Book excerpt: This book is about Electronic Data Interchange, or EDI. EDI enables system to system communication between businesses, reducing a great deal of paper documents and manual interaction in organisations. It allows a company to take advantage of the benefits of exchaning business data electronically, thereby avoiding any errors caused by manual processes.This book is an attempt to remove the jargon and mystery surrounding EDI. It takes you through the commonly used protocols and standards that exist in traditional EDI systems.