Create Partner profiles

Create a partner profile for each business entity you will be exchanging documents with. From the side navigation menu, click Connections > Partner profiles. Click the + (Add partner) icon and select “Add using form”. In the Add partner dialog, add the partner details, and click Save. Remember, each identity must be a unique combination of type and value. For a list of ID type mappings for EDI documents, see Reference Information on ID type Mapping. 

Here we are adding our partner, Coyote Enterprises, along with their DUNS number and AS2 ID.

Add communication credentials

Communication credentials are the user accounts your partners will use to authenticate when sending documents. A partner must have at least one associated communication credential to send a document to the enterprise. You can also configure certificates for authentication, but for simplicity we will use basic authentication for this tutorial.

First, create the credential.

Then, activate it.

After creating and activating the credential, associate it with your partner profile.

Note: The communication credentials in webMethods B2B Integration must not match any existing tenant usernames in your IBM® webMethods Hybrid Integration account to avoid access-denied errors.

Define channels

Channels represent communication links for transmitting documents between your Enterprise and your business partners. Channels can be partner-specific or shared.
Here, we are creating a shared AS2-IN channel called receiveAS2.

After clicking Next, you can configure whether you want to receive signed or encrypted payloads. On the Advanced tab, you can define channel-specific properties for custom processing scenarios.

After clicking Finish, the Endpoint URL will be displayed. This URL will be used by your partner to send data to this channel. 

Once the inbound channel is created, edit the partner profile to associate the channel with your partner.

In the real world, we would also create an outbound companion channel to send documents to our partner.

Define the business documents to be exchanged

IWHI B2B comes EDI-ready, with full support for a broad array of EDI standards, as well as support for other popular B2B standards like cXML, ebMS, and RNIF among others.

For this tutorial, we will be using the EDIFACT X12 4010 standard and exchanging transaction types 850 (purchase order) and 997 (functional acknowledgement).

To define them, from the side navigation menu, click Assets > Business documents. Click the + (Add document) icon and select EDI. For each document, choose the standard, version, and transaction, then click Save. 

On the document details screen, you can see the structure of the document, define custom attributes to extract, and set the options for routing, validating, and saving transactions. Make sure to activate the document.

Note: The defined business documents automatically synch with your Integration instance for seamless interoperability.

Create processing rules

Processing rules define how documents should be routed. B2B comes with an array of preconfigured processing rules for handling EDIINT messages, MDNs, functional acknowledgements, etc. There is also a Default Rule to catch any unrecognized documents and save them. Note that processing rules are evaluated in order from the top, so rules with the most restrictive selection criteria should come before more generic rules.

For this example, I have previously created an Integration service that receives an X12 850 and simply logs the payload.
To create the rule, go to Assets > Processing rules, click the + icon, and select “Add first”. Name the rule, optionally give it a description, and set the basic selection criteria. In this case, we will leave the Sender as any and set the Receiver to our Enterprise. Under Document, tick Selected, and check X12 4010 850.

Hint: Start typing in the Search box to rapidly find documents.

Under Actions, check the “Call an integration” box and set the callout option to “IBM webMethods integration”. Here, I have selected the B2BQuickstart project and processInbound850 flow service to execute as my user in “reliable” mode, which creates a task to manage retries. Once complete, the processing rule should look similar to the below.

Test and monitor transactions

Now, we are ready to send an EDI transaction to B2B over AS2. For testing, I have created a service called sendAS2. To run it, enter the URL, username, password and EDI payload.

A successful run should return the synchronous MDN.

Finally, the FA could not be delivered, as the partner does not yet have an outbound channel configured.

Naturally, the next step would be to configure the outbound channel for your partner.

Conclusion

So, now you see just how quick and easy it is to configure and use IWHI B2B for AS2 document exchange. The key message remains: IWHI B2B simplifies onboarding trading partners and facilitates effortless document exchanges, allowing you to focus on maximizing business value.

Remember, IWHI B2B is designed with user experience in mind, ensuring that even complex B2B integration tasks become straightforward and manageable. Experience it for yourself with a 30-day free trial. Don't hesitate to explore the IBM Documentation and Getting Started guide for further insights and best practices.

Until next time, happy integrating!

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