eXchange Partner Manager (ePM) Overview

The purpose of ePM is to help you manage the parameters associated with your trading partners. Specific combinations of parameter setting are bound into a transaction profile. A transaction profile consists of well-configured outbound and inbound business actions, associated with well-configured outbound and inbound delivery actions, such that each delivery action is tied to a well-configured transport.

The GUI provides a cascading series of defaults that can be inherited or overridden at various levels.

Operational Overview of the ePM GUI

After you sign in, ePM presents you with a layout comprising two tabs across the top, a tree view on the left, and a canvas on the right, where you view and modify settings. See Figure 5–3.

Figure 5–3 eXchange Partner Manager (ePM) — Initial State

• Tabs are modal: The display of the panes beneath depends on which tab is active.

• Tabs are not “sticky”: When you change modes to a new tab, all unsaved changes in the previous tab are discarded.

• The explorer pane on the left displays a hierarchical tree of containers and contents:

  • When the B2B Host Configuration tab is active, the Host Explorer tree displays B2B Hosts and their contents.

  • When the Trading Partner Configuration tab is active, the Trading Partner Explorer tree shows Trading Partners and their contents.

  • There is only topmost node (also called the root node). This is always named “B2B Repository” irrespective of the Repository name.

  In the explorer pane, the operation of the New button depends on the currently selected item in the tree: The button is available if and only if you can create a new child object of the currently selected item.

• The Delete button deletes the selected object and its children (if any).

• The Refresh button discards any unsaved changes and then displays an updated snapshot of the objects in the Repository.

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  Note –

  Because many actions in ePM cause unsaved changes to be discarded, any time you add or change a value, it is good practice to verify the change and then click Save.

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Structural Overview of the ePM GUI

The hierarchy of the Host Explorer tree in the left pane is structure as shown in Figure 5–4.

Figure 5–4 ePM Structure of the Host Explorer

Root

There is exactly one root, always named B2B Repository. It cannot be deleted. The root contains a special Schedules folder as well as one or more B2B Hosts.

B2B Hosts

B2B Hosts are the second-highest object type. They can be created, imported, renamed, exported, and deleted. Each B2B Host contains the following:

• A Business Protocols folder, containing one or more business protocols. Each business protocol contains one or more business action groups. Each business action group contains at least two business actions — at least one outbound business action and at least one inbound business action.

• A Delivery Protocols folder, containing one or more delivery protocols. Each delivery protocol contains one or more delivery action groups. Each delivery action group contains at least two delivery actions — at least one outbound delivery action and at least one inbound delivery action.

• A Transports folder, containing one or more external transports.

• A Host Transaction Profiles folder, containing zero or more transaction profiles. Each transaction profile contains an outbound transaction profile and and an inbound transaction profile.

• A Contacts folder, containing zero or more contacts.

Schedules

The special Schedules folder contains zero or more schedules that can be referenced by other objects in the B2B Repository. A schedule can be regularly periodic, or it can be specified according to a daily, weekly, or monthly arrangement. Each schedule can be created, renamed, and deleted, and schedules can be imported or exported in aggregate.

Notes section

For each item that can be modified, the canvas provides a Notes area where you can provide free text. (For an illustration, see Basic B2B Host Operations in ePM). Best practice is to use this area to the describe the item, and also to log every important change made to it.