EDI. vs. XML
Weaver
Weaver is a web service based on XML technology (extended markup language). The principal difference between EDI. and X.M.L. is while XML is a standard format between computers, E.D.I. is a technology which has evolved from HTML - the language used for Internet web pages.
You might think that XML does not allow the interchangeability of data as an E.D.I. standard. However, in fact, Weaver permits you to send data both as XML or any EDI standard - in the latte case converting XML into EDI (e.g. EDIfact).
There are many advantages of using Xml instead of EDI:
- It's more readable
- It's less expensive than the most EDI solutions (there are no addition costs for a XML parser)
- It's more adaptable and flexible - permitting you to easily improve the communication between your ERP and those in use by your business partners
- An ERP sending data in a specific EDI stardard to another company would not be able to interchange informations with its ERP, if it supported different standard. This is probably the main disadvantage of EDI - there is not only one standard, but actually many different practical standards
For the above reasons, electronic data interchange solutions based on XML are becoming more important and popular, since it allows companies with small budgets to affordably implement E.D.I. solutions.