INTRO

EANCOM^® PART II		31.08.2000
GENRAL	- General Message

1. Introduction

Status

MESSAGE TYPE	: GENRAL
REFERENCE DIRECTORY	: D.96A
EANCOM^® SUBSET VERSION	: 004

Definition

A message to enable the transmission of agreed textual information.

Principles

A General Message may be used to send general application support information to one or multiple addresses.

A General Message may be used to send required data for which there is no specific standard message.

A General Message MUST not be used as a substitute for an existing UNSM under development, under trial or at approved status or any EANCOM^® subset of former UNSM's. Nor should it be used to avoid the development of a more specific application message.

The General Message is not designed or intended to be used as a replacement for existing electronic mail systems.

The General Message was designed primarily to:

Facilitate early transmission testing between new EDI partners

Broadcasting of known problem areas to EDI partners

Transmission of text (preferably structured or coded) to supplement or further clarify previously transmitted EDI Standard Messages, e.g. to stress that previous data is for test purposes only or contains known errors to test out error routines

Transmission of small amounts of structured text where no existing message exists, e.g. computer listings