Audience: EDI developers, B2B integration teams, administrators

Orderful uses test and production streams to control whether EDI transactions are real business documents or testing data. This article explains how to set up separate test environments, prevent test data from reaching trading partners, and transition from testing to production.

Every transaction in Orderful belongs to either a test stream or live stream (also called production). The stream determines:

Trading partners don't use a single consistent method to identify test transactions. Because of this inconsistency, Orderful determines whether a transaction is test using the following rules:

Important: The ISA ID itself does not control whether a transaction is created as test or live — it is used for identification and routing purposes only. However, if your trading partner sends test transactions to a separate test ISA ID, that ID needs to be registered in Orderful so those transactions are received and matched to the correct relationship.

In Orderful, go to Transactions, open any transaction, and look at the Stream field in the transaction summary — it will show "Test" or "Live." You can also filter the transaction list by stream: click Add Filter, select Stream, and choose "Test" or "Live."

Some trading partners send test transactions to a different ISA ID than production to keep the two streams clearly separated. A common convention is to append a T to the production ISA ID (e.g., 12/8004524462 for production and 12/8004524462T for test), but partners can use any value they want.

If your trading partner requires a distinct test ISA ID, contact [email protected] with:

The test ISA ID is configured at the EDI account level. Once updated, the change will be reflected on all relationships using that EDI account.

If you don't want test transactions you create to be sent automatically to your trading partner backend system or if you don't want transactions you receive to be automatically sent to your backend system, you have two options:

Option A — Turn off auto-send on the relationship

You can disable auto-send directly on your relationship in Orderful.

When auto-send is off, transactions will stay in the delivery status Pending until you manually send them to your partner's or your communication channel.

Option B — Set the Test stream communication channel to "Keep in Orderful"

"Keep in Orderful" is available as a communication channel by default on all organization — no setup required. If you are the receiver and want to keep test transactions from going to your backend system, you can configure "Keep in Orderful" as your test communication channel on your relationship.

If you need it configured on your trading partner's side, contact [email protected] and request that the test communication channel for that partner relationship be set to "Keep in Orderful."

When "Keep in Orderful" is selected as the communication channel, transactions are delivered within Orderful but not sent to an external communication channel.

Once a transaction is created, its stream cannot be changed. To move transactions between streams, you need to generate new transactions.

Step 1 — Complete testing

Step 2 — Update your integration

We recommend:

Step 3 — Verify auto-send is on

Confirm that auto-send is enabled on the production stream relationship so transactions deliver automatically after validation.

Step 4 — Send live transactions

Send live transactions. Check the stream assignment in Orderful.
The relationship status should automatically move from Go Live Ready to Live.

If you need to move a live transaction into the test stream — for example, to reprocess it in a test environment — u the Copy to Test feature in Orderful, which creates a new transaction with the same content on the test stream.

Symptom: Error message like Cannot post a LIVE transaction because the 846_INVENTORY_INQUIRY_ADVICE relationship between the sender ISA ID ODFLABCD and the receiver ISA ID PARTESTY is in testing

Fix: The relationship status controls stream for all transactions — not the ISA ID. To send live transactions, complete testing in Orderful to move the relationship to Go Live Ready or Live status.

Symptom: Transaction appears in wrong stream (test transactions showing as production or vice versa)

Fix: Check the ISA15 field in your outbound X12 file:

You must correct this in your source system and resend — Orderful reads ISA15 at ingestion and cannot reclassify a transaction after the fact.

Symptom: ISA IDs are test identifiers but GS IDs are production (or vice versa). Orderful won't flag this as an error, but your trading partner's system may have validation logic that rejects the inconsistency.

Recommendation: Keep ISA sender/receiver IDs, GS sender/receiver IDs, and the ISA15 usage indicator consistent across all segments in the same file.

Symptom: Test data reaches your trading partner's production system

Fix: Check the auto-send setting on the test stream relationship and turn it off if needed. Alternatively, contact [email protected] to have the test stream communication channel for the partner relationship updated to "Keep in Orderful" or a dedicated test communication channel if your partner has one.

For stream configuration issues, contact [email protected] with:

Does the ISA ID control whether a transaction is test or live? No. Stream is determined by relationship status, ISA15 in X12, or the stream value on a JSON post. The ISA ID is used for identification and routing, not stream classification. However, if your trading partner sends test transactions to a separate test ISA ID, that ID must be registered in Orderful for the transactions to be received.

Can I switch a transaction between test and production after it's been created? No — once a transaction is created, its stream cannot be changed. To switch from live to test, use the Copy to Test feature in Orderful, which creates a new transaction with the same content on the test stream. To switch from test to live, update your relationship status and integration (ISA15 or JSON stream) and generate a new transaction.

Why are my test transactions still being delivered even though I set "Keep in Orderful"? The communication channel setting is per-relationship and per-stream. You may have "Keep in Orderful" configured for one stream but not the other. Check the communication channel configuration on the specific test stream relationship, or contact Orderful support to verify.

My trading partner says they're receiving test data in their production system. How do I fix this? This most likely means the production communication channel is configured on the test stream of your partner relationship. Contact [email protected] to update the test stream communication channel to either "Keep in Orderful" or a dedicated test channel your partner has provided.

How long should I stay in test mode before going to production? Stay in test until you've successfully exchanged all required transaction types and both sides confirm the formats are correct. Most trading partners require 2–3 successful test cycles before approving production activation.