Agree on the Business Event
Define what triggers each exchange, who owns it and what outcome confirms completion.
Define the Data Contract
Document mandatory fields, codes, timing, duplicates, corrections and version control.
Design for Failure
Include validation, retry, alerting, reconciliation and a clear method for operational teams to resolve exceptions.
Test End to End
Unit tests are not enough. Test realistic volume, timing, partner behaviour, security controls and recovery scenarios.
Detailed Assessment Checklist
- Business transaction and purpose of the interface
- Source of truth for customer, item and reference data
- Message fields, formats, codes and mandatory values
- Volume, schedule, latency and business cut-off times
- Duplicate, late, missing and rejected transaction handling
- Authentication, encryption, certificate and partner responsibilities
Warning Signs
- Both systems can update the same field without ownership rules
- Happy-path messages are tested but exceptions are not
- No reconciliation total exists between sender and receiver
- Partner test data differs significantly from production reality
- Certificate or endpoint renewal has no owner
- Manual reprocessing can create duplicates
A Practical Action Sequence
Align
Agree business transaction, owners and successful outcome.
Map
Specify fields, codes, transformations and validation.
Control
Define security, duplicate prevention, logging and recovery.
Test
Run component, end-to-end, exception and reconciliation tests.
Operate
Monitor, reconcile, reprocess safely and maintain partner details.
Measures Worth Tracking
Use a small set of measures that reflect the business objective. Avoid collecting metrics that nobody will act on.
Management Questions
- Which system owns each data element?
- How will both parties prove that processing is complete?
- Who decides how a rejected transaction is corrected?
- Can reprocessing occur without creating duplicates?
- How are partner changes and certificates governed?