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Moving and Restructuring Relationships

How do I add, remove or move a trading partner relationship to a different EDI account?

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Written by Ashwath Kirthyvasan
Updated today

Audience: EDI developers, B2B integration teams, account administrators

In Orderful, each trading relationship is tied to specific EDI accounts and ISA IDs that are set at the time the trade request is created. Once established, core relationship identifiers cannot be edited. If you need to move a relationship to a different EDI account, change the leader/follower structure, or remove transaction types from an existing partnership, this article explains the available options.


Common Scenarios

  • A trade request was accepted under the wrong EDI account and needs to be moved

  • The leader/follower structure was set up incorrectly and needs to be reversed

  • You need to remove one or more transaction types from an existing relationship

  • You need to add one or more transaction types from an existing relationship

  • You are consolidating EDI accounts following a business merger or restructuring

  • You are migrating from one EDI service provider to another


Removing Specific Transaction Types from a Relationship

If you need to remove individual transaction types from an existing partnership — rather than the entire relationship — this can be done self-service by removing the corresponding scenario from a change request.

As a Leader:

  1. Create a change request for the trading partnership

  2. Remove the scenario that includes the transaction type you want to disable

  3. Submit the change request

  4. Your trading partner (the Follower) must accept the change request for the removal to take effect

As a Follower:

  1. Create a change request for the trading partnership

  2. Remove the scenario that includes the transaction type you want to disable

  3. Submit the change request

  4. Contact [email protected] — Orderful Support will action the change request on the Leader side

Removing a scenario removes the corresponding relationship for that transaction type. This does not affect other transaction types in the partnership.


Recreating a Misconfigured Partnership

If a trading partnership was created with the wrong ISA IDs or the wrong leader/follower role assignment, it cannot be corrected in place — the relationship must be deleted and recreated with the correct configuration.

Deleting an entire partnership requires Orderful Support. There is no self-service path for this.

Step 1 — Create a new trade request with the correct configuration

  1. Go to Trade Requests in Orderful

  2. Click Create Trade Request

  3. Select the correct EDI account (ISA IDs) and leader/follower designation

  4. Add all required scenarios if you're a leader

  5. Submit the trade request

The regular onboarding process is applied to this new partnership.

After the trade request is accepted, reconfigure the relationship from scratch — guidelines, communication channels, validation rules, and any custom transformations do not carry over from the deleted partnership.

Step 2 — Contact Orderful Support to delete the old partnership

You can request deletion in parallel with Steps 1. Contact [email protected] and include:

  • Current trading partner name and EDI account ISA IDs

  • Relationship URLs from Orderful if available

  • The reason for deletion

  • Confirmation that losing access to transaction history in the old relationship is acceptable

  • Your timeline requirements

During the transition period while both relationships exist, take care not to send duplicate transactions through both.


Account Consolidation and Merging

EDI Account Migration

If you are consolidating EDI accounts — for example, following a business merger or a service provider change — Orderful Support can assist with an EDI account migration. This is a support-assisted process and whether it is the right approach depends on several factors, including transaction volume and whether an ISA ID change would be a simpler solution.

To initiate a migration, contact [email protected] and include:

  • The source EDI account (the account to be merged)

  • The target EDI account (the account to merge into)

  • The reason for the migration

  • Your timeline requirements

Support will evaluate the best path forward for your specific case.

What happens during an account migration:

  • The source EDI account is merged into the target account

  • All relationships move to the target account

  • Transaction history from the source account may not transfer

  • Communication channel configurations may need to be updated after the migration


Frequently Asked Questions

Will transaction history transfer to the new relationship?
No. Historical transactions, acknowledgments, and processing logs remain with the original relationship and are not accessible after deletion. Only the relationship configuration can be recreated.

What if my trading partner needs to approve the change?
If you are changing the leader/follower structure, your trading partner will need to accept a new trade request with the updated roles. Coordinate with them before initiating the transfer to avoid delays.

How long does the transfer process take?
Partnership deletion by Support typically takes a few hours during business hours. How quickly the new relationship is live depends on how fast your trading partner accepts the new trade request and how complex your configuration requirements are.

Can I remove a transaction type without affecting the rest of the partnership?
Yes. Remove the corresponding scenario via a change request as described above. This only affects the transaction type tied to that scenario.

What is the difference between a relationship transfer and an EDI account migration?
A relationship transfer moves a specific trading partnership to a different EDI account by deleting and recreating it. An EDI account migration moves all relationships from one EDI account to another at the account level. Contact support to determine which approach is appropriate for your situation.

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