What can I do if I have data requirements not addressed by DDEX

DDEX standards are developed by consensus amongst its members and while DDEX standards are typically created comparatively speedily, there are instances where a company’s data requirements are not addressed by a new version of a DDEX standard. Examples include missing tags or cells for data that a company needs to communicate to a business partner or, conversely, cases where a tag or cell is mandatory but where the prospective message sender does not have suitable data to populate that tag or cell.

In such cases it is permitted for parties to bilaterally agree to deviate from the published DDEX standard. The companies that agree on such a deviation should reach out to DDEX to seek to have the deviation adopted as an agreed part of the next version of the relevant standard. Furthermore, once such adoption has been agreed and a new version published companies should endeavour to stop using such deviations as soon as possible.