Configuring an AS4 outbound one-way pull exchange profile

An exchange profile defines how messages are exchanged with a trading partner, and how those messages are processed internally.

Before you begin

You also can import an exchange profile as a resource from another installation of AS4 Microservice. For more information, see ../reference/as4/meg_resource_commands.html. Also, through the user interface, you can upload an exchange profile that has been saved as an XML jumpstart file from another installation of AS4 Microservice.

About this task

An AS4 one-way pull exchange involves transfer of a single user message unit. The one-way pull exchange pattern is initiated by the receiving message service handler. The responding message service handler uses the inbound one-way pull exchange profile to receive and process the ebMS pull signal message. In a one-way pull exchange, it is not required for the initiating partner to have an HTTP server capability. Having HTTP client capability is sufficient to configure and initiate the one-way pull exchange pattern. However, the responding partner must have HTTP server capabilities to receive and respond to the pull request.

When you create an AS4 outbound exchange profile you must associate a conformance policy with the exchange profile, specify the message exchange pattern, participating organizations, messaging receiver, destination, and connection settings. In an outbound exchange, your organization is the initiator of the message exchange.

The exchange profile uses the owner organization of the conformance policy. In the conformance policy, you must specify either the default B2B Master Organization owner organization or a customized owner organization.

When you are creating an exchange profile, you can browse to other pages or tabs of the user interface if required. The information that you have entered for the exchange profile is saved and you can complete the exchange profile configuration and deploy it at a later time. A progress bar on the Exchange Profiles collection page (Exchanges > Exchange Profiles) indicates the percentage of completion of the exchange profile. A percentage of 20 is allocated to each of the following components of the exchange profile:

  • Exchange profile name
  • Trading partner configuration
  • Trigger
  • Action
  • Deployment

When all the components are configured, the progress bar indicates 100 percent, denoting that the exchange profile configuration is complete and the exchange profile is deployed.

Procedure

To create an AS4 outbound one-way pull exchange profile:

  1. Log in to AS4 Microservice as the Master Account Administrator.
  2. Click Exchanges > Exchange Profiles.
  3. On the Exchange Profiles page, click New > AS4 Outbound.
  4. On the New Exchange Profile dialog box, specify values for the following fields and click Save.
    Field Description
    Profile name Specify a unique name for the outbound one-way pull exchange profile.
    Select the message exchange pattern for the profile Select AS4 Outbound One-Way/Pull message exchange pattern.
    Conformance policy

    Specify the conformance policy that you want to associate with the exchange profile. For a message exchange, a conformance policy defines the settings for the owner organization, security, reception awareness, error handling, notification, and file size optimization. Select the conformance policy that suits your requirements.

    For an AS4 outbound one-way pull exchange profile, the default Minimal Client and Light Client conformance policies or any custom conformance policy with the following settings can be selected:

    • User authentication enabled
    • Inbound and outbound signing enabled
    • Receipts not enabled or set to asynchronous
    Note: Note: The conformance policy can have all or any of the preceding settings.

    Use one of the following methods to specify a conformance policy:

    • To specify an existing conformance policy, click Select.
    • To create a new conformance policy, click Add Conformance Policy.

    After you specify a conformance policy, click Save.
  5. Click Edit corresponding to the Basic Properties section, specify values for the following fields, and click Save.
    Note: When configuring the exchange profile, do not assign the value Any to the following fields:
    • Service
    • Service type
    • Sender ID
    • Receiver ID
    • Sender ID type
    • Receiver ID type
    Any is a reserved value. It is used for exchange profile look up when the any of the preceding fields do not have a user assigned value.
    Field Description
    Name The name that is entered in the Profile name field is populated here.
    Description Optional: Type a description for the exchange profile.
    Service Optional: You can specify a mutually agreed on (between your organization and the partner) service or a service assigned by a standards organization, for which the exchange profile can be used. For example, if supplier order processing service is specified, the exchange profile is used for processing supplier orders.

    Example of a service is, urn:example.org:services:SupplierOrder Processing.
    Service type Optional: The service type indicates how the participating organizations interpret the service.

    For example, the supplier order processing service can have collect quotations, purchase order request, purchase order conformation, and purchase order update as the types.

    Example of a service type is, QuoteToCollect.
    Agreement URI Optional: Type the URI of the location of the agreement (related to the p-mode parameter configuration and operation) between your organization and the partner. The URI must be agreed on by both the partners.

    Example of an agreement URI is, http://registry.example.com/cpa/123456.
    Processing mode ID Optional: Specify the mutually agreed on processing mode ID that is used to identify the processing mode configuration of the conformance policy.

    Example of a processing mode ID is SupplierOrderProcessing.PMode.
    Override party ID Optional: Select the Allow business partner ID to be overridden check box to override the business partner ID that is specified in the exchange profile and use the ID that is specified in the business document object (BDO) by the business application or in an user exit.
  6. Click Participating Organizations to specify the participating organizations.
    Field Description
    Owner Organization The owner organization is specified by default from the owner organization in the conformance policy of the exchange profile. In an outbound one-way pull exchange profile, the owner organization is the initiator or consumer of the outbound pull request. However, the owner organization is the receiver of a message.
    Owner role Optional: The owner role is specified by default. To customize the role, remove the default role and enter a new one.
    Receiver ID Click New and type a receiver ID. The receiver ID is the unique business identifier that is used to identify the owner organization. The ID can be mutually agreed on or assigned by an international code designator. For example, a DUNS ID.

    If receiver ID type is not specified, the receiver ID must be a valid unique resource identifier (URI).
    Receiver ID type Optional: Click New and specify a receiver ID type.

    The receiver ID type indicates the area or domain to which the content of the receiver ID of the owner organization belongs to.

    It is recommended that the value of the receiver ID type be an URI. For example, urn:oasis:names:tc:ebxmlcppa: partyid-type:duns. However, the type can be any text or term that is mutually agreed on with the partner.
    Trading Partner Organization Click Select and select the trading partner organization. In an outbound one-way pull exchange profile, the trading partner is the responder or producer of the message. The trading partner organization is the sender of a message.

    To create a new trading partner organization, click New Organization.
    Trading partner role Optional: The trading partner role is specified by default. To customize the role, remove the default role and enter a new one.
    Sender ID Click New and type a sender ID. The sender ID is the unique business identifier that is used to identify the trading partner. The ID can be mutually agreed on or assigned by an international code designator. For example, a DUNS ID.

    If sender ID type is not specified, the sender ID must be a valid unique resource identifier (URI).
    Sender ID type Optional: Click New and specify a sender ID type.

    The sender ID type indicates the area or domain to which the content of the sender ID of the trading partner organization belongs to.

    It is recommended that the value of the sender ID type be an URI. For example, urn:oasis:names:tc:ebxmlcppa: partyid-type:duns. However, the type can be any text or term that is mutually agreed on with the partner.
  7. Click Outbound Pull Request and specify Trigger and Action settings for the pull request.
    1. In the Trigger section, specify the scheduler settings for triggering the pull request. Alternatively, you can specify the messaging receiver where the business application sends the request to pull the message from the trading partner. You can enable selective pulling based on your requirement.
    2. In the Action section, specify the pull destination (message partition channel) from where AS4 Microservice can pull the response, the HTTP or HTTPS destination to which the outbound pull request must be sent, configure the connection settings for the outbound pull request, and select the messaging destination where the pulled message is sent.
    Field Description
    Interval The outbound pull request is triggered based on a schedule or when the business application sends a business document object (BDO) to a messaging receiver configured in the exchange profile.

    If outbound pull requests are triggered when the business application sends a BDO to a messaging receiver, you must specify the messaging receiver.

    If outbound pull requests are triggered based on a schedule, you must specify the interval between each trigger.

    Specify the time interval between the pull requests and select the required unit of time. The available options are:
    • Minutes
    • Hours
    • Days
    Selective pulling Optional: Select the Selective pulling check box to enable selective pulling.

    If a scheduler is configured for triggering outbound pull requests, and if selective pulling is enabled, messages are pulled based on the pull destination, service, and agreement URI that are configured in the exchange profile. You can use selective pulling to pull a specific report or information for a specific tax submission from the trading partner.

    Based on the agreement between the owner organization and the trading partner, some reports or messages with reference to a specific service and agreement URI would be lodged in a specific pull destination. The initiator or the outbound pull request can pull the specific report of message with selective pulling.

    If selective pulling is not enabled, the messages are pulled based on the pull destination name that is specified in the outbound pull request.
    Select receiver Select the messaging receiver to which the business application sends the request to pull the response from the trading partner.

    To create a new messaging receiver, click New Messaging Receiver.
    Pull MPC name Type the pull destination name from where the message can be pulled and click Save.
    Select Destination Click Select to select the HTTP or HTTPS destination to send the pull request.

    To create a new HTTP or HTTPS destination, click New HTTP or HTTPS Destination.
    Connection Settings Click Configure to configure connection settings for the outbound pull request.

    For information about configuring connection settings for the outbound pull request, see Configuring connection settings for outbound one-way pull exchange profile
    Select Destination Click Select to select the messaging destination where the pulled request is sent.

    To create a new messaging destination, click New Destination.
  8. In the Deploy Exchange Profile section, click Deploy to deploy or enable the exchange profile.
    If the exchange profile configuration is incomplete, a list of items that must be configured to complete the exchange profile configuration is displayed in the Deploy Exchange Profile section. The Deploy button is enabled only when all the sections of the exchange profile are in Complete status.
    A schedule configuration is created with the start time as the time when the exchange profile is deployed. The time interval between each schedule is the schedule interval that you configured in the Interval field. With the given setting, a schedule runs soon after you deploy the exchange profile.
    Note: When you update an exchange profile after deploying, the percentage complete shows as 80%, but the status shows as Deployed. For the updates to take effect and the percentage complete to show as 100 percent, you must redeploy the exchange profile.