Product: X12 EDI

Article Link: http://help.truecommerce.com/en/articles/10697096-x12-edi-how-to-read-functional-acknowledgments-997

A Functional Acknowledgement (997) is a report that automatically gets sent back to the Sender of an EDI Transaction to either confirm or reject a received Transaction. This is an important feedback system within the X12 EDI standard that helps ensure delivery of your digital data that is getting passed across the TrueCommerce Network (Tc.Net) so that both Transaction Manager and any Trading Partner can know when data was received, confirmed, rejected, or in the event of an error - missing.

As a generate rule, there are essentially three-main states that a Functional Acknowledgement (997) may be in. Accepted, Rejected, and Unacknowledged.

An Accepted state means that the originating Transaction has been received by the network, and the Transaction was Accepted into that network.

A Rejected state means that the originating Transaction has been received by the network, but was rejected due to an error in the original

An Unacknowledged state for your Functional Acknowledgement means that the receiving network has not yet evaluated (or may not of received) the specific Transaction yet. This could be for a variety of reasons such as

The AK9 - Functional Group Response Trailer within the Functional Acknowledgement (997) is the Functional Group Response Trailer - meaning it is providing details on the overall rejection of the returned Functional Acknowledgment when multiple Transactions are Consolidated together during the send.
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Typically - if one Transaction out of the entire batch is rejected then you will receive a Rejection in the AK901 segment indicated typically by an R to inform you at least one rejection occurred. Otherwise if all Transactions were accepted - you will find your AK901 segment with an A

Below is the full list of Acceptance/Rejection codes used by X12 EDI.

Your Functional Acknowledgments (997) contain Functional Group details which act as the bookends - providing high-level overview details of whether or not the Functional Group was accepted or rejected as a whole represented by the AK1 and the AK9.

Specific Transactions, which are wrapped by those two segments, are contained within the Functional Group section. The purpose of the AK1/AK9 grouping details allows for summary information that covers all transactions.

Within the Functional Acknowledgment (997) you will find information about the Group of Transactions that can contain multiple transactions grouped together during the send known as the AK1 - Functional Group Response Header

The AK5 - Transaction Set Response Trailer segment is the Transaction Set Response Trailer - which provides you with an Acceptance/Rejection notice for each specific Transaction found within the overall batch. This section allows you to narrow down to the specific transaction in question that is apart of the overall Functional Acknowledgment (997).

Much like the AK9 segment you will find that your transaction is marked as Accepted or Rejected within the AK501 segment with either an A for Accepted or an R for Rejected.

Below is the full list of Acceptance/Rejection codes used by X12 EDI.

The Transaction Loop which includes the AK2, AK3, AK4 and AK5 segments detail out a per-Transaction detailing of their Acceptance/Rejection status

This set of segments provides information on which Transactions were Accepted/Rejected, and if rejected - the reason for the rejection. A Transaction response is broken down into the Header/Trailer (AK1 & AK5) and then the Segment/Element Details for the Rejection (AK3 & AK4)

The AK2 and AK5 act as the Transaction Response summary - providing information on the Transaction Type & Document Number (AK2) and the Acceptance/Rejection Status (AK5).

Each AK2 - Transaction set Response Header segment represents a single specific Transaction Identifier. Letting you know the type of Transaction and the Document Number associated with it.

The Transaction Set Identifier Code is essentially the 3-digit EDI Transaction Set Code used to identify an X12 EDI Transaction globally (such as 810 for Invoice, or 856 for Advance Ship Notice). This is defined by the value placed within the AK201 and identifies the type of Transaction that was rejected.

The Transaction Set Control Number provides the Document Number that is associated with the specific Transaction. This typically would be your Purchase Order, Invoice, or Shipment Number that you search for within inside Transaction Manager when looking for a specific Transaction.

When a Transaction is rejected - a Trading Partner can often provides details (although they don't always) about why a Transaction was rejected through the use of the AK3 and the AK4 segments that provide key details about the Segment/Element that was rejected and potentially a reason code for why.

The AK3 - Data Segment Note is a segment about a segment. The details it provides informs you as to which Segment within the specified Transaction failed to pass the inspection within the AK301 segment.

The AK3 will also provide a generic Error Code within the AK304 segment that can be used to give a baseline idea as to why the segment failed. In this example the error code is an 8 - Segment Data Element Error

Whenever an AK304 returns with an error code of 8 - Segment Has Data Element Errors it will indicate this is an issue with a value inside the designated segment from the originating document.

The AK4 - Data Element Note (if present) will detail out the reason for that element error by identifying the Element's Position (AK401) within the segment, an Error Code (AK403), and a reference to the bad value (AK404)

In the above error, we can break down each element to determine what sort of issue we're having with the PO4 Segment mentioned in the AK301 earlier.

We can do a quick check on Functional Acknowledgements sent by your Trading Partner by checking the AK9 for an Accepted or Rejected code.

And if present during a rejection, we can utilize the information provided in the AK2, AK3, and AK4 segments to break down the reason for rejection in order to easily correct the issue.

rev 3/3/2025