Message Disposition Notification

A message disposition notification (MDN) is a receipt document that contains the original message ID of a message and status information about the original message.

MDNs that conform to the EDIINT specifications can contain a cryptographic hash calculated over the content of the message after EDIINT processing. An MDN can be either:

• Signed - Contains an encrypted digital signature of the receiver and the original message ID too.
• Unsigned - Contains only the original message ID and not a digital signature.

Signed MDNs that conform to the EDIINT specifications can provide acknowledgement of receipt in addition to message status information. It can also provide the non-repudiation of a receipt. A valid digital signature over an EDIINT MDN shows that the MDN was sent by the trading partner possessing the relevant key pair. It also shows that the signed area of the MDN (which includes the cryptographic hash calculated over the received content) was not altered after signing. A message sender compares the hash in the MDN with the hash calculated when the message was generated. If the hashes match, the sender knows that the receiver received the content and has the MDN to demonstrate the status. Whether signed or not, MDNs do not show that the received message content conforms to EDI or other business document formatting requirements.

MDNS are requested through message headers. The EDIINT Message service determines whether to send an MDN to a trading partner for a message sent by the trading partner after examining the headers during parsing of the message.