3 Supported Protocols

RosettaNet

OracleAS Integration B2B implements the nonproprietary, XML-based RosettaNet standards to exchange documents over the Internet. RosettaNet standards prescribe when information should be exchanged, acknowledged, or confirmed, and how messages in an exchange should be packaged and physically exchanged between trading partners. RosettaNet standards are specified through the use of the RosettaNet Partner Interface Process (PIP), RosettaNet Dictionaries, and RNIF, which are described in subsequent sections.

OracleAS Integration B2B supports message exchanges using the RosettaNet PIPs shown in Table 3-2 when you create a collaboration. See "Process Protocols" for more information about PIPs.

You can see how a collaboration is created using PIP 3A4 in "Acme Server, Task 1: Creating the Collaboration" of tutorial 1.

See http://www.rosettanet.org for information about the RosettaNet consortium and its history, and for details about RosettaNet standards.

EDI X12

OracleAS Integration B2B supports message exchanges using American National Standards Institute (ANSI) X12. These standards prescribe the formats, character sets, and data elements used in the exchange of documents such as purchase orders and invoices.You can use the X12 transaction sets shown in Table 3-3 when you create a business action.

You can see how a business action is created using the 850, 855, and 997 transactions in "Acme Server, Task 1: Creating the Business Actions" of tutorial 3.

See http://www.ansi.org for information about the organization that created and maintains the ANSI X12 standards.

EDI EDIFACT

OracleAS Integration B2B supports message exchanges using UN/EDIFACT, the United Nations Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport. These standards prescribe the formats, character sets, and data elements used in the exchange of documents such as purchase orders and invoices.You can use the EDI EDIFACT transaction sets shown in Table 3-4 when you create a business action.

You can see how a business action is created using the ORDERS, ORDRSP, and CONTRL transactions in "Acme Server, Task 1: Creating the Business Actions" of tutorial 2. See Chapter 16, "Batching and Debatching EDI Transaction Sets" for information about EDI batching support.

See http://www.unece.org for information about the organization that created and maintains the UN/EDIFACT standards.

Custom Documents

You can use the Custom Document protocol to create documents needed for proprietary transaction mechanisms. With the Custom Document option, you can create document definitions for XML and non-XML messages. With XML messages, you have the advantage of schema enforcement (.xsd). With non-XML messages, you can create trading partner agreements for specific message types.

To configure a custom document, you specify the rules to identify the incoming document. For XML documents, you specify an XPath expression and a value, which is the expected result of the expression. See "Configuring the XPath Expression for a Custom XML Document" for more information.

OracleAS Integration B2B provides support for UCCnet under the Custom Document option. UCCnet is a service that enables trading partners to exchange standards-compliant data in the retail and consumer goods industries. When you use Custom Document, the message contents are not translated or validated. You can use the UCCnet standards shown in Table 3-5 when you create a Custom Document protocol.

As with the other protocols, Custom Document has the following features available: authentication, authorization, nonrepudiation of origin and content, nonrepudiation of receipt, time to perform, time to acknowledge, and retry counts.

See http://www.uccnet.org for further descriptions of UCCnet standards

HL7

OracleAS Integration B2B implements the Health Level 7 (HL7) version 2.x standard to exchange documents containing health care information using the Generic exchange or MLLP exchange. When using HL7, the standard OracleAS Integration B2B features, such as validation, translation, automatic generation of outbound envelope headers, and acknowledgments, are available.

You can see how a business action is created using the HL7 over MLLP business protocol in "Acme Server, Task 1: Creating the Business Actions" of the health care tutorial.

See http://www.hl7.org for more information.

RNIF

RNIF defines implementation guidelines for creating software applications that provide for the reliable transport of PIPs in XML-format business documents between trading partners. Guidelines are provided for transport, routing, packaging, security, signals, and trading partner agreements.

RNIF specifies the envelope or container format that remains constant when exchanging business documents (the payloads), whereas the document exchange choreography and the XML schemas vary based on which PIP and document type are used. The RNIF envelope format is also independent of the specific transfer protocol you use.

OracleAS Integration B2B supports RNIF revisions 1.1 and 2.0. RNIF 2.0 does not include the proprietary aspects of RNIF 1.1, and adds support for multiple transfer protocols, hub-based routing, attachments, payload encryption, and more.

See http://www.rosettanet.org for the white paper (in PDF) "RosettaNet Implementation Framework (RNIF) 2.0: Benefits of RNIF 2.0 and Comparison to RNIF 1.1" for a thorough discussion of the two versions

AS2

AS2 is a specification for using EDI over the Internet. AS2 provides S/MIME encryption and security over HTTP or HTTPS. AS2 works with non-EDI document types such as .xml, .txt, .doc, and .xls. AS2 is also called EDI over the Internet, or EDIINT AS2. AS2 interoperability is certified in OracleAS Integration B2B.OracleAS Integration B2B.

You can see how an EDI over the Internet (AS2) transaction is created in "Tutorial 3: Setting Up an EDI X12 over Internet (AS2) Transaction".

See Chapter 9, "Creating Trading Partners" for information about digital signatures, encryption, and signing credentials

Generic

Using the Generic option, you can send messages with or without security, using any of the transport protocols listed in Table 3-1. The Generic exchange protocol supports MIME and S/MIME, including S/MIME 3.0-based signing and encryption. There is no receipt acknowledgment support with the Generic exchange protocol (acknowledgment mode must be set to None on the Delivery Channel page of the Create Trading Partner wizard).

MLLP

Minimum Lower Layer Protocol (MLLP) is used with HL7 or Custom documents. When using this protocol, you can identify the remote trading partner at the MLLP exchange level by creating a new MLLP Trading Partner Identification Type, or you can identify the remote trading partner at the document level. See "Setting Up the Remote Trading Partner (GlobalChips)" for an example of creating an MLLP ID.

ebMS

Electronic business Extensible Markup Language (ebXML) Messaging Service (ebMS) is used to exchange XML documents. ebMS is built on a SOAP Web services message format. OracleAS Integration B2B implements ebMS 1.0 and 2.0 and uses the HTTP, HTTPS, and Email transport protocols and the SOAP packaging protocol.The ebMS protocol supports correlation between documents. OracleAS Integration B2B also supports XMLDSig, XML Encrypt, and gZip-based compression for large documents. ebMS interoperability is certified.

PIPs

A PIP is an XML-based dialog that defines the business processes between trading partners. It defines the structure, sequence of steps, roles (buyer and seller) activities, data elements, values, and value types for each business document message exchanged between trading partners.

PIPs bundle the steps of the business process together. You can see this in "Tutorial 1: Setting Up a RosettaNet over the Internet Transaction", in which only a few steps are needed to associate the buyer and seller (trading partners) with the 3A4 collaboration.

Using PIP 3A4 as an example, you can see how a PIP defines a dialog between trading partners, as shown in Figure 3-2. The figure shows how the PIP 3A4 messages are exchanged between buyer and seller.

Figure 3-2 PIP 3A4 Message Exchange

Description of "Figure 3-2 PIP 3A4 Message Exchange"

A PIP sequence combines a cluster, segment, and type. The PIP sequence 3A4, for example, encodes the information shown in Table 3-7.

See the following for more information:

• Table 3-2 for a list of PIPs supported in OracleAS Integration B2B

• http://www.rosettanet.org for a complete list of PIP clusters and segments

Mix and Match Protocols

OracleAS Integration B2B is flexible in how you mix and match protocols (described in Table 3-1) and in allowing you to create your own custom documents. For example, you can create the following:

• A custom XML document sent over HTTP or SMTP, with encryption and compression options

• An EDI transaction set sent using FTP, with encryption

• An EDI X12 transaction set sent over AS2, with signing, compression, and encryption options

• A RosettaNet document sent over RNIF 1.1 or RNIF 2.0, with signing

• A UCCnet document sent over AS2

See Chapter 8, "Managing Business Protocols" for the options that are available as you create business actions and collaborations for a business protocol.