997 EDI - Functional Acknowledgment

Read the guide below to learn about the EDI 997.

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What is an EDI 997 Functional Acknowledgment?

The EDI 997 transaction set, also known as the Functional Acknowledgment or FA, functions as a response to other received EDI transactions. It serves as a receipt, acknowledging that the remote party received an EDI transaction or a group of transactions.

 

Acknowledgment vs. Agreement

Receiving an EDI 997 indicates that your document arrived and was processed by the recipient's EDI translator. However, it's crucial to understand that this acknowledgment does not imply agreement with the contents of the prior transaction or that it meets the trading partner's business requirements.

 

For instance, if you receive a 997 in response to an EDI 810 (Invoice) transaction, it signifies that the invoice transaction was received and identified, not necessarily that the pricing or terms were accepted.

 

Basic Acknowledgment Information

At its most basic level, the EDI 997 provides either an acceptance or rejection notification. It confirms whether the document was successfully received or not. However, it lacks detailed information about the specific errors or issues.

 

Advanced Acknowledgment Levels
In more advanced scenarios, some trading partners may send detailed EDI 997s that highlight individual elements with syntax errors when rejections occur. This enhanced acknowledgment aids in identifying and addressing specific issues in the received transaction.

 

Key Components of EDI 997

When it comes to EDI 997 Functional Acknowledgements, these documents are typically straightforward. The essential components of an EDI 997 include:

  • Received EDI Transaction Code

Identification of the code for the received EDI transaction.

  • Acceptance Status

Indication of acceptance, acceptance with errors, or rejection.

  • Error Details

A list of erroneous elements and the reasons behind the identified errors.

 

EDI 997 Specification

This X12 Transaction Set contains the format and establishes the data contents of the Functional Acknowledgment Transaction Set (997) for use within the context of an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) environment. The transaction set can be used to define the control structures for a set of acknowledgments to indicate the results of the syntactical analysis of the electronically encoded documents. The encoded documents are the transaction sets, which are grouped in functional groups, used in defining transactions for business data interchange. This standard does not cover the semantic meaning of the information encoded in the transaction sets.

 

Sources
Accredited Standards Committee X12. ASC X12 Standard [Table Data]. Data Interchange Standards Association, Inc., Falls Church, VA. https://x12.org/index.php/products/transaction-sets

EDI 997 functional acknowledgement screenshot example

How do I use and EDI 997?

Optimal Automation

In most cases, businesses like yours prefer full automation for EDI 997. This involves setting up a system to generate a new EDI 997 document whenever an EDI transaction set arrives.

 

Efficient Triggers

Consider this: when your EDI software receives a fresh EDI 850 Purchase Order, it automatically initiates the creation and dispatch of a Functional Acknowledgment. This automated process ensures that the buyer promptly receives confirmation that their order has been successfully received.

Keep a list of all X12 EDI transaction sets at hand.

Access a free EDI Transaction Set Guide

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