Electronic Data Exchange (EDI) was developed by industry standards groups in the 1980's to facilitate communication between suppliers (vendors) and purchasers of goods and services. Orders, shipping documents and invoices were standardized into required formats that contained commonly accepted information.

These electronic documents are now known as the X12 document list. Companies that participate in this process are called trading partners.

Value Added Networks (VAN) are companies that act as a clearing house or post office. They receive transactions, examine the "From" and the "To" information and route the transaction to the final recipient.

Data Concepts converts handheld computer generated transactions into the X12 format. The file may be transmitted directly to the trading partner or a VAN. The AS2 (Applicability Statement 2) standard bypasses the VAN providing a direct internet connection between the supplier and the retailer.

DEX is a subset of EDI. DEX is referred to data exchange which occurs between the supplier's handheld computer and the retailer's computer system connection which most often occurs in the back room of the grocery store or convenience store.