Trading Partner Manager: Architecture and how it works

The Trading Partner Manager is a managed service by Lobster. It runs in the Lobster Cloud. You use it to set up communication channels together with your partners.

The Trading Partner Manager centralizes the exchange of communication parameters with your partners. The exchange is simple, fast, and secure. Parameters do not get lost in emails and phone calls.

Overall architecture

The following diagram shows the overall architecture:

---
title: How TPM works. The overall architecture
config:
  theme: base
  themeVariables:
    darkMode: false
    background: "#ffffff"
    primaryColor: "#ffffff"
    primaryBorderColor: "#009E48"
    primaryTextColor: "#00412D"
    lineColor: "#009E48"
    fontSize: "17pt"
---
erDiagram
    TRADING_PARTNER_A {
        component edi_system
    }
    TRADING_PARTNER_B {
        component edi_system
    }
    LOBSTER_MANAGED_SERVICE {
        component trading_partner_manager
    }
    CUSTOMER_DATA_PLATFORMS {
        component test_environment
        component productive_environment
    }
    TRADING_PARTNER_A }o--o{ LOBSTER_MANAGED_SERVICE : "Configuration via portal"
    TRADING_PARTNER_B }o--o{ LOBSTER_MANAGED_SERVICE : "Automatic configuration (REST)"
    TRADING_PARTNER_A }o--o{ CUSTOMER_DATA_PLATFORMS : "Data communication 
(AS2, SFTP, OFTP2)"
    TRADING_PARTNER_B }o--o{ CUSTOMER_DATA_PLATFORMS : "Data communication
(AS2, SFTP, OFTP2)"

• You and your partners configure the communication parameters in the Trading Partner Manager. The configuration runs via the portal or automatically via REST.

• The Trading Partner Manager creates the communication channels on your Lobster Data Platform. This applies to test and production environments.

• Data communication then runs directly between the systems, for example via AS2, SFTP, or OFTP2.

To set up channels with your partners, see Trading Partner Manager: setting up channels with partners.