Create an EDI session

Before adding an EDI session, you must define:

• The trading partner who receives or sends the EDI. See the EDI Trading Partner form in the N4 client: Administration EDI EDI Configuration EDI Configuration view EDI Trading Partner form

• At least one EDI mailbox. See Create an EDI mailbox (on page 1). Also see the EDI Mailbox form in the N4 client: Administration EDI EDI Configuration EDI Configuration view EDI Mailbox form

• A message type and message map for the selected trading partner. See Configure the message type and message map (on page 1).

To create an EDI session:

1. In the N4 client, open the EDI Configuration view: Administration EDI EDI Configuration EDI Configuration view

2. In the left pane, expand the Complex by clicking the plus symbol. If they are properly defined, you see a list of trading partners.

3. Expand the hierarchy under the trading partner for which you want to create the outbound session. N4 displays the sessions and the mailboxes for that trading partner in the tree structure below the trading partner's name.

4. With the trading partner name highlighted, click .

5. Choose EDI Session from the drop-down list.

6. In the EDI Session form, in the Session Details area, in the Name field, enter a name that uniquely identifies the EDI session. N4 includes the session name as part of the file name, which consists of the system time + session name + session file extension, for the file that the EDI session creates. Therefore, do not use any special characters in the Name field that your operating system may not support as part of a file name.

7. Optionally, in the Description field, enter a short description for the EDI session.

8. From the Complex drop-down list, select the complex for which the EDI session will be set up. If you are logged in at the complex or a lower scope level, you can set up EDI sessions only for the current complex.

From the Direction drop-down list, select Send if this is an outbound session (meaning N4 extracts the data, maps it into an EDI message file, and sends it to the selected trading partner) or Receive if this is an inbound session.

9. From the Message Class drop-down list, select one of the following:

• STOWPLAN (if this is a BAPLIE message)

• LOADLIST (if this is a COPRAR message)

• DISCHLIST (if this is a COPRAR message)

• PERFORMANCE (if this is a TFPREP message)

10. Optionally, from the Message Map drop-down list, select the EDI message map you created for this EDI message type.

The drop-down list displays all the EDI message maps for the selected EDI message type for the selected EDI direction (receive/send). If you do not see the message map you created for this session, check the message types in the Message Types view: N4 client Administration EDI Message Types Message Types view

11. From the Primary Mailbox drop-down list, select the EDI mailbox for the specified trading partner.

The drop-down list displays the mailboxes defined for the EDI trading partner for the selected EDI direction (receive/send).

12. Optionally, in the File Extension field, enter a file extension for the EDI session.

If you use this option, N4 appends the file extension to the name of the file created by the EDI session. If you do not specify an extension, for an inbound or outbound EDI session, N4 uses .edi as the file extension.

13. Optionally, in the Delimiters field, enter a character that is used as a delimiter for all outbound EDI messages. If the EDI output file type is FLATFILE, you must specify a delimiter for the EDI session.

14. Optionally, in the Last Control Number field, enter a number that you want N4 to use as the starting point for the EDI transaction control number for the EDI session. The EDI transaction control number is used at the UNH - UNT (EDIFACT) or the SE - ST (ANSI) level and gets incremented for every EDI transaction.

By default, the EDI transaction control number starts at one, but you can use this field to specify a different starting point for a specific EDI session for a trading partner.

15. If this is an inbound EDI session, select the Auto Post check box.

16. If this is an outbound EDI session, in the Filter Criteria area, define filter criteria if required. This is helpful if you want to restrict the data included in the extract EDI message. Check with your N4 representative about which data is included in the default position.

17. Click Save. You must save the EDI session before you can add additional mailboxes (for outbound messages), EDI settings, and EDI filters for the EDI session.

Notes

• For more information about defining session criteria, in the N4 client Help, search on "Creating a filter" (no quotes).

• The session criteria differs from an EDI filter, which you can use to map data from one value to another value. See the EDI Filter form in the N4 client: Administration EDI Filters Filters view EDI Filter form. Optionally, search on "Session criteria examples" (no quotes) in the N4 client Help.