A user interface system employed in retrieving information from an information repository used in exchanging data between different electronic data systems includes the following method. A first menu is displayed which supports user selection of a bi-directional communication interface from a plurality of interfaces. The bi-directional communication interface is used for communicating data between a particular source and destination. In response to user selection of a bi-directional communication interface, a second menu is disolved which supports user entry of data determining communication characteristic information to be retrieved from the information repository for the selected communication interface.