Transaction Set 152 will continue to be a reporting option. EDI stands for Electronic Data Interchange. It is the electronic transmission of business data in a standard format between business partners. Instead of mailing documents, partners transmit data from one computer to another, without human intervention. Business data consist of documents in standard format.
Examples are invoices, payment, purchase orders, shipping notices, survey forms, and tax schedules.
EDI replaces paper-based reporting on Census Bureau surveys. Using EDI can improve the efficiency of reporting for companies, and of processing the data for the Census Bureau. It can eliminate data entry costs, ensure fewer data errors, reduce paper, postage, and handling costs, and reduce the cost of storing paper documents. Translation software is needed to convert business records into the EDI message format. Title 13 of the United States Code protects all data that businesses and individuals report to the Census Bureau.