3. Test and Go Live as a Follower

3.1 Generate an example payload with Integration Assistance

The Integration Assistance page can help you generate the correct payload structure that matches the Guideline for a particular Relationship.

On the Integration Assistance page you can select a:

  1. Transaction Type corresponding to an existing Relationship
  2. Direction: "In" or "Out"
  3. Data Format: “EDIFACT”, "JSON" or "X12"
  4. Version e.g. "1" or "4010"

You will see a list of Trading Partners that you have this Relationship with. When you select one of these Trading Partners, a valid payload will be generated below. You can click on Copy to copy the payload contents.

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Although the structure of the payload corresponds to the Relationship's Guideline, the value of the element (in X12 or EDIFACT) or property (in JSON) is only a placeholder. Ensure that the values are valid before using this example payload. Click on the placeholder value to see the requirement of the values on the right side.

3.2 Create a Transaction

In most instances, EDI transactions will be created by your System of Record (SOR) and then passed on to Orderful. However there are situations where you may want to enter a Transaction directly into Orderful, for example for testing purposes.

The Transaction must correspond to an existing, configured Relationship in Orderful. This means that, in order to send a test Transaction, you must have at least one outbound Relationship configured.

To create a Transaction you can:

  • Upload a file
  • Make an API call
  • Send a file to your outbound Communication Channel

For more information see Create a Transaction.

3.3 Transaction validation

After you have sent your Transaction, you can check its status by going to your Transactions page.

If there are any issues, please refer to the Transaction Statuses Overview.

3.4 Scenario Testing for Followers

Prerequisites

At this stage, you should have:

  • Set up your Orderful organization.
  • Set up a Trading Partnership with your Leader.

You are now ready to try out sending and receiving some Transactions. We call this try-out phase Scenario Testing.

How you perform Scenario Testing depends on whether your Leader is Claimed or Unclaimed. Scenario Testing with Claimed Leaders can take place within Orderful, while testing with Unclaimed Leaders can be started within Orderful but will have to be completed in your Leader's trading portal. See Testing outside Orderful for more information.

Scenario Testing with Claimed Leaders

When you accepted the Trade Request from your Leader it included one or more Scenarios. If you go to your Scenario Testing page you will find one or more Scenario Checklists organized by EDI Account.

If you click on the Scenario Checklist, this will open up a side panel on the right with further information, including the list of Scenario Checklist Steps.

Each Scenario Checklist Step includes instructions for sending or receiving a test Transaction. Instructions include:

  • The test transaction's Transaction Type
  • The Trading Partner that must send the test transaction
  • A description that indicates what business information must be included in the test Transaction

If a Scenario Checklist assigns you as the sender of the first test Transaction, you must create that test Transaction and then link it to the Scenario Checklist by clicking Transaction ID and finding your Transaction under "Most recent test transactions", and clicking Save. Then, send the Transaction to your Trading Partner. Once your Trading Partner accepts the test Transaction, the Scenario Checklist Step will turn green and a checkmark will appear beside it. You can now move on to the next step, or, if applicable, wait for your Trading Partner to perform their step.

If a Scenario Checklist assigns your Trading Partner as the sender of the first test Transaction, you must wait for them to send you that test Transaction. After they send the test Transaction, ingest it through your inbound Communication Channel. Once you have successfully ingested the Transaction, make sure to mark it as accepted by sending an Acknowledgment. Once you accept the test Transaction, the Scenario Checklist Step will turn green and a checkmark will appear beside it. You can now move on to the next step, or, if applicable, wait for your Trading Partner to perform another step.

When your Scenario Checklist is completed it will automatically be moved to the "Completed Testing" tab.

Testing outside Orderful

If you are a Follower using Orderful, and you trade with a Leader who doesn’t use Orderful you will need to follow a similar testing process, but outside of the Orderful platform. In this section we will give you two examples of common testing steps your Leader may ask you to perform and how Orderful can help.

Retrieve transaction data from Orderful

You may have to pass the content of a Transaction to your Leader. To get this data:

  1. Go to your Organization's Transactions page.
  2. Find an outbound transaction (i.e. a Transaction whose "Direction" is "Out") then select it by clicking on it.
  3. Click on Data View.
  4. Click the Icon beside Copy. This opens a "Data Format" menu, where you can select your Leader’s name. This ensures that the data is in your Leader's required format.
  5. Click Copy.

You can now paste the transaction contents wherever you need, such as an email or file.

Upload transaction data to Orderful

You may have a test transaction from your leader that you need to upload to Orderful.

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Files you upload to Orderful must be in one of the following formats: .edi, .json, .x12, or .txt and be less than 50MB for X12/EDIFACT or 100MB for JSON.

  1. Go to your Organization's Transactions page.
  2. Click Create Transaction > Upload transaction then select the file.
  3. Click on the transaction that you just created to go to the Transaction Details page.
  4. On this page you can check its state and, if applicable, send it to an inbound Communication Channel.

3.5 Go Live

You and your Trading Partner should agree on a time to go live. This communication will happen outside of Orderful. Once you’ve passed scenario testing you should email your Trading Partner and schedule a go-live time that is appropriate for both parties.

Once you are ready, going live is as simple as going to your Relationships page and toggling the "Status" from "Go live ready" to "Live". This will now allow you to post transactions to the Live stream.