Create Backend Integrations

You create one backend integration for each unique document definition that you want to receive or send. There are two types of backend integrations, depending on the direction:

Inbound backend integration: Handles documents received from a partner.
Outbound backend integration: Handles documents sent to a partner.

This section explains how many of these integrations you need to create. Learn the concepts behind backend integrations. See Integrations Used for B2B Message Processing.

Let's take an example scenario:

Document Types	How Many Backend Integrations You Need
You are expecting to receive the following types of inbound documents from various trading partners: Purchase order acknowledgments Invoices Advanced shipment notices	You need three inbound backend integrations. (You can collapse the three into a single backend integration, if that is your design preference.)
You are expecting to send the following types of outbound documents to various trading partners: Purchase orders Inventory inquiry	You need two outbound backend integrations. (You can collapse the two into a single backend integration, if that is your design preference.)

Document Types

How Many Backend Integrations You Need

You are expecting to receive the following types of inbound documents from various trading partners:

Purchase order acknowledgments
Invoices
Advanced shipment notices

You need three inbound backend integrations.

(You can collapse the three into a single backend integration, if that is your design preference.)

You are expecting to send the following types of outbound documents to various trading partners:

Purchase orders
Inventory inquiry

You need two outbound backend integrations.

(You can collapse the two into a single backend integration, if that is your design preference.)

Let's take another variant of the first scenario:

Document Types	How Many Backend Integrations Do You Need
You are expecting to receive the following types of inbound documents from various trading partners: Purchase order acknowledgments (uses the standard X12 schema) Invoices (uses the standard X12 schema) Invoices (uses a customized X12 schema specifically for two trading partners, X and Y) Advanced shipment notices (uses the standard X12 schema)	You need four inbound backend integrations because you actually get the invoices in two different formats, one that is X12 standard and another that is custom. (You can collapse the four into a single backend integration, if that is your design preference.)
You are expecting to send the following types of outbound documents to various trading partners: Purchase orders (uses the standard X12 schema) Purchase orders (uses a customized X12 schema specifically for two trading partners, X and Y) Inventory inquiry (uses the standard X12 schema)	You need three outbound backend integrations because you are generating purchase orders in two different formats, one that is X12 standard and another that is custom. (You can collapse the three into a single backend integration, if that is your design preference.)

Document Types

How Many Backend Integrations Do You Need

You are expecting to receive the following types of inbound documents from various trading partners:

Purchase order acknowledgments (uses the standard X12 schema)
Invoices (uses the standard X12 schema)
Invoices (uses a customized X12 schema specifically for two trading partners, X and Y)
Advanced shipment notices (uses the standard X12 schema)

You need four inbound backend integrations because you actually get the invoices in two different formats, one that is X12 standard and another that is custom.

(You can collapse the four into a single backend integration, if that is your design preference.)

You are expecting to send the following types of outbound documents to various trading partners:

Purchase orders (uses the standard X12 schema)
Purchase orders (uses a customized X12 schema specifically for two trading partners, X and Y)
Inventory inquiry (uses the standard X12 schema)

You need three outbound backend integrations because you are generating purchase orders in two different formats, one that is X12 standard and another that is custom.

(You can collapse the three into a single backend integration, if that is your design preference.)