Add a partner to a community

About these procedures

A trading partner is anActivator partner that is associated with a community for message exchanges. You add trading partners to a community in order to specify the partners that the community can trade with.

This topic describes how to manage partner/community relationships from the community side.

Alternatively, you can create or modify a partner from the Partners page. When you do this, you have the option of associating (or "subscribing") the partner to one or more communities. For details of how to add a partner (independently of the community configuration) see Add a partner.

Procedures

Initial step – select the partner source

To add a partner to a community, you first select the partner source:

1. From the menu bar select Trading configuration > Manage trading configuration to open the Communities page.
2. From the list of communities, click the name of the community to which you want to add a partner.
3. The interface opens the Summary page for the selected community.
3. In the navigation graphic at the top of the Summary page, click the Trading Partners icon, to open the community's Trading Partners page.
4. From the Related tasks list at the bottom of the page, click Add a partner to this community, to open the partner wizard.
5. The first screen of the wizard prompts you to select the source of the partner configuration:
   • Manually create a new partner
   • Import the profile information from a file
   • Import all profiles found in a directory on the server
   • Choose an existing partner
5. Depending on your selection, complete the steps described in the following sections.

Manually create a new partner

Prerequisites

Optionally, use the partner data form to collect information about the partner. See Partner data form.

Procedure

1. Complete the fields:
   • Partner name – Enter a name to identify this community in the user interface.
   • Country code – Select the country code that corresponds to the country where the partner is located.
   • Contact name – Enter an administrative contact name for this partner.
   • Phone number – Enter a phone number for the partner contact.
   • Email address – Enter an email address for the partner contact
   • Routing Id – Enter an ID to use as a routing reference in the user interface.
   • ebXML party ID type or cXML domain –
   • For ebXML traders only, enter an ebXML party ID type only if the routing ID you enter is not a URI.
   • For cXML traders only, enter the matching cXML credential domain type.
   • Choose communities for this partner – From the displayed list of available communities, select the current community and any additional communities that you want this partner to be a member of. Partners do not have to be members of any community, but partners must be a community member for trading to occur.
2. Click Next to display the Define partner properties screen.
3. Optionally add partner properties.
4. Click Finish.
5. The new partner is added to the list of available partners on the Partners page and on the community Trading partners page.

Import the profile information from a file

Prerequisites

If you are expecting the imported profile to include the partner’s certificate and public key, check whether a partner’s certificate is trusted. Go to the partner summary screen and click Certificates in the navigation graphic at the top of the page. Click the certificate name and then click the Trusts tab. Check the details of third-party certificates imported with profiles to make sure trusted roots are present.

Procedure

1. Next to the File name box, click Browse and locate the XML partner file.
2. Under Choose the import mode, select how the system should handle the partner if a current partner exists with the same name.
3. Select the appropriate options:
   • Choose communities for this partner – From the displayed list of available communities, select the current community and any additional communities that you want this partner to be a member of. Partners do not have to be members of any community, but partners must be a community member for trading to occur.
4. Click Finish.
5. The partner is imported. The new partner is added to the list of available partners on the Partners page and on the community Trading partners page.

Import all profiles found in a directory on the server

You typically use this procedure to migrate profile data from an Activator 4.2.x environment.

1. Next to the Directory name box, click Browse to locate the directory where you store one or more XML partner definition files.
2. Under Choose the import mode, select how the system should handle instances where a partner currently exists with the same name as a partner you are importing.
3. Select the appropriate options:
   • Choose communities for this partner – From the displayed list of available communities, select the current community and any additional communities that you want this partner to be a member of. Partners do not have to be members of any community, but partners must be a community member for trading to occur.
4. Click Next to define partner attributes. This option is displayed only if attributes are optional. If there are mandatory attributes, this option does not display and the Finish button is displayed.
5. Click Finish.
6. The partners are imported. The new partners are added to the list of available partners on the Partners page and on the community Trading partners page.

Choose an existing partner

1. From the list available partners, select one or more partners to add to the current community.
2. Click Finish.
3. The selected partners are added to the list of available partners on the community Trading partners page.

Related topics

• Add a partner
• Community trading partners
• Partner data form
• Modify a partner
• Delete a partner
• Group partners by categories
• Use the partner search tool