Carbon Copies

More and more, EDI is being called upon to replicate functions in the real world. Where we used to fill out forms in triplicate with carbon paper, Carbon Copy requests are on the rise.

While Carbon Copies can definitely be called a Value Added service, and outside the domain of ECGrid, it is provided on the infrastructure for two reasons:

  1. The current level of front-end software is mostly inadequate in this area.
  2. It is a function at the envelope level, and does not require ECGrid to go any further into the Interchange.

The Carbon Copy process is quite simple. A database is kept of Original Sender/Receiver pairs. Whenever a match is made a copy of the interchange is made and the Original Sender/Receiver pair is replaced with the Carbon Copy Sender/Receiver pair.

Interconnect Requests

Before the Carbon Copy Interchange can be routed, you will need to make sure that an Interconnect Request has been made and confirmed for the Carbon Copy Sender/Receiver pair.

Note that this only has to be done once for each Carbon Copy Sender/Receiver pair, not matter how many Carbon Copies it appears in.

Security

In order to make sure that data is not copied without proper authorization, either the Original Sender or Original Receiver must be on the Network/Mailbox making the request.

Since it is possible that a legitimate requester may be the Carbon Copy Receiver, NetOps can override this limitation when authorization has been obtained from either the Original Sender or Original Receiver.

Limitations

Given that some Value Added Networks route based strictly on Sender/Receiver pairs or block Senders that appear to be coming from the wrong Network, and adjustment is sometimes needed to the Carbon Copy Receiver in order for the Carbon Copy to go through.

For this purpose, you might want to make a generic Carbon Copy ECGridID (e.g. ZZ*MYCC). Of course, it will need to be unique across the infrastructure. You can always safely use this as your Carbon Copy Sender QID. Remember that you will need to create an Interconnect Request for your Carbon Copy Sender/Receiver pair.

See Also

Carbon Copy Management 

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