Transaction settings

Within each partnership, you can specify the EDI transaction sets that you plan to exchange with that trading partner.

For example, you may want to receive inbound 850 Purchase Orders from a retailer and send outbound 810 Invoices to them. This would involve creating an inbound transaction setting for 850 Purchase Orders and an outbound transaction setting for 810 Invoices.

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Import trading partner guides

When you configure a transaction setting, you’ll choose which EDI specifications Stedi should use to validate data.

Stedi has thousands of pre-built guides available in the Stedi Network that you can import into your account and use for your integrations. To import your partner’s EDI guides:

1. Open the Stedi Network in a new tab.
2. Locate the trading partner and guide you want to import.
3. Click the guide to go to its details page.
4. Click Import guide into your account.
5. (Optional) Update the guide name. For example, you may want to add the trading partner’s name, such as Amazon - Purchase Order. This is helpful when you have multiple trading partners with guides for the same transaction set.
6. Click Import.

The guide is available in your Stedi account, and you can attach it to one or more transaction settings.

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Create transaction settings

Before you begin, we recommend importing your trading partner’s guides.

To create a transaction setting:

1. Go to the Trading Partners page.

2. Click the partnership.

3. Click Create inbound transaction setting to configure a transaction set you plan to receive from your trading partner, or Create outbound transaction setting to configure a transaction set you plan to send to your trading partner.

4. Choose a validation method:

   • (Recommended) Select the Guide to use for validation. Stedi validates the transaction against you or your partner’s EDI specification. You can select any guide available in your Stedi account.

     If the guide you choose is set up to use fragments, Stedi asks if you want to enable fragments for the transaction setting. Fragments allow you to split large transactions from Stedi into smaller chunks for downstream ingestion.

   • Translate using the base X12 specification. Stedi validates the transaction against the generic X12 specification. This option is useful for testing inbound flows when your partner hasn’t yet provided a guide. We do not recommend using it for outbound flows except in rare, advanced use cases.

     • Select the X12 Release. The release is present in the GS segment of every EDI file, and also should be specified in your partner’s documentation.
     • Select the Transaction set. The transaction set is the EDI transaction you are receiving from your partner.

5. (Outbound only): Stedi automatically suggests the default Application IDs that were assigned to the local and partner profiles. You can override these values if needed. For example, some trading partners may assign a specific GS ID to you during the onboarding process. Since this GS ID is used only for this partnership, you would not want to put it in your local profile.

6. (Outbound only) Specify the Connection. Generated EDI files will be sent to this connection. If no connection is specified, outbound EDI files cannot be created.

   • (SFTP/FTPS) You can optionally add a subdirectory that Stedi uses for this transaction set only. For example, your trading partner may require that you place all 810 Invoices in an /810 subdirectory. We don’t recommend specifying a subdirectory unless your trading partner has instructed you to do so.

7. Click Create.

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Control numbers

Control numbers are used in the ISA Interchange Control Header and GS Functional Group Header of X12 EDI files. You and your trading partners can use them reference EDI files and to detect duplicates and missing data. Control numbers must be unique within a partnership.

Stedi handles control numbers automatically for you. When you create a partnership, Stedi sets the control number counters to 0 for both the Interchange (ISA) and Group (GS) levels. Each time you send an outbound EDI file, Stedi increments the control numbers to ensure uniqueness.

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Reset control numbers

In rare circumstances, you may need to reset the control numbers for a partnership. For example, if you’re migrating from another EDI system, you may need to reset the control numbers to match the last control numbers used in your previous system.

To reset control numbers for outbound documents:

1. Go to the partnership where you want to adjust the control numbers.
2. Update the Interchange or Group control numbers as needed.

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Non-numeric control numbers

Stedi can translate EDI files containing non-numeric control numbers, if required for your use case.

Successful processing requires that you set the ST-02 and SE-02 control number elements in the associated Stedi guide to type String.

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Next steps

We recommend configuring Acknowledgments for inbound transactions within the partnership.

We also recommend configuring one or more Destination webhooks to automatically send events and processed transaction data from Stedi to your internal systems and business applications.