2. Set up a Trading Partnership as a Leader

A Trading Partnership is a relation between two EDI Accounts that contains at least one Relationship.

To create a new Trading Partnership as a Leader, you will need to:

  1. Submit or accept a Trade Request.
  2. Configure your Relationship

2.1 Submit a Trade Request

After setting up your organization, you will need to start a new Partnership by sending a new Trade Request.

To create a new Trade Request, you will first need the following information from your Partner:

  • ISA ID
  • ISA Qualifier
  • Contact email

Orderful will use the ISA ID to look up whether we already have this company and its requirements in our system.

Once you have these you can create the Trade Request:

To send a new Trade Request:

  1. Go to your Trade Requests settings.
  2. Click on Create Trade Request.
  3. Fill out the form that pops up. Since you are the Leader, be sure to select "My EDI Account (I am the Leader). We use the email to contact your partner, so please ensure this email goes to the best resource to complete the EDI onboarding.
  4. Once completed, you will be returned to the Trade Requests page where you will see your new request under "Outbound Requests" with a status of "Pending".

2.2 Initial Follower Onboarding

The email address you entered in the previous step will be used to create an Orderful Organization and user for your Trading Partner. We will also send them an email with onboarding instructions. As part of this onboarding, your Trading Partner will accept the Trade Request you sent in the previous step.

An example of the email your partner will receive.

An example of the email your partner will receive.


2.3 Configure your Relationship

Now that your Trade Request has been accepted, you will have one or more new Relationships visible in your Relationship settings.

You will have one Relationship for each Transaction Type that you defined.

The Relationship will be in "Configure setup" status for you. If you click on it, you can configure the following:

  • Data format: The data format of the document you will send or receive.
  • Version: (e.g. 4010).
  • Guideline
  • Communication Channel: (Inbound only) Choose one or more Communication Channels for transactions you receive in the Live and Test stream.
    • For each Communication Channel, you can configure Advanced Delivery Settings to choose delivery conditions or format the transaction being sent.
    • If the type of Communication Channel you selected isn’t compatible with your Relationship data format and version, you’ll need to configure conversion options under Advanced Delivery Settings.
    • If you want to receive transactions in both Test and Live streams on the same Communication Channel, you can tick the checkbox "Use selected for Test Communication Channel".
  • Receive functional acknowledgements (Outbound only) If the Data Format is X12, you can select this checkbox to receive 997 Functional Acknowledgements.
    • If you choose to receive Functional Acknowledgments, you must then choose a Live Communication Channel for acknowledgments received for transactions in the Live and Test stream.
    • If you want to receive Functional Acknowledgments for transactions in both Test and Live streams on the same Communication Channel, you can tick the checkbox "Use selected for Test Communication Channel".
  • Timeout Time: (Outbound only) Defines how long you want to wait for a Functional Acknowledgment from your partner before a transaction is set as "Overdue".

When you are done, click Save. The Relationship status will now change to "Pending setup by partner". At this point you should reach out to your Trading Partner and let them know that the Relationship is ready for their configuration information.