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Spotlight PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 The EU e-invoicing mandate is here — France Sept 2026, Belgium Jan 2026, Germany 2025.

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Foundations

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Standards

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Flagship messages

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Tools

X12 852 — Product Activity Data

The 852 transmits product activity data — sales, on-hand inventory, receipts, returns — from a retailer to its supplier, to feed VMI / CPFR and forecasts.

Purpose

The 852 documents the activity of a product over a period: units sold (POS scan), units on-hand (inventory), units received, units returned, units in-transit. Per store or aggregated. It is the foundational data for Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) and Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR).

It feeds the supplier replenishment system and demand forecasts. Acknowledged by 997. Emitted daily or weekly per SKU criticality.

Envelope structure

The 852 travels within the three X12 envelope levels (ISA/IEA, GS/GE with functional group PD, and ST/SE). Didactic example in release 004010:

x12 example-852.x12 
ISA*00*          *00*          *ZZ*RETAILER      *ZZ*SUPPLIER      *260515*1600*U*00401*000000852*0*P*>~
GS*PD*RETAILER*SUPPLIER*20260515*1600*1*X*004010~
ST*852*0001~
XQ*F*20260514*20260514~
N1*BY*ACME RETAIL CO*92*0001~
N1*ST*ACME STORE 042*92*0042~
LX*1~
LIN*1*UP*012345678905~
QTY*QS*38~
QTY*QA*125~
QTY*QR*4~
SE*9*0001~
GE*1*1~
IEA*1*000000852~

Common segments

  • Header — ST, XQ (Reporting period).
  • Retailer / Store — N1*BY, N1*ST.
  • Items — LX loop: LIN*UP, QTY*QS (Sold), QTY*QA (On-hand), QTY*QR (Returned).
  • Summary — SE.

Common pitfalls

  • Aggregation level: a store-level 852 gives granular signal for 30K stores but is heavy; an aggregated DC-level 852 is lighter but loses granularity.
  • Time zone / cutoff: a daily 852 cut at midnight retailer time may diverge from supplier — always document the cutoff.
  • Out-of-stock signal: a QTY*QA = 0 ≠ no demand; do not confuse stockout with absence of need.

Documentation

The code 852 and the name Product Activity Data are public and listed on x12.org/products/transaction-sets. The complete structure of loops, qualifiers and code lists is distributed by DISA via the proprietary Implementation Guides (TR3). ediverse.io covers only public concepts, the envelope and didactic examples.