Anypoint Partner Manager enables you to perform bidirectional Business-to-Business (B2B) message exchanges using APIs and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) formats, and to conduct business transactions such as buying and selling products with your partners. Transactions are typically transmitted over transports such as HTTPS and SFTP, and exchanges such as AS2. Partner Manager supports X12, JSON, and XML message formats.
Features Provided by APM
- Accelerated Partner Onboarding
- Future-Proof B2B Communications
- Easy and hassle-free Partner Management.
- Multiple Protocols and formats
- Improved Failure Management (Replay Transaction)
Accelerating Partner Onboarding:
Traditionally, onboarding partners has been a lengthy process. However, with APM, it can now be completed in just weeks or even days thanks to its low-code and configuration-focused design. After the IT team completes the initial setup, the business teams can easily take over and use APM independently, removing the necessity for ongoing support from the IT department.
Future-Proof B2B Communications:
MuleSoft’s APM introduces a feature enabling API integrations for B2B communications. This allows us to use APIs in addition to traditional EDI, providing greater flexibility.
Easy and hassle-free Partner Management:
Anypoint Partner Manager allows Business people to manage and handle transactions, without any Technical knowledge or Backend of the Anypoint Partner Manager.
Multiple Protocols and formats:
Anypoint Partner Manager supports multiple protocols including HTTP(S), FTP, SFTP, and AS2, as well as various message formats like JSON, XML, CSV, and EDI formats (X12/EDIFACT). This flexibility allows businesses to choose the best options for their needs.
Improved Failure Management:
MuleSoft’s APM introduces an innovative feature called Transaction Replay to improve failure management. If a transaction fails on our end, there’s no need to contact the company to replace the order (avoiding potential harm to our business’s reputation). Instead, we can easily replay the transaction once the issue is resolved.
Partner Manager Architecture:
With Anypoint Partner Manager, you can deploy B2B integration message flows to a MuleSoft-hosted CloudHub iPaaS platform or an Anypoint Runtime Fabric instance.
The functional features and user experience in configuring B2B integrations with Partner Manager are deployment-target agnostic; however, differences in the underlying architecture when implementing the functionality in the runtime occur.
When you deploy a configured message flow, Partner Manager automatically transforms the configurations used in the message flow. It then deploys and updates a set of applications necessary to orchestrate end-to-end B2B processing to the Mule instance. These applications include:
- Receive endpoint services
- Document processing service
- Replication service
- Send endpoint services
Anypoint Partner Manager Architecture
Receive Endpoint service:
These services facilitate the reception of incoming B2B or EDI messages from partner transport protocols like AS2 and SFTP, as well as outgoing application messages from your organization’s backend systems, transmitted through HTTP, HTTPS, or SFTP.
Replication Service API:
The tracking service is responsible for ensuring that transmissions and transaction activities are regularly updated in both the control plane and the payload storage API, and helps maintain a transparent and accountable record of the transactions happening.
Document Processing API:
This is the central B2B processing engine, its role involves parsing, validating, and translating incoming B2B messages according to configurations and mappings set in the Partner Manager.
Send Endpoint Service:
The services offered facilitate the delivery of transformed incoming application messages to internal systems such as ERP, billing, and order management, utilizing transport protocols like HTTP, HTTPS, or SFTP. They also enable the transmission of outbound B2B EDI payloads to your partners through AS2, HTTP, HTTPS, or SFTP.
Conclusion:
By leveraging Anypoint Partner Manager, organizations can foster stronger, more productive partnerships, drive business growth, and stay competitive in an increasingly interconnected market. This tool is essential for any business looking to optimize their B2B integrations and achieve seamless collaboration with partners.
