Audience: EDI developers, B2B integration teams, partner technical contacts
When to use this article: Your trading partner contacts you saying they haven't received 997 functional acknowledgments for X12 files they sent you.
What's Happening
When your trading partner sends you EDI transactions, you are expected to send back a 997 functional acknowledgment confirming receipt. If your partner reports they aren't receiving 997s, it's not always a transmission failure — there are several possible causes:
997 not yet generated — Orderful only generates a 997 once all transactions from the same file and functional group have been acknowledged on your side. If any transaction in that group is still pending acknowledgment, the 997 hasn't been created yet
997 generation disabled — Orderful may be configured to not generate 997s for this partner at all
Delivery channel issue — The 997 was generated but is being delivered to the wrong channel, the wrong stream (test vs. production), a channel that isn't configured (e.g., Keep in Orderful), or a channel with delivery failures
Routing or processing issue on the partner's side — The 997 was delivered successfully but something in the partner's system — internal routing, processing rules, or configuration — prevented it from reaching their users
The goal of this article is to work through these scenarios in order: confirm the 997 was generated, confirm it was delivered, and if both are true, help your partner investigate on their side.
How to Diagnose the Root Cause
Step 1 — Find the original transactions
You first need to identify the transactions your partner is expecting a 997 for.
Ask your partner for the functional group number (GS06) of the original transactions being acknowledged. Then in Orderful:
Go to Transactions
Filter on Reference Identifiers > Group GS06 and enter the value your partner provided
Also filter on the partnership to narrow results
If your partner can't provide the GS06 directly but gives you another reference (like a business or purchase order number), use that to find the transactions first, open one, and retrieve the GS06 value from there. Then filter on GS06.
Note: It is important to filter on a single 997 because it acknowledges all transactions from the same file and functional group — there will be one 997 for the entire group, not one per transaction.
Step 2 — Check whether transactions have been acknowledged
With your GS06 filter applied, check the acknowledgment status of all transactions in that group.
A 997 is only generated once all transactions from the same file and functional group have been acknowledged. If any transaction still shows as unacknowledged, the 997 hasn't been created yet.
As the receiver, you are responsible for acknowledging the transactions. There are three ways this can happen depending on your relationship settings:
Auto-accept — Orderful automatically acknowledges transactions. If this is enabled, all transactions on your list should be accepted immediately upon receipt
API acknowledgment — You receive JSON transactions and your integration is expected to send an explicit acknowledgment via API call. Check your integration to confirm it is acknowledging transactions correctly
Manual acknowledgment — You receive X12 transactions and can acknowledge by sending a 997. Check your system generated the 997 correctly.
If transactions are sitting unacknowledged, either update your relationship setting to auto-accept, trigger acknowledgment via your integration or your backend system. Note that you can also acknowledge them manually in the UI.
Step 3 — Check whether the 997 was generated
Once all transactions in the group are acknowledged:
Open one of the acknowledged transactions
Click on Attachments
In the dropdown, look for an attachment named "997 Acknowledgement to Sender (<Original GS06>)"
If this attachment is not present, Orderful is configured to not generate 997s for this partner. Contact [email protected] to enable 997 generation on your partner relationship and specify which communication channel the 997 should be delivered to.
Step 4 — Check whether the 997 was delivered
If the 997 attachment exists, check whether it was delivered:
From the same original transaction, click on Audit Trail
Look for acknowledgment delivery entries — the communication channel name will be visible.
If the channel shows "Keep in Orderful"
The 997 was never sent to your partner. Contact [email protected] to update the delivery channel for this relationship. You can then resend the 997.
Example:Acknowledgment sent to the Nowhere communication channel Keep In Orderful. Delivery ID: 7104a987-8956-4jh6-ae37-3f9b0b9b0f41.
If the audit trail shows a delivery failure
The 997 was attempted but failed.
Contact Orderful support and your trading partner to troubleshoot the specific delivery failure. See the relevant connection troubleshooting articles for AS2, SFTP, or VAN delivery errors.
Example:Acknowledgment failed to be sent to the AS2 communication channel To Partner (Live). Response: 500 - Internal Server Error. No automatic sending attempt planned. Delivery ID: e9888c08-e2bo-4ef4-90e2-74bf56bae98b.
If the audit trail shows a delivery success:
The 997 reached your partner's system. Note the delivery details — communication channel, MDN or response code, the 997 delivered, timestamp — and share them with your partner.
If your partner still can't find the 997 despite confirmed delivery, the issue is on their side.
Example:Acknowledgment sent to the AS2 communication channel To Partner (Live). Response: Received an MDN without any errors. The signature was verified. (See attachment). Delivery ID: 639876jh-8f54-41c6-a303-7c0da7333641a.
Fix 1: 997 generation or delivery not configured correctly
Contact [email protected] to update the configuration. Include:
The partnership name, ISA IDs and impacted transaction types
Whether 997 generation needs to be enabled and which communication channel the 997 should be delivered to
Whether this affects test, production, or both streams
Fix 2: 997 delivery is failing
If the audit trail shows a delivery failure, the 997 was generated but couldn't be delivered to your partner. The next step depends on the communication channel being used:
Check out transaction delivery failures articles based on the error you see in the audit trail.
Fix 3: 997 was delivered but partner can't find it
If the audit trail confirms successful delivery, the 997 reached your partner's system. Share the following with their technical team to help them investigate:
The delivery timestamp from the audit trail
The communication channel used
The MDN or response code confirming delivery
The 997 sent
The ISA control numbers from the 997
Ask them to check their internal EDI processing logs, internal routing rules, and any filtering or configuration that might be preventing the file from reaching their business users.
If requested, you can always resend the 997 manually.
Troubleshooting Summary
Root cause | What to do |
Transactions in the group show unacknowledged status | Acknowledge remaining transactions via auto-accept setting, API call, or manually in the UI |
No 997 attachment on the transaction | Contact Orderful support to enable 997 generation and configure the correct communication channel on the partner side |
997 attachment exists, no delivery entry in audit trail to a real communication channel | Contact Orderful support to update the communication channel. Resend when the configuration is updated. |
997 attachment exists, audit trail shows delivery failures | See AS2 troubleshooting articles — do not resend until delivery issue is resolved. |
997 attachment exists, audit trail shows successful delivery | Share delivery timestamp, channel, 997 and MDN details with partner's technical team. Resend upon partner request. |
What to Send Orderful Support
If you need help investigating delivery status, contact [email protected] with:
The GS06 value of the functional group in question or the original transactions
The partnership name and trading partner ISA ID
Screenshots of the audit trail delivery entries
What the audit trail shows — no delivery entry, delivery failure, or delivery success
Frequently Asked Questions
Here's the updated FAQ section:
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find which transactions a 997 is acknowledging?
Ask your partner for the GS06 functional group number of the original transactions. In Orderful, filter on Reference Identifiers > Group GS06 with that value and the partnership name. This will show you all transactions in that group that the 997 covers.
Why hasn't the 997 been generated even though some transactions are acknowledged?
A 997 is only generated once all transactions from the same file and functional group are acknowledged. If even one transaction in the group is still pending, the 997 won't be created. Check the acknowledgment status of all transactions in the group and acknowledge any that are still pending.
The 997 attachment exists but there's no delivery entry in the audit trail. What does that mean?
The 997 was generated but the delivery channel is set to "Keep in Orderful," meaning it was never sent to your partner. Contact Orderful support to update the delivery channel for this relationship. This is a common configuration when moving from test to live.
Should I resend 997s when a partner reports them missing?
You can resend it if the audit trail shows a delivery failure or no delivery attempt at all. If delivery was confirmed successful, resending can creates duplicates and doesn't fix the underlying issue on the partner's side. You can resend it if your partner requests it.
The audit trail shows successful delivery but my partner still can't find the 997. What should I share with them?
Share the delivery timestamp, the communication channel used, and the MDN or response code from the audit trail. Ask their technical team to check their internal EDI processing logs, routing rules, and any filtering configuration for that specific timestamp and ISA control number.
The partner sent multiple files. Do I need to check each one separately?
Yes. Each file and functional group generates its own 997. If your partner sent multiple files, check the GS06 for each one and go through the diagnosis steps for each group independently.
My partner switched VAN providers and now can't receive our 997s. What needs to be updated?
Both the routing configuration between VANs and potentially the ISA IDs. Contact your VAN provider with the partner's new VAN details, and have the partner provide their new ISA ID if it changed. Test with a sample transaction before going live.