ROUTING-RULE

Routing rule. The conditional rule that determines the recipient or pipeline of an EDI message.

Definition

A routing rule is a declarative rule configured in a B2B gateway or integration broker that determines, upon reception or emission of an EDI message, which recipient or processing pipeline it is routed to. Routing criteria typically include: document type (ORDERS, INVOIC, 850, 810), sender/recipient partner, value of a specific segment (NAD+ST, REF+...), timestamp, size, format, status.

Origin

Routing rules are as old as VANs: the first value-added networks of the 1980s (GEIS, IBM Information Network, Sterling Commerce VAN) routed messages based on ISA/UNB-identifier rules. Today, modern routing engines use a declarative language (XPath, JSONPath, proprietary DSL) and allow combining multiple criteria. Routing rules are versioned and tested like source code.

Example in context

A retailer configures in its B2B gateway the following routing rule: "if type = INVOIC and NAD+BY = GLN-3012345000003 (French entity) and MOA+9 > €10,000, then → pipeline 'control_fiscal' with extra Schematron validation and CFO notification". All other invoices follow the standard pipeline. This rule materialises a complex business control at the integration-infrastructure level, without modifying the ERP code.

Related terms

• Integration broker — component that hosts routing rules.
• B2B gateway — product that includes a routing engine.
• Trading partner — typical target of a routing rule.