CTA

Contact Information. The EDIFACT segment that says who to contact within a party already identified by NAD.

Definition

Per the function statement in UN/EDIFACT D.96A, CTA is used "to identify a person or a department to whom communication should be directed". CTA is a group segment: it complements a preceding NAD by adding an operational contact point for the party already named.

1. 3139 — Contact function code (optional): UNCL 3139 qualifier (PD Purchasing, AD Accounting, NT Notify, OC Order contact, QA Quality assurance, etc.).
2. C056 — Department or employee details (optional): a composite with two components — the contact's internal identifier (3413) and free-text name (3412, up to 35 characters).

CTA is normally followed by one or more COM segments that carry the contact's communication channels (phone, email, fax).

Origin

CTA appears in the EDIFACT directory from the early 1990s versions and has been stable since directory D.93A. Its canonical definition table is trsdcta.htm in the TRSD branch of the UN/CEFACT directive.

Example in context

To flag a buyer whose order is owned by a category manager:

Reading: GLN-identified buyer, purchasing contact (PD), matricule ACH-12 named Sophie Bernard, reachable by email and telephone.

Related terms

• NAD — the party to which the contact attaches.
• COM — the associated communication means.
• Segment — the general notion CTA instantiates.
• Qualifier — the mechanism that sets the function (PD, AD, NT…).