Integration · EDI
EDI X12 integration: 204, 990, 214 and 210 explained
What EDI 204, 990, 214 and 210 mean, which way each goes and when it's sent, how trading partners are set up, and how tracking status becomes 214s.
The short answer
EDI X12 and Roadmark, in short.
What syncs
| What | Direction | When |
|---|---|---|
| 204 load tenders from customers | →EDI X12 to Roadmark | When your customer tenders a load |
| 990 tender responses to customers | →Roadmark to EDI X12 | The moment dispatch accepts or declines |
| 214 shipment status | →Roadmark to EDI X12 | At each stop and from the driver's own location |
| 210 freight invoices | →Roadmark to EDI X12 | Once the POD is in and the invoice is approved |
| 204 tenders to your carriers | →Roadmark to EDI X12 | When a load is tendered to a carrier by EDI |
| 990 responses from carriers | →EDI X12 to Roadmark | When the carrier accepts or declines the tender |
| 214 status from outside carriers | →EDI X12 to Roadmark | As the carrier's own system sends it |
Setting up EDI X12
1Get each customer's EDI details
Their implementation guide, the IDs you'll trade under, and how they send and receive documents. The customer's EDI team has these.
2Connect the trading partner
We do the setup with you, for each customer you exchange EDI with.
3Choose what syncs
Turn on the documents that customer exchanges: 204 tenders in; 990, 214 and 210 out.
4Test with a real load
Run one tender through it and check the 990, 214s and 210 that went back before you turn it on for everything.
Before you start
- Each customer's EDI implementation guide: the rules for the documents they send and expect.
- If you already exchange EDI, the IDs your customers know you by.
- A contact on each customer's EDI team for testing.
EDI (electronic data interchange) is how a shipper's or broker's system and a carrier's system trade freight documents without anyone typing them. In North American trucking the documents follow X12, the standards body chartered by ANSI, which numbers each kind of document as a transaction set. Four of them carry a truckload from tender to invoice.
The four transaction sets, in plain words
204: the load tender
X12 defines the 204 as the way a shipper or other party offers a truckload shipment to a carrier, with the schedule, equipment, commodities and shipping instructions. In practice: pickup, delivery, rate and references. X12 also says it isn't for LTL bills of lading or pickup notices. When a 204 arrives, Roadmark turns it into a load, priced at the contract rate, waiting for dispatch to accept.
990: accept or decline
The 990 is the carrier's answer to a 204: taking the load or not. It goes back before a truck is assigned, and Roadmark sends it the moment dispatch accepts or declines.
214: shipment status
X12 describes the 214 as a carrier telling shippers, consignees and their agents where a shipment is, in dates, times, locations, route, identifying numbers and conveyance. It's the one that repeats: at the shipper, in transit, at the receiver, delivered.
210: the freight invoice
The 210 is the carrier's bill for the load. X12 says it can be sent as an invoice to request payment, or as details of the charges on a shipment. Roadmark sends it once the POD is in and the invoice is approved, with detention and any other accessorial itemized.
The definitions above are from X12's list of transaction sets.
How a trading partner is set up
Each customer you exchange EDI with is a trading partner, set up on its own. Before the first tender, you and the customer settle a few things:
- IDs. Every EDI file travels in an envelope that says who it's from and who it's for. Each side needs the other's IDs.
- The implementation guide. Most customers publish one: which transaction sets they use, which X12 version, which fields they require and which status codes they expect on a 214.
- The connection. How files travel between you, as the customer's guide describes.
- Testing. Customers usually want to see test documents before they switch you to live tenders.
On Roadmark's side, we do the setup with you, and you run one tender through before turning it on for everything.
How tracking status becomes 214s
Roadmark keeps one ETA per load, fed by five sources: the ELD, the driver app, a carrier's app or EDI 214, visibility networks, and check calls. For a customer on EDI, Roadmark sends a 214 at each stop and from the driver's own location, so their system follows the load from the shipper to delivered. See Tracking for how the ETA is built.
It works in the other direction too. If you're a broker, an outside carrier's own system can send you 214s, and those status codes feed the load's ETA in Roadmark like any other source. And the 210 comes from the same invoice Billing drafts on POD, so what your customer's system receives matches what you approved.
Questions about EDI X12 and Roadmark
What are EDI 204, 990, 214 and 210?
They're X12 transaction sets used in trucking. The 204 is the load tender, the 990 is the response to it (accept or decline), the 214 is a shipment status update, and the 210 is the carrier's freight invoice. The shipper or broker sends the 204; the carrier sends the other three.
What happens when a 204 comes in?
Roadmark turns it into a load, priced at the contract rate, waiting for dispatch to accept. When dispatch accepts or declines, Roadmark sends the 990 straight away, before a truck is assigned.
Does Roadmark send 214s automatically?
Yes. It sends a 214 at each stop and from the driver's own location, so the customer's system sees the load at the shipper, in transit, at the receiver and delivered.
When is the 210 invoice sent?
Once the POD is in and the invoice is approved. Detention and any other accessorial are itemized on it.
Can Roadmark take 214s from our carriers?
Yes. Status codes an outside carrier's own system sends by EDI 214 are one of five sources that feed a load's ETA in Roadmark, alongside the ELD, the driver app, visibility networks and check calls.
See it with the systems you run.
Tell us what you run today. In the call, we show you what connects to Roadmark and how, on your own lanes and customers.
- Your lanes, customers and carriers, not a canned demo
- Beside the TMS you run today
- No commitment to switch anything