Trading Partners
Trading partners are the businesses you exchange EDI documents with — retailers, suppliers, carriers, or 3PLs.
Manage them at /trading-partners.
What is a Trading Partner?
Every EDI relationship has two sides. A trading partner on x12port represents one of those sides —
the company on the other end of your EDI connection. You can have as many trading partners as your plan allows.
Adding a Trading Partner
- From your dashboard, click + Add in the Trading Partners panel, or go to /trading-partners and click Add Partner
- Fill in the partner's details:
- Company Name — the business name
- ISA Qualifier — their X12 qualifier code (e.g.
ZZ, 01)
- ISA ID — their unique EDI identifier
- GS ID — their Functional Group ID (sometimes the same as ISA ID, sometimes different)
- Connection Type — AS2, SFTP, API, or VAN
- Transaction Sets — the X12 document types you'll exchange (850, 856, 810, etc.)
- Click Save
The partner appears in your dashboard's Trading Partners panel with a status badge.
Partner Status
| Status | Meaning |
|---|
| Active | Connection is live and processing documents |
| Pending | Partner added but connection not yet tested or confirmed |
| Testing | In the partner qualification / ISA testing phase |
| Inactive | Partner disabled — no documents will be exchanged |
| Error | Last transmission failed — check the partner's detail page for the error |
Managing a Partner
Click any partner in your list to open their detail page. From here you can:
- Edit connection details — update ISA/GS IDs, connection type, or credentials
- View transaction history — see all documents sent and received with this partner
- Change status — activate, deactivate, or mark as testing
- View transaction sets — the document types configured for this relationship
- Delete partner — removes the partner and all associated connection data
ISA Qualifier Quick Reference
| Qualifier | Meaning |
|---|
01 | DUNS Number — common for large retailers and manufacturers |
08 | UCC/EAN — common in grocery and CPG |
14 | DUNS + Suffix — for multi-division companies |
ZZ | Mutually Defined — most common; agreed between you and your partner |
ℹ️
Your trading partner's ISA Qualifier and ISA ID are specified in their EDI Implementation Guide (IG). If you don't have their IG, ask their EDI team directly — all major retailers publish these.
Transaction Sets
When adding a partner, select the transaction sets that apply to your relationship.
Common combinations:
- 850 / 855 / 856 / 810 — standard retail supplier relationship (PO, PO Ack, ASN, Invoice)
- 850 / 856 / 810 / 820 — retail supplier with remittance
- 204 / 990 / 214 — carrier / freight relationship (load tender, acceptance, status)
- 940 / 945 — 3PL warehouse relationship (ship order, ship confirmation)
See the X12 Transaction Sets guide for a full reference.