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Creating Outbound Message Flows

Create outbound message flows to receive messages from your backend applications, validate and transform these messages to the format your partners expect, and then send them to your partners either directly, or through third-party connections.

Before you create your first message flow, configure your payload storage API.

To create an outbound message flow:

  1. From the Anypoint Partner Manager sidebar, select Message Flows.

  2. Click New message flow > Send to partner.

  3. Either select an existing partner or select New to create a new partner, as described in Create a Partner.

  4. Configure the receiving endpoint.

  5. Configure the source message type.

  6. Configure reference IDs for the partner and host.

  7. Import the translation map.

  8. Configure the target message type.

  9. Configure the target endpoint.

  10. Verify that the message flow is complete.

Configure the Receiving Endpoint

The receiving endpoint (Source at Host endpoint) in an outbound message flow receives application messages from the backend applications. Partner Manager supports the FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, and SFTP formats for the receiving endpoint.

To configure the receiving endpoint:

  1. In the message flow, expand the Source at <host-name> section and click Select.

  2. In the Select an endpoint: Source at <host-name> window, do either of the following:

    • Select an existing Source at Host endpoint and click Select.

    • Click New to create a new Source at Host endpoint, as described in Creating Endpoints.

Configure the Source Message Type

The source message type (Source at Host message type) in an outbound message flow defines the structure of the messages that Partner Manager receives from the backend applications. Partner Manager translates these messages to a configured Send to Partners message type, and then sends them to your partners, either directly or through a third-party connection.

Partner Manager supports the CSV, JSON, and XML source message types in outbound message flows.

To create the source message type:

  1. In the message flow, expand the Source message type section and click Select.

  2. In the Source message type window, do either of the following:

    • Select an existing Source at Host message type and click Select.

    • Click New to create a new Source at Host message type, as described in Creating Message Types.

Configure Reference IDs for the Partner and Host

Partner Manager uses the partner reference ID and host reference ID to locate the appropriate message flow for routing outbound messages. For information about how this routing process works, see Sender and Receiver Identifiers and Outbound Message Routing.

To configure a partner reference ID, either select All available identifiers or select a specific partner identifier.

To configure a host reference ID, either select Ignore or select your organization’s internal reference ID (such as the business unit name) as it appears in the data element of the source JSON or XML message from your backend applications.

Import the Translation Map

A translation map in an outbound message flow transforms outbound messages from your organization’s enterprise application format to the format your partners expect. Create a translation map by using DataWeave. For more information, see Translation Maps.

To import the translation map:

  1. In the message flow, expand the Map section.

  2. Click Import > Choose file.

  3. Navigate to the DataWeave map you want to use and click Open.

  4. Click Upload mapping.

In the translation map that you develop for an outbound message flow, you can access source message attributes, which makes them available in the message payload. The attributes that you can access depend on the protocol of the source endpoint. For more information, see Accessing Source Message Attributes.

Configure the Target Message Type

The target message type (Send to Partners message type) in an outbound message flow defines the structure of the messages that Partner Manager sends to the partner, either directly or via a third-party connection. Partner Manager supports the CSV, EDIFACT, JSON, X12, and XML formats for target message types.

For the EDIFACT and X12 message types, configuring the target message type also involves the following:

  • Configuring acknowledgments (optional)

  • Creating custom EDIFACT settings (optional)

  • Selecting EDIFACT identifiers to use for routing the outbound messages

To configure the target message type:

  1. Expand the Message type section and click Select.

  2. In the Select message type window, do either of the following:

    • Select an existing Send to Partners message type and click Select.

    • Click New to create a new Send to Partners message type, as described in Creating Message Types.

  3. Click Save.

    The message type and its validation settings are added to the message flow.

  4. Optionally configure acknowledgment settings for the outbound message.

  5. Optionally apply custom validation settings delimiters and character encoding to the outbound message flow.

  6. In the <protocol> Identifiers section, select the sender and receiver identifiers to use on either the X12 ISA and GS segments or the EDIFACT UNB segments.

    These identifiers are configured in the host and partner profiles.

Configure Acknowledgment Settings

To configure acknowledgment settings for the outbound messages that use the message flow:

  1. In the Acknowledgement section, select Expect functional acknowledgement (X12) or Expect CONTRL functional acknowledgement (EDIFACT).

  2. Do either of the following:

    • Select an existing endpoint at which to receive your partner’s acknowledgment transaction.

    • Click New to create a new endpoint, as described in Creating Endpoints.

  3. In the Mark overdue after field, accept the default value of 24 Hours or configure when to mark the outbound transaction as overdue for an acknowledgment, according to the SLAs you have with your partner.

Optionally Apply Custom Validation Settings to EDIFACT and X12 Endpoints

By default, Partner Manager uses the EDIFACT or X12 send settings configured for the partner or third-party connection for message validation, delimiters, and character encoding.

To apply custom validation settings and delimiters to the outbound message flow, follow these steps:

  1. In the EDIFACT Settings section, select either Custom X12 settings or Custom EDIFACT settings and provide custom configuration values.

  2. In the <protocol> Identifiers section, select the sender and receiver identifiers to use on either the X12 ISA and GS segments or the EDIFACT UNB segments.

    These identifiers are configured in the host and partner profiles.

Configure the Target Endpoint

The Target endpoint (Send to Partners endpoint) is the target endpoint to which transformed messages are sent to partners, either directly or via third-party connections. Use a third-party-owned Send to Partners endpoint for partners that use a third-party connection.

Partner Manager supports the EDIFACT and X12 protocols for Send to Partners endpoints.

To configure the target endpoint:

  1. In the message flow, expand the Send to <partner> section and click Select.

  2. Do either of the following:

    • Select an existing Send to Partners endpoint and click Select.

      You can select any previously configured Send to Partners endpoints owned by the host, the partner for whom the message flow is configured, or a third-party connection.

    • Click New to create a new Send to Partners endpoint, as described in Creating Endpoints.

If you selected AS2 as the protocol and there is no certificate associated with the partner or third-party profile, import the certificate of the partner or third-party connection that owns the endpoint.

Verify That the Message Flow Is Complete

Partner Manager dynamically validates the message flow configuration elements as you complete them and displays a green checkmark next to each of the validated elements. After you verify the configurations, you are ready to deploy the message flow.