Overview of the Partner Onboarding Process
The partner onboarding process can help you automate the creation of partner profiles and trading partner agreements (TPAs). The administrator obtains details about the partner either from the business user who identified the partner as a prospective trading partner (by way of a comma-separated values, or .csv, file) or directly from the partner (by way of a questionnaire). Trading Networks automatically creates the partner’s profile using the details provided in the spreadsheet or questionnaire.
Following is a high-level overview of the partner onboarding process:
1. The administrator uploads a spreadsheet into My webMethods that contains basic information about one or more partners. At a minimum, the spreadsheet can contain the partner’s name and email address. The spreadsheet can also contain other standard profile, TPA, and document type information, such as partner address, preferred delivery method, external ID, and profile extended fields. The administrator can download the sample template provided, enter the information, save it, and upload the file.
2. Trading Networks creates the beginnings of a partner profile and TPA using the information in the spreadsheet. In My webMethods, Trading Networks sets the status of the partner to New (Pending Partners page) and the status of the TPA to Agreed (Trading Partner Agreements page).
3. If additional details are needed from the partner (for example, if the spreadsheet contained only the partner name and email address), the administrator does the following:
a. Creates a questionnaire template that identifies the additional information needed
b. Assigns the template to the partner
c. Configures settings for an invitation to be emailed to the partner
d. Grants the partner permission to access the partner onboarding pages in My webMethods
e. Sends the invitation email to the partner requesting him or her to log in to My webMethods to complete the questionnaire
4. Trading Networks sets the partner’s status to Invited.
5. The partner completes the questionnaire. Trading Networks sets the partner’s status to Responded.
Note: If the partner does not complete the questionnaire within a configured time limit, Trading Networks sets the partner’s status to Expired. The administrator can restart the onboarding process for that partner by re-inviting the partner.
6. The administrator checks the details that the partner has submitted. If they are complete and in order, the administrator approves the partner. If the details are not in order, the administrator resends the questionnaire for the partner to enter again.
7. If the partner enters the questionnaire correctly this time, the administrator approves the partner. If not, the administrator rejects the partner and Trading Networks sets the partner’s status to Rejected.
8. If the partner is approved, Trading Networks adds the information from the questionnaire to the partner’s profile and TPA. The profile is changed from Pending to Approved.
For procedures related to the partner onboarding process, see
Onboarding New Partners.