Swatman, PaulaSwatman, Paul AnthonyFowler, Danielle2017-06-122017-06-121991Swatman, P, Swatman, PA, Fowler, D. "THE URGENT CASE FOR EDI STANDARDS." Australian Computer Conference (MOSAIC '91), Adelaide, South Australia, 6-10 October 1991.http://hdl.handle.net/11603/4038Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) provides a method for organisations to send and receive standardised business communications quickly, flexibly, cheaply and in a secure manner. It is EDI's document translation standards which distinguish it from other, similar technologies such as e-mail or tape-based file transfer and which enable EDI to offer a standardised internal integration option for utilising organisations. Unfortunately, not all EDI users take advantage of the benefits of standardisati on - "quick and dirty" proprietary solutions to document interchange may offer a short-term solution to a company' needs, but will ultimately limit (or even prevent) the integration of multiple EDI schemes. This paper summarises the background and development of EDI by means of data and document translation standards and points to the benefits to be obtained from the integration of multiple EDI schemes and multiple value-added networks (VANs). The paper then discusses the dangers inherent in short-term proprietary solutions to document and information interchange - from both the organisational and national viewpoints - and suggests some possible methods of avoiding these problems.22 pagesen-USurgent case edi standarddocument translation standardmultiple edi schemesimilar technologystandardised business communicationtape-based file transfermultiple value-added networknational viewpointstandardised internal integration optionenable ediedi userdirty proprietary solutionelectronic data interchangeutilising organisationstandardisation quickshort-term solutionsecure mannerpossible methodshort-term proprietary solutionText