predefined variables, users can configure their code themselves.
Once the brick is installed, each line of EDIFACT code will be processed, converted, and automatically sent back in XML format via a webhook to a provided URL.
Production usually takes a few days to a few weeks, depending on the complexity of the document flow and the number of systems to be connected.
Docloop supports all documents related to transport, logistics, and customs: CMR, BL, AWB, invoices, certificates, eFTI documents, official forms, etc. Its coverage extends to more than 200 formats used in the European supply chain.
