Regarding 278 SV104 Quantity Minimum/Maximum Length attributes: Is the maximum length considered a mandatory requirement for software applications processing the X12 transactions or should any value between the minimum and maximum be acceptable? What are the mandatory decimal positions required for the above mentioned value?
The 278 SV104 is defined as decimal (R) with a minimum, length of 1 and a maximum length of 15. The decimal data type is sent with an explicit decimal point and does not impose a required number of decimal places. See section B.1.1.3.1.2 for more information on decimal data types. A software application which creates X12 transactions is not required to be able to send the full 15 bytes or to allow for a minimum number of decimal places. Those are decisions that should be made by the application’s user community based on business needs. A software package receiving X12 transactions must be able to process transactions that use the maximum length for the quantity field. The business may impose a rule limiting the number of units which will be authorized within a single transaction. The business may also define a rule defining the maximum level of precision for the number of units. Any such limits must be documented in the companion guide.