A core component of many EasyHL7 products is what we refer to as the 'Vendor Definition'. In simple terms the Vendor Definition is a set of files which contain the HL7 layout being used by the application to perform a particular job. It contains all of the HL7 Segment, Field and DataType instructions as well as HL7 tables, annotations, etc. A Vendor Definition is typically meant to represent a superset of a particular version of ANSI HL7 (like version 2.2, 2.3 or 2.4) combined with any business or application specific deviations from that standard for a particular HL7 software system, company, or trading partner (referred to as 'vendors').

Since the Vendor Definition is crucial to so many EasyHL7 products this general help document has been produced to provide a general reference for: