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X12 transaction guide · Education

EDI 188 Educational Course Inventory

The X12 document schools and colleges use to request and send information about courses currently or previously offered.

Sent by
School, district or postsecondary institution
Received by
Another institution or education agency
Standard
ANSI ASC X12

What is an EDI 188?

The EDI 188 Educational Course Inventory is the ANSI X12 transaction set used by schools, school districts and postsecondary institutions to request and transmit information about educational courses currently or previously offered.

Course information, such as titles, descriptions, credits and levels, helps receiving institutions evaluate transcripts and award transfer credit. State agencies also use course inventories for reporting and to check that courses meet requirements. Inventories can cover current and historical courses, which matters because transcripts often list courses no longer offered, and institutions need their descriptions to evaluate them.

How the EDI 188 worksDiagram of the EDI 188 Educational Course Inventory. School, district or postsecondary institution sends it to another institution or education agency. It usually starts the exchange. It is usually followed by 997. Inside the ISA, GS and ST envelopes, X12 release 008010 requires, in the heading: ERP (Educational Record Purpose), the required N1 loop with N1 (Party Identification) and the required CSE loop with CSE (Educational Course Information). 0 optional loops are listed by their first segment.How the EDI 188 worksEducational Course Inventory: who sends it, where it fits and what the standard marks required1 WHERE IT FITSUSUALLY FOLLOWSStarts the exchangeEDI 188SENDERSchool, district orpostsecondaryinstitutionRECEIVERAnother institution oreducation agency997 or 999 acknowledgment back, if the partners agreeUSUALLY FOLLOWED BY997FunctionalAcknowledgment2 WHAT X12 RELEASE 008010 REQUIRESInterchange: sender and receiver IDsISA … IEAFunctional group, ID code ECGS … GETransaction set 188ST … SEHEADINGERPEducational Record PurposeRequired loop N1 · repeats up to 2N1Party IdentificationRequired loop CSE · repeats many timesCSEEducational Course InformationBlue box: required loop. Optional loops are listed by the segment that starts them; when a loop is used, that first segment is required. Optional segmentsoutside loops are not drawn.Structure: required segments and loops in the X12 008010 listing for the 188. Your trading partner's implementation guide adds its own requirements.
How the EDI 188 worksDiagram of the EDI 188 Educational Course Inventory. School, district or postsecondary institution sends it to another institution or education agency. It usually starts the exchange. It is usually followed by 997. Inside the ISA, GS and ST envelopes, X12 release 008010 requires, in the heading: ERP (Educational Record Purpose), the required N1 loop with N1 (Party Identification) and the required CSE loop with CSE (Educational Course Information). 0 optional loops are listed by their first segment.How the EDI 188 worksEducational Course Inventory: who sends it,where it fits and what the standard marksrequired1 WHERE IT FITSUSUALLY FOLLOWSStarts the exchangeEDI 188SENDERSchool, districtorpostsecondaryinstitutionRECEIVERAnotherinstitution oreducationagency997 or 999 acknowledgment back, if the partnersagreeUSUALLY FOLLOWED BY997Functional Acknowledgment2 WHAT X12 RELEASE 008010 REQUIRESInterchange: sender and receiver IDs (ISA… IEA)Functional group, ID code EC (GS … GE)Transaction set 188 (ST … SE)HEADINGERPEducational Record PurposeRequired loop N1 · repeats up to 2N1Party IdentificationRequired loop CSE · repeatsmany timesCSEEducational CourseInformationBlue box: required loop. Optional loops are listedby the segment that starts them; when a loop isused, that first segment is required. Optionalsegments outside loops are not drawn.Structure: required segments and loops in the X12008010 listing for the 188. Your trading partner'simplementation guide adds its own requirements.

How to read this diagram: the top row shows who sends the 188, to whom, and which documents usually come before and after it. The lower part shows what X12 release 008010 itself requires: the envelopes around the 188 and the segments and loops the standard marks as required, area by area. Optional loops are listed by the segment that starts them rather than drawn in full. This is the standard's minimum, not a trading partner's requirement: each partner's implementation guide usually makes some optional loops mandatory, restricts the codes and may use a different release.

Expand diagram Download SVG

When it is used

  • Sharing course catalogs for transfer credit evaluation
  • Reporting courses offered to state agencies
  • Requesting course information from another institution

Where it fits in the document flow

This document 188 Educational Course Inventory
Usually followed by 997 Functional Acknowledgment

Structure

Mandatory segments in the 188 (X12 release 008010)

The segments X12 release 008010 marks as mandatory at their level, in order. Segments inside optional loops are needed only when the loop is used. This is the standard's requirement, not your trading partner's: each partner's implementation guide names the release it uses, adds the optional segments it requires and restricts the values. The requirement status comes from one published X12 reference listing and has not been checked against a second source.

  • ST
  • ERP
  • N1
  • CSE
  • SE

Practical example

The 188 in practice

A university evaluates transfer credit for students from a community college. It requests the college's course inventory, and the college sends a 188 with each course's code, title, description, credits and level. The university maps the courses to its own equivalents.

Implementation

Implementation considerations for the 188

  • Keep course codes stable over time where possible.
  • Include historical courses that appear on transcripts.
  • Update the inventory when courses change.
  • Align course data with transcripts (130).

How ECOM helps

Automate the 188 with ECOM

Solution

Enterprise Integration

Any-to-any integration across partners, systems, protocols, security requirements, formats and ERPs, in batch or real time.

Solution

EDI Integration

Exchange X12 and EDIFACT documents with partners and integrate them directly with your ERP.

Solution

B2B Integration

Connect every customer, supplier, carrier and bank across EDI, API, file and portal channels.

More general questions about EDI are answered in the EDI FAQ.

Related transactions

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