ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE (EDI) DATA DICTIONARY MANAGEMENT AND VERSIONING SYSTEM

• US 20080071817A1
• Filed: 09/20/2006
• Published: 03/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Machiraju, Surendra, Gaurav, Suraj
• Granted Patent: US 8,161,078 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/101
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/88 Mark-up to mark-up conversion conversion for visualization in web browsing G06F16/9577
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/541 via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561

Abstract

An EDI data dictionary management and versioning system is provided having reusable EDI building blocks that are stored in relational format. Reusable EDI elements include, but are not limited to, data types, simple data elements, composite data elements, segments and loops. Storage of EDI building blocks is performed such that building blocks of new Schema are compared to existing building blocks to encourage re-use of building blocks, and to avoid duplicating blocks in storage. An EDI data dictionary editor tool is also provided that hides the complexity of an additional type system, such as an XSD Schema representing a TSD, so that only the EDI elements pertaining to the relevant TSD are displayed so that users are relieved from knowing about the additional type system.

Claims

1. A method for evaluating an electronic data interchange (EDI) schema for entry into a data store that stores a plurality of EDI schema as a plurality of pre-existing EDI schema elements, including:

receiving at least one schema representing EDI transaction set definition (TSD) information;

determining a plurality of EDI schema elements that comprise the at least one schema; and

for each EDI schema element of the plurality of EDI schema elements, analyzing the structural similarity of the EDI schema element to the plurality of pre-existing EDI schema elements in the data store.

2. The method of claim 1, further including:

if an EDI schema element is not the same as any of the at least one pre-existing EDI schema element of the plurality of pre-existing schema elements, storing the EDI schema element in the data store according to a relational storage format.

3. The method of claim 1, further including:

if an EDI schema element is the same as at least one pre-existing EDI schema element of the plurality of pre-existing schema elements, re-using the at least one pre-existing EDI schema element when storing the plurality of EDI schema elements that comprise the at least one schema.

4. The method of claim 1, further including:

translating the at least one schema to an extensible markup language (XML) representation of the EDI TSD information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining includes determining at least one of a data type, simple data element, composite data element, segment or loop that comprise the at least one schema.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said analyzing includes analyzing the structural similarity of the EDI schema element to any version of the plurality of pre-existing EDI schema elements in the data store.

7. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

8. A computing device comprising means for performing the method of claim 1.

9. A server object for interfacing with a data store that stores a plurality of EDI schema as a plurality of EDI schema elements, including:

a versioning component that generates a new version of an EDI schema element of the plurality of EDI schema elements when the EDI schema element is changed, whereby an EDI schema can be defined based on any version of the plurality of EDI schema elements; and

an interface component for interfacing to the data store on behalf of the versioning component when the EDI schema element is changed to store the new version.

10. The server object of claim 9, wherein the new version of the EDI schema element is stored in the data store as the delta change from a last version of the EDI schema element, whereby the new version is represented as an original version plus intervening delta changes of any previous versions plus the delta change from the last version.

11. The server object of claim 9, wherein the data store is a relational data store and the plurality of EDI schema elements are represented in relational format.

12. The server object of claim 9, wherein the plurality of EDI schema elements include at least one of an EDI data type, an EDI simple data element, an EDI composite data element, an EDI segment or EDI loop.

13. The server object of claim 9, wherein the plurality of EDI schema elements are re-usable for a plurality of EDI schema to eliminate storage of duplicate EDI schema elements in the data store.

14. The server object of claim 9, further comprising:

a conversion component that converts the at least one EDI schema to an extensible markup language (XML) representation of the plurality of EDI schema elements prior to storage in said data store.

15. The server object of claim 9, wherein the plurality of EDI schema include at least one of an X12 EDI schema or an EDIFACT EDI schema.

16. A user interface for an editing tool for an electronic data interchange (EDI) transaction set definition (TSD), including:

an editing component that displays a plurality of EDI schema elements comprising the EDI TSD while hiding the complexity of an underlying type system.

17. The user interface according to claim 16, wherein the underlying type system is the type system of an XML Schema Definition (XSD).

18. The user interface according to claim 16, wherein the editing component includes a tree view of the plurality of EDI schema elements comprising the EDI TSD.

19. The user interface according to claim 16, wherein the editing component includes a property editing view enabling editing of property values of properties associated with the plurality of EDI schema elements comprising the EDI TSD.

20. The user interface according to claim 19, wherein the property editing view allows editing of property values of at least one of a Name value, a Type of the node, a Description, a Cardinality of the element or a Count of component fields.