Common EDI Vocabulary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| File | A collection of related records treated as a basic unit of storage in a computer system. |
| File Structure | The format into which a file is arranged by the computer, so that the information it contains can be retrieved on demand. |
| File, flat | A computer file where all the information is run together in a single character string. |
| FIN | The SWIFT FIN is a message transfer based store and forward system. FIN is the main messaging mechanism used today on SWIFTNet and is used by corporates for liquidity and risk management purposes |
| FTP | File Transfer Protocol. A standard method of transmitting files from one computer to another over the internet. |
| Functional Acknowledgement | A transaction set transmitted by the receiver of an EDI transmission to the sender, indicating the receipt and syntactical acceptability of a message. It does not provide acknowledgement of the content of the message, just that the message has been successfully received and interpreted.Often abbreviated and referred to as “FA”. |
| Functional Group | A collection of related transaction sets. Beginning (GS) and ending (GE) segments are used to envelop a complete functional group. |
| Functional Group Segments (GS/GE) | These segments identify a specific functional group of documents such as purchase orders. |