Sun B2B Suite ASC X12 Protocol Manager User's Guide

ASC X12 Protocol Manager Overview

Because ASC X12 PM integrates with eGate, eInsight, eXchange, and the X12 OTD Library, the product enables you to design Java CAPS Projects that process and validate X12 messages.

Note –

As you use this document, refer to the eXchange Integrator User’s Guide for information relating directly to eXchange operation.

Basic Operation

ASC X12 PM handles the basic operations necessary for X12 messaging, such as:

Interchange and acknowledgment processing
Business message correlation
Enveloping and de-enveloping
Document batching and splitting
Event archiving

ASC X12 PM and eXchange

eGate and eXchange enable you to build Java CAPS Projects that process standard B2B business communication and enveloping protocols, such as X12. ASC X12 PM works during message processing with eXchange to provide the following features:

Message transport
Message tracking
Error handling
Structural message validation

ASC X12 PM and the X12 OTD Library

ASC X12 PM provides packaged Business Protocols with rules that process and validate X12 messages, which are called OTDs in Java CAPS. Java CAPS provides packaged X12 OTDs as part of the X12 OTD Library. You can also build your own OTDs using the SEF OTD wizard, which is supplied with eGate.

How ASC X12 PM Messaging Works

Total operation of ASC X12 PM happens in the following functional layers:

View: The Enterprise Designer provides the ability to create X12 Projects, and the eXchange Message Tracking feature allows the searching and viewing of X12 messages.
Services Orchestration: You use the eXchange Partner Manager to design a Transaction Set. Then, the X12 Project prepares and returns the interchange and functional acknowledgments (TA1 and 997) to the TP, as well as performing message correlation to associate the business response with the appropriate request.
Integration Services: X12 Projects validate ISA and GS envelopes from incoming messages, prepare ISA and GS envelopes for outgoing messages, batch together documents to be delivered as a single transaction (ISA), and record the activities in Message Tracking.

Key Parts of EDI Processing Logic

The key parts of EDI processing logic are listed in Table 2–1.

Table 2–1 Key Parts of EDI Processing


Term	Description	Language Analogy	eGate Component
Structure	Format, segments, loops	Syntax rules	OTD elements and fields
Validation	Data contents “edit” rules	Semantic rules	Validation methods
Translation (also called mapping)	Reformatting or conversion	Translation	Collaborations, Java Collaboration Definitions (JCDs)
Enveloping	Header and trailer segments	Envelope for a written letter	Special “envelope” OTDs: FunctionalGroupEnv and InterchangeEnv
Ack	Acknowledgments	Return receipt	Specific acknowledgment elements in the OTD

eGate uses the structures, validations, translations, enveloping, and acknowledgments, as explained in the remainder of this section, to support the X12 standard.

OTD Message Structures

The X12 OTD Library includes pre-built OTDs for all supported X12 versions. These OTDs can be viewed in the OTD Editor, but cannot be modified.

To customize the OTD structure , for example, to add a segment or loop , you must first generate a .sef file (typically using a third-party application). You then use the SEF OTD Wizard to generate the OTD.

Validations, Translations, Enveloping, and Acknowledgments

Within each X12 OTD are Java methods and Java bean nodes for handling validation. The marshal and unmarshal methods of the two envelope OTDs handle enveloping and de-enveloping.

Note –

For more information on these OTDs, see the X12 OTD Library User’s Guide.

No prebuilt translations are supplied with the X12 OTD Library. You build data translations with an eGate Enterprise Designer user interface called the Java Collaboration Editor (JCE).

Note –

In eGate, X12 translations are called Java Collaboration Definitions (JCDs).

Message Information Levels

The following levels of information guide the final format of a specific X12 transaction:

X12 Standard: The Accredited Standards Committee publishes a standard structure for each X12 transaction.
Industry-specific Implementation Guides: Specific industries publish Implementation Guides customized for that industry. Normally, these guidelines are provided as recommendations only. However, for the sake of uniformity and compatibility, it is extremely important to follow these guidelines.
TP Agreements: It is normal for TPs to have individual agreements that supplement the standard guides. The specific processing of the transactions in each TP’s individual system can vary from one site to another. Because of this, additional documentation providing information about the differences is helpful to the site’s TPs and simplifies implementation. For example, although a certain code might be valid in an implementation guide, a specific TP might not use that code in transactions. In such a case, it could be important to include that information in a TP agreement.

X12 Version Support

ASC X12 PM provides support for the X12 versions shown in .

Table 2–2 Supported X12 Versions


4010 4011 4012	4020 4021 4022	4030 4031 4032	4040 4041 4042	4050 4051 4052	4060 4061	5010 5020

Using the SEF Wizard

You can use this product with custom SEF OTDs built with the SEF OTD wizard. The wizard supports the most current SEF versions.

The SEF OTD wizard does not handle the following information and sections:

In the .SEMREFS section, semantic rules with its type of the exit routine are ignored as per SEF specification. An exit routine specifies an external routine, such as a COM-enabled server program supporting OLE automation to run for translators or EDI data analyzers.
The .TEXT sections, for example, .TEXT,SETS, .TEXT,SEGS, .TEXT,COMS, and .TEXT,ELMS, are ignored, because these sections store information about changes in a standard’s text, such as notes, comments, names, purposes, descriptions, titles, semantic notes, explanations, and definitions.