Basic concepts of B2B
Consider a retailer, Contoso, who wishes to procure stock from a supplier, Northwind. From a technology standpoint, the message flow between Contoso and Northwind can be explained using the following flow:
Contoso and Northwind agree to enter into a business relationship (usually over phone/e-mail/meetings). The legal teams draft the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the partners.
The partners exchange information on how one would receive/send payments, including cheque and bank details.
Both partners enter a setup phase where each of their IT departments configures the B2B system to enable the exchange of electronic data interchange (EDI).
Both partners exchange sample test messages to validate the configuration, and after sufficient testing, they agree to move ahead with production.
In production, the following steps are carried out:
Contoso raises a purchase order from their Dynamics AX ERP system and sends it to Northwind
Northwind receives the order and acknowledges...
