PER

Administrative Communications Contact. The X12 segment that designates an operational contact and their communication means.

Definition

PER is an X12 common segment. It works by qualifier/value pairs to stack up to three communication channels:

• PER01 — Contact Function Code (element 366): BD Buyer Name or Department, CN General Contact, SR Sales Representative, IC Information Contact, EX Expediter.
• PER02 — Name (element 93): name of the person or service.
• PER03 — Communication Number Qualifier (1) (element 365) and PER04 — Communication Number (element 364): first pair.
• PER05-06: second pair.
• PER07-08: third pair.
• PER09 — Contact Inquiry Reference: additional internal reference.

Common 365 codes: TE Telephone, FX Facsimile, EM Electronic Mail, IT International Telephone, UR Uniform Resource Locator, CP Cellular Phone, EX Telephone Extension.

Origin

PER has been defined in X12 since version 002001. Its status as a common segment (reused by 810, 850, 856, 855, 940 and many others) makes it the functional equivalent of EDIFACT's CTA + COM pair, condensed into a single segment.

Example in context

Reading: within the buyer's N1 loop, purchasing contact (BD) Sophie Bernard, reachable by email, phone and fax — three pairs in a single PER.

Related terms

• N1 — the enclosing party.
• CTA — EDIFACT equivalent for the contact.
• COM — EDIFACT equivalent for the communication means.