The article is an extract from In-Sight August, written by Ciprian Radu, FCI Business Development Manager

I want to share in this article some news and thoughts about the digital bridge that helps FCI members to successfully communicate with each other: edifactoring. With the help of this digital bridge, Export and Import factors exchange and do business in a common language and set of rules having messages built specifically for each step needed for a successful business. The pillars on which this bridge got built are, to name the most important ones: trust, safety, reliability.
Most likely, you have heard by now about a significant investment FCI has initiated regarding edifactoring that was presented last year during the Annual Meeting June 2019 in Vietnam. The main drivers of this change result from the numerous suggestions received from the members/users during internal surveys that the ComCom conducted over the past two years but also due to the advanced age and foundation of edifactoring to which I would like to share some key points in the following lines.
Long story short, all of this began in 2000 when Deloitte Consulting BV developed the star of this article in 2 years. In 2002 the current edifactoring.com platform was launched and was enhanced step by step in the following years. 

One milestone was in 2014 when a required update was needed to be done for edifactoring: replacement of the components built with the language Visual Basic 6, which already lost its support from its developer. The main reason for this change was that it became increasingly hard to maintain these old components but also because of the lack of support leading to unacceptable security risks for FCI.
Until the present day, edifactoring received several updates in the messages area, but not only. I want to mention some message additions from the original system, including RESCUE, Purchase Order Management (POM), Invoice Verification, and EDI Reverse.
In 2019 the topic of the upgrade was initiated as “mission-critical” due to edifactoring complexity, as this software has multiple components that have been built using different techniques, development environments, and various programming languages to address specific zones of usage. Having this complexity in mind, maintaining edifactoring requires knowledge of a multitude of environments and technologies. While things have been well maintained over the past few years, it was considered
wise to start the preparations for change and not wait for things to become obsolete and riskier as it happened in 2014.
2020 came, and with the Final Go decision from the Executive committee received in April, the Project EDI 2.0 officially started. The main scopes of this project
are:

• To rebuild edifactoring with a new, more scalable, and adaptable architecture and modernized technology stack in such a way that maintenance and support can be guaranteed for the coming years, at a minimum for the next seven years. 
• To transform edifactoring into a new user interface and unique web services, improving user experience, and safer connectivity with the systems used by the members. The basis for the redesign will be Google’s material design, as implemented in the Angular framework.
• To strengthen edifactoring with an improved security and privacy profile (e.g., integrity, availability, and confidentiality of data). The automatic interface will have improved security for username/password exchange. 
• To prepare edifactoring for evolution in future extensions, if decided, like Blockchain security, seller-buyer module, etc.

The finalization of this project and its phased approach is expected to be next year in October 2021, according to the current plan. 
A crucial aspect of this project is the fact that the current messages will not be subject to change, this means that everything that is currently existing in edifactoring will remain in the same structure as it is today but the look, interaction, work and touch will be transformed into a modern and evolved edifactoring having its source renewed with new technologies, ready for the future.
The “Design and Definition Phase” just closed a few days ago by the time of this article release.
Based on the current prototype in shape I can provide a few new updates:

• drag and drop feature for the messages within folders,
• columns to be added to users personal view,
• filters on each column, auto-retrieval of messages,
• marking a new message not viewed yet will be available,
• a revamped dashboard, and raising support tickets.

Please, regard this as an initial prototype, and of course, the fact that this might not be what gets finally delivered in October 2021. The prototype picture is available on page 8 of In-Sight newsletter)

More pleasant surprises are there, and I do hope I made you curious and excited.

Dear user of edifactoring, I would like to use the final words as a personal plea as you are an essential part of FCI. If you think you can & want to contribute now to the current project and not only, please respond to the call for new members in the ComCom technical committee. Or next year, when we are going to be close to the release
of the new platform but not too close, we will need your power and time to help us test everything that we have thought of and could do within the existing limits of the project. At that moment in time, we will need you. Please say Yes to our call. Rest assured that we have, by that time, tested and fine-tuned the final form you
will be testing, and this will not be the last news you will hear from me regarding this unique project. Please follow the Circulars and news related to this project.