Participant connections are the mechanism that enables the system to process and route documents between the Community Manager and its various participants. Connections contain the information necessary for the proper exchange of each document flow including RosettaNet TPA attributes, transport protocol, document processing action, gateway type, and participant gateway. A document cannot be routed unless a connection exists between the Community Manager and one of its participants.
The system automatically creates connections between the Community Manager and participants based on their B2B capabilities. The data typed in the B2B Capabilities module of the Community Console determines the functionality of each available connection. The configuration of each connection can be modified to fit the needs of the hub community.
Individual connections are composed of four components:
Once the system creates a connection, all four components can be modified to tailor its routing and processing functionality. Table 6 describes each component.
Component | Description |
---|---|
Attributes |
Attributes are the information the connection uses for various document processing and routing functions such as validation, checking for encryption, and retry count. To increase the efficiency when creating connections, the attributes for a new connection are inherited from the B2B capabilities of the Manager and participant automatically. |
Action |
Action is the sequence of steps the system uses to process a particular document. Each connection typically consists of one or more steps, including transformation, duplicate check, validation, or pass-through routing. You can select the appropriate action for each connection. |
Gateway |
Each connection contains a source and target gateway. The source gateway contains the URI and transport information of the participant initiating a document flow. Business signals such as receipt acknowledgments and general exceptions are sent to the initiating participant through the source gateway. The gateway options Validate Client IP and Validate Client SSL Cert apply to the source gateway. The target gateway contains the URI and transport information of the participant receiving a document flow. |
Gateway Type |
Gateway type identifies the nature of a document being exchanged. A connection can contain multiple types of gateways to accommodate the routing and processing of the same document to more then one system. This improves connection efficiency by multiplying the use of a single connection for production, test, or routing to multiple systems within one organization. |
The system avoids the inadvertent duplication of RosettaNet connections by uniquely identifying each connection based on the following parameters:
In the example shown in Figure 1, the system will not activate two connections using the same source participant and attributes with the same target participant -- even though the target participant is using the RosettaNet protocol in one connection and the RNSC protocol in the other. In this case, the connection containing the target RosettaNet protocol must be deactivated before the system allows the other connection containing the target RNSC protocol to be used.
To access connections, you search for them. There are two ways to search for connections:
Use the following procedure to perform a basic search for connections. When selecting a Source and a Target, observe the following guidelines:
Use the following procedure to conduct an advanced search for connections. When selecting a Source and a Target, observe the following guidelines:
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
Search By Participant Name |
Names of the Source and Target. |
Search By Business ID |
Business IDs of the Source and Target. Includes DUNS, DUNS+4, and Freeform. |
Source Package |
Package used by the Source. |
Target Package |
Package used by the Target. |
Source Protocol |
Protocol used by the Source. |
Target Protocol |
Protocol used by the Target. |
Source Document Flow |
Document Flow used by the Source. |
Target Document Flow |
Document Flow used by the Target. |
Connection Status |
Allows you to search for enabled and disabled connections. |
To change the configuration of a connection, use the following procedure.
To change participant attribute values, use the following procedure.
To select a new action, use the following procedure.
To select a new transformation map, use the following procedure.
To change the source or gateway target, use the following procedure.
To disable a connection, click the Deactivate icon in the Enabled column. The connection display color changes to red, indicating that the connection has been disabled. To re-enable the connection, click the Delete icon.
To deactivate a connection, click the Delete icon. The connection display color changes to gray and the icon disappears. To re-enable the connection, click Activate.
For EDI documents, there can be several connections that apply to the same participants. The various connections are differentiated using connection profiles. Deleting a connection with an associated connection profile name will delete the connection from the system. Only a base-level connection without an associated connection profile can be deactivated. For more information about Connection Profiles, see the Hub Configuration Guide.