Electronic data interchange (EDI) schema simplification interface

A system for defining a meta-schema representing electronic data interchange (EDI) schemas to a user, said system comprising:

• an interface for receiving a plurality of EDI schemas, each of said EDI schemas including data;
• a processor executing computer-executable instructions for:
• defining a unitary structure representing the EDI schemas referenced by EDI transactions by decoding the data in the plurality of EDI schemas, wherein the unitary structure is included in the EDI transactions and is embedded inside functional groups and envelope segments of each EDI transaction, said unitary structure including a first data field including root data associated with a root element of each of the plurality of EDI schemas, and a second data field including data representing data blocks of each of the plurality of EDI schemas, said data in the second data field being defined as a function of the root data in the first data field;
• determining properties in the EDI schemas to be included in the unitary structure, said properties defining characteristics of the EDI schemas and are included in said second data field;
• defining a unitary meta-schema to the user as a function of the defined characteristics and the unitary structure, said defined unitary meta-schema corresponding to the EDI schemas;
• and
• a user interface for receiving an input from the user for selecting one of the determined properties in the defined unitary meta-schema;
• wherein, in response to the received input, the processor identifies a specific EDI schema having the one of the selected determined properties associated therewith from the defined unitary meta-schema;
• and
• wherein, in response to the identified specific EDI schema, the user interface provides the defined characteristics in the determined properties in the defined unitary meta-schema so that the user is able to modify the characteristics of the specific EDI schemas without knowing specifics of the specific EDI schema;
• and wherein the user interface provides the modified characteristics in the specific EDI schema to the user.

A computer storage medium having stored thereon a data structure representing a plurality of electronic data interchange (EDI) schemas, said data structure comprising:

• a first data field including root data associated with a root element of each of the plurality of EDI schemas;
• and
• a second data field including data representing data blocks of each of the plurality of EDI schemas, said data in the second data field being defined as a function of the root data in the first data field,
• wherein the first data field and the second data field define a unitary structure representing the plurality of EDI schemas referenced by EDI transactions by decoding the data in the plurality of EDI schemas, wherein the unitary structure is included in the EDI transactions and is embedded inside functional groups and envelope segments of each EDI transaction,
• wherein the first data field and the second data field provide a unitary meta-schema to the user as a function of the defined characteristics and the unitary structure,
• wherein the second data field in the unitary meta-schema includes modifiable values of the properties of the plurality of the EDI schemas so that the user can modify the values of the properties, wherein the provided unitary meta-schema is provided to the user for receiving a modification from the user and for specifying a specific schema from the provided unitary meta-schema, said modification modifying data in the first data field and/or the second data field such that a specific EDI schema with the modified data is provided to the user.