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Generate acknowledgment for an EDIFACT transaction

Anitha Abraham
Updated

An acknowledgment includes details such as:

  • Sender and receiver identification

  • Control numbers

  • Date and time of receipt

  • Status code indicates the transfer outcome, which depends on the EDI standards

Acknowledgment EDIFACT sample file

UNB+UNOA:2+123456TEST:01+102096559TEST:16+071121:1334+00000000000100+CONTRL
UNH+00000000000476+CONTRL:D:97A:UN
UCI+00000000000476+102096559TEST:16+123456TEST:01+7
UCM+1+INVOIC:D:97A:UN+7
UCM+2+INVOIC:D:97A:UN+7
UCM+3+INVOIC:D:97A:UN+7
UNT+15+00000000000476
UNZ+1+00000000000100

For example, an acknowledgment is a receipt issued by the receiver (integrator.io) in response to a transaction sent from a trading partner in an inbound flow. This receipt confirms to the sender (trading partner) that their transaction was successfully delivered to integrator.io.

Acknowledgment generation for EDIFACT file

ack-generation-edifact-latest.png

After an EDI file is received from a trading partner in an export,

  • It is validated against the file definition rules in integrator.io. (This input is parsed and sent to the next step in a flow, for example, an import.)

  • Also, integrator.io in response to the transaction received from the trading partner (originator of the EDI file) provides an acknowledgment. An acknowledgment confirms receipt of the transaction along with the delivery status.

The main purpose of the acknowledgment (CONTRL) is to reliably confirm the integrity and successful delivery of EDI transactions between trading partners via integrator.io.

Acknowledgment generation for inbound data in an EDI flow

To understand creating an acknowledgment generation custom flow, consider it in the context of 2 flows, for example:

  • Flow 1 – EDI flow between two trading partners: A simple EDI flow with two steps (example flow):

    • Step 1: An export to get an EDI file from a trading partner (TP1).

    • Step 2: An import that gets the parsed export and then generates the EDI file to send to another trading partner (TP2).

  • Flow 2 – Acknowledgment generation custom flow: Another simple EDI flow with:

    • Step 1: A listener that is based on the parsed export from Flow 1.

    • Step 2: An import that generates an acknowledgment to the trading partner (TP1) in Flow 1 when EDI files are successfully transmitted.

This article focuses on Flow 2. Flow 1 is out of scope for this article except for the minor configuration required in the export that relates to Flow 2.

Flow 2 – Acknowledgment generation – EDIFACT custom flow

file-acknowledgement-flow.png
Listener

  1. In your integrator.io account, from an EDI integration, click + Create flow.

    Note

    This flow should be created in the same EDI integration that includes Flow 1 mentioned in the above section.

  2. On the new flow page, below Sources, click Add source.

  3. In the Application field, enter integrator.io.

  4. From the search results, in the Connectors list, select Celigo integrator.io.

  5. On the Create source window, in the What would you like to do? drop-down menu, select Listen for real-time data from source application.

  6. Click Create flow step.

    create-source-flow-2-edificat-acknowledgement.png

  7. On the Create listener window, provide a Name and Description.

  8. Below the Generate URL & sample data section, next to the Public URL field, click + to generate the URL.

    flow-2-public-url-edifact-acknowledgment.png

  9. Once the public URL is generated, click Save & close.

Import

  1. Click Add destination/lookup. to add an import in the flow.

  2. On the destination side, you can configure the appropriate trading partner, that is, TP1 mentioned in Flow 1. For more information, see EDI trading partners.

    Important

    In the EDI generator helper, add "documentType": "CONTRL" in the file definition rules for the Ack status column in the EDI activity dashboard to be updated.

    edifact-edi-generator-helper.png

Configuration required in Flow 1: Configure listener in export to send an acknowledgment

  1. In your account, select the EDI integration that has Flow 1 from which you want to send an acknowledgment.

  2. Click on the flow to edit the export.

  3. On the Edit export page, in the How would you like to parse files? section, check the Send acknowledgement box.

    edifact-generate-acknowledgment.png

  4. From the Select listener for acknowledgement  drop-down menu, select the listener you created in the above section.

    Note

    In the Select listener for acknowledgement  drop-down menu, you will find the listeners from the flows related to that specific integration.

  5. Click Save & close.

After the above configuration is saved, enable the custom flow.

Check the acknowledgment status or download the acknowledgment from the dashboard

  1. In integrator.io, from the left menu, click Dashboard.

  2. In the EDI activity tab, you will find the acknowledgment (ack) status and download the acknowledgment file also. For more information, see Understand the Dashboard - EDI activity.

    dashboard-edit-activity-edifact-flows.png