Trade Links and Partner Manager
A primary Partner Manager function is the definition of trading relationships, also known as trade links. A trade link consists of four fundamental components:
| Internal Trading Partner | An internal trading partner is defined in the Address Book navigator. This information identifies the EDI settings for an internal entity that sends and receives e-commerce data to and from another organization. Internal trading partners answer the question Who are we? |
| External Trading Partner | An external trading partner is also defined in the Address Book navigator. This information identifies the EDI settings for an entity with which internal trading partners exchange data. External trading partners answer the question Who do we exchange data with? |
| Post Office | A post office identifies where data to be processed by Trading Manager is located and the necessary configuration settings that Trading Manager needs to access that data. Post offices are defined from the Post Offices navigator. Post offices answer the question Where is the data retrieved and routed when its processing is complete? |
| Application | An application identifies the type of messages or documents that are exchanged between an internal and external trading partner. A minimum of one application is defined as part of the Link Wizard from the Trade Links navigator. Other applications can then be defined from the Trade Links navigator. Applications answer the question What types of information do we exchange with a particular trading partner? |