EDI Message Structure
EDI messages consist of an envelope and a hierarchical series of structural elements. The envelope contains a set of headers and trailers, each set of which describes and contains a structural element. These structural elements are as follows:
Interchange
Group
Transaction set/message
Segment
Data Element
Sub Element
The hierarchical structure of an EDI message enables transaction sets/messages and groups to be batched. Even if an interchange contains only one transaction set/message and only one group, that interchange is structured with the same basic structural elements that it would have if it were batched, with the exception that there would not be multiple transaction set/message or group elements.