EDI, short for electronic data interchange, is a shared electronic language that lets companies trade business documents straight between their computers, with no one rekeying them by hand.
When two companies do steady business, they pass a lot of paperwork back and forth: orders, load tickets, invoices, price files, and confirmations. EDI is an agreed format for all of it. One company’s computer creates the document in that standard layout and sends it, and the other company’s computer reads it and files it automatically, with no person retyping the numbers.
The value is fewer errors and far less labor. A price file from a supplier can drop straight into your system, and an invoice can leave your system and land in a customer’s without a human touching it. That speed and accuracy matter most where the volume is high and the margin is thin, which describes the fuel trade exactly.
EDI has been the backbone of large trading partnerships for decades, so the big suppliers, carriers, and chains often expect it. The format is older and rigid, and newer web-based methods now do similar jobs, but EDI is still the common tongue when two large fuel partners need their computers to talk.
In useThe terminal sends the day’s load tickets to the jobber by EDI, and they post to the invoices automatically, so the office never rekeys a single bill of lading.
See also Bill of lading (BOL), Back office