Version 25.2.9314

• Overview
  • Prerequisites
• Profile Configuration
  • Peppol Profile Tab
    • Personal Id
    • Personal Certificate
    • Application URLs
• Connector Configuration
  • Settings Tab
    • Configuration
    • Advanced Settings
  • Advanced Tab
    • Other Settings
    • Proxy Settings
    • Message
    • Logging
    • Miscellaneous
  • Automation Tab
    • Automation Settings
    • Performance
  • Alerts Tab
  • SLAs Tab
  • Transactions Tab
• Sending Documents
• Receiving Documents
• Macros
  • Examples

The Peppol connector for CData Arc enables secure, automated exchange of e-invoices and other business documents over the Peppol (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) network. This connector allows organizations to integrate their systems with the Peppol eDelivery infrastructure directly from within Arc, streamlining compliance with electronic procurement and invoicing mandates across Europe and beyond. The network facilitates the transmission of critical business documents through standardized Universal Business Language (UBL) formats and secure AS4 protocol messaging.

The Peppol network operates on a four-corner model architecture consisting of the sender, the sender’s Access Point (AP), the receiver’s AP, and the final receiver. This distributed infrastructure ensures reliable and standardized communication pathways for electronic procurement processes across international boundaries, with Access Points serving as certified gateways that handle the secure transmission of documents between participants on the network.

Overview

A Peppol connection is configured in two places. Configure the Peppol Profiles page with a local party identifier and a private certificate. Then configure individual Peppol connectors with connection settings specific to a single trading partner. When an input file is processed by a Peppol connector, it is packaged and sent to the specified trading partner.

When CData Arc receives a file over Peppol, it attempts to route the file to a specific Peppol connector. The application uses the Peppol party identifiers in the Peppol message to determine which Peppol connector should receive the file. When a file is routed to a Peppol connector, that file is placed in the connector’s Transactions tab, and is passed along to the next connected connector in the flow (when there is one).

Prerequisites

Before you can configure and use the Peppol connector, you must complete the following:

1. Go to https://Peppol.org/ to register and complete the certification to become a Peppol access point.

2. Register with an external SMP (Service Metadata Publisher). You must either register with an existing SMP or host your own.

Profile Configuration

The Peppol Profile must be configured before connections can be established with individual Peppol connectors. Click Profiles on the navbar, then click the Peppol tab.

Peppol Profile Tab

Personal Id

Settings for identifying the local profile.

• Party Identifier The Party Id used by Arc in AS4 Peppol exchanges. Identifiers are case-sensitive.

Personal Certificate

Settings related to the private decryption and signature certificate.

• Private Certificate The certificate used to decrypt incoming messages and sign outgoing messages. Never share this certificate with external parties. Click the Create Certificate button to generate a self-signed certificate that is ready to use in a Peppol transaction: a corresponding public key is also generated with the same filename and a .cer extension.
• Private Certificate Password The password required to access the Private Certificate.

Application URLs

Settings and displayed values related to accessing Arc from the public web.

• Receiving URL The URL at which Arc listens for incoming Peppol messages. Share this URL with all your trading partners. It is in this format: <application_base_URL>/pub/Peppol.rsb.

Connector Configuration

Once you configure the global Peppol profile settings, create and configure individual Peppol connectors for each trading partner on the Flows page.

Settings Tab

Configuration

• Connector Id The static, unique identifier for the connector.
• Connector Type Displays the connector name and a description of what it does.
• Connector Description An optional field to provide a free-form description of the connector and its role in the flow.
• Peppol ID The unique identifier of the trading partner you are exchanging documents with. This is how you connect to the Peppol network, which enables secure and targeted message exchange.

Advanced Settings

• Local File Scheme A scheme for assigning filenames to messages that are output by the connector. You can use macros in your filenames dynamically to include information such as identifiers and timestamps. For more information, see Macros.

Advanced Tab

Other Settings

Settings not included in the previous categories.

• Duplicate Message Action How the connector should behave when it receives a Peppol message with a Message Id that the connector has seen before. The connector detects duplicate messages by remembering Message Ids that have been received within the number of minutes specified in * * Duplicate Interval The number of minutes that a message with the same Message Id is considered a duplicate. If you set this to 0, the Message Ids are stored until the server is restarted.

Proxy Settings

These are a collection of settings that identify and authenticate to the proxy through which the Peppol connection should be routed. By default, this section uses the global settings on the Settings Page. Clear the checkbox to supply settings specific to your connector.

• Proxy Type The protocol used by a proxy-based firewall.
• Proxy Host The name or IP address of a proxy-based firewall.
• Proxy Port The TCP port for a proxy-based firewall.
• Proxy User The user name to use to authenticate with a proxy-based firewall.
• Proxy Password A password used to authenticate to a proxy-based firewall.
• Authentication Scheme Leave the default None or choose from one of the following authentication schemes: Basic, Digest, Proprietary, or NTLM.

Message

Message settings determine how the connector searches for messages and manages them after processing. You can save messages to your Sent folder or you can group them based on a Sent folder scheme, as described below.

• Save to Sent Folder Check this to copy files processed by the connector to the Sent folder for the connector.
• Sent Folder Scheme Instructs the connector to group files in the Sent folder according to the selected interval. For example, the Weekly option instructs the connector to create a new subfolder each week and store all sent files for the week in that folder. The blank setting instructs the connector to save all files directly in the Sent folder. For connectors that process many transactions, using subfolders can help keep files organized and improve performance.

Logging

Settings that govern the creation and storage of logs.

• Log Level The verbosity of logs generated by the connector. When you request support, set this to Debug.
• Log Subfolder Scheme Instructs the connector to group files in the Logs folder according to the selected interval. For example, the Weekly option instructs the connector to create a new subfolder each week and store all logs for the week in that folder. The blank setting tells the connector to save all logs directly in the Logs folder. For connectors that process many transactions, using subfolders helps keep logs organized and improves performance.
• Log Messages Check this to have the log entry for a processed file include a copy of the file itself. If you disable this, you might not be able to download a copy of the file from the Input or Output tabs.

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous settings are for specific use cases.

• Other Settings Enables you to configure hidden connector settings in a semicolon-separated list (for example, setting1=value1;setting2=value2). Normal connector use cases and functionality should not require the use of these settings.

Automation Tab

Automation Settings

Settings related to the automatic processing of files by the connector.

• Send Whether files arriving at the connector are automatically sent as Peppol messages.
• Retry Interval The number of minutes before a failed send is retried. A retry is triggered when the server does not respond to a send attempt, or responds negatively to communicate that the file was not received.
• Max Attempts The maximum number of times the connector processes the input file. Success is based on a successful server acknowledgement and validation of the receipt (when requested synchronously). If you set this to 0, the connect retries the file indefinitely.

Performance

Settings related to the allocation of resources to the connector.

• Max Workers The maximum number of worker threads consumed from the threadpool to process files on this connector. If set, this overrides the default setting on the Settings > Automation page.
• Max Files The maximum number of files sent by each thread assigned to the connector. If set, this overrides the default setting on the Settings > Automation page.

Alerts Tab

Settings related to configuring alerts.

Before you can execute Service Level Agreements (SLAs), you need to set up email alerts for notifications. By default, Arc uses the global settings on the Alerts tab. To use other settings for this connector, toggle Override global setting on.

By default, error alerts are enabled, which means that emails are sent whenever there is an error. To turn them off, uncheck the Enable checkbox.

Enter a Subject (mandatory), then optionally enter a comma-separated list of Recipient emails.

SLAs Tab

Settings related to configuring Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

SLAs enable you to configure the volume you expect connectors in your flow to send or receive, and to set the time frame in which you expect that volume to be met. CData Arc sends emails to warn the user when an SLA is not met, and marks the SLA as At Risk, which means that if the SLA is not met soon, it will be marked as Violated. This gives the user an opportunity to step in and determine the reasons the SLA is not being met, and to take appropriate actions. If the SLA is still not met at the end of the at-risk time period, the SLA is marked as violated, and the user is notified again.

To define an SLA, toggle Expected Volume on, then click the Settings tab.

• If your connector has separate send and receive actions, use the radio buttons to specify which direction the SLA pertains to.
• In the Expect at least portion of the window:
  • Set the minimum number of transactions you expect to be processed (the volume)
  • Use the Every fields to specify the time frame
  • Indicate when the SLA should go into effect. If you choose Starting on, complete the date and time fields.
  • Check the boxes for the days of the week that you want the SLA to be in effect. Use the dropdown to choose Everyday if necessary.
• In the Set status to ‘At Risk’ portion of the window, specify when the SLA should be marked as at risk.
  • By default, notifications are not sent until an SLA is in violation. To change that, check Send an ‘At Risk’ notification.

The following example shows an SLA configured for a connector that expects to receive 1000 files every day Monday-Friday. An at-risk notification is sent 1 hour before the end of the time period if the 1000 files have not been received.

Transactions Tab

This tab lists all messages associated with the connector. Use the search bar to find specific messages, or click the funnel icon to apply a filter. You can filter by time, message direction, and/or status.

Sending Documents

When sending documents, the following occurs:

• The connector uses the Peppol Id to look up the metadata (such as the endpoint and certificates) for the partner that has that ID.
• The receiver defined in the Standard Business Document Header (SBDH) of the outbound message must match the Peppol Id of the connector where the message being sent.
  • You can configure the SBDH using an XML Map connector when it is connected as the input to a Peppol connector.
• The metadata that is returned from the lookup is used by the connector to send the document to the partner.

Receiving Documents

When receiving documents, the steps described in Sending happen in reverse:

• Your partner’s Peppol AP looks up the metadata details that you provided to the SMP you registered with.
• That metadata is used by your partner’s Peppol AP to send you the message(s). When a message reaches Arc, the engine looks at the sender Peppol Id defined in the message SBDH, then routes the message to the Peppol connector that is configured with that Peppol Id.

Macros

Using macros in file naming strategies can enhance organizational efficiency and contextual understanding of data. By incorporating macros into filenames, you can dynamically include relevant information such as identifiers, timestamps, and header information, providing valuable context to each file. This helps ensure that filenames reflect details important to your organization.

CData Arc supports these macros, which all use the following syntax: %Macro%.

Macro	Description
ConnectorID	Evaluates to the ConnectorID of the connector.
Ext	Evaluates to the file extension of the file currently being processed by the connector.
Filename	Evaluates to the filename (extension included) of the file currently being processed by the connector.
FilenameNoExt	Evaluates to the filename (without the extension) of the file currently being processed by the connector.
MessageId	Evaluates to the MessageId of the message being output by the connector.
RegexFilename:pattern	Applies a RegEx pattern to the filename of the file currently being processed by the connector.
Header:headername	Evaluates to the value of a targeted header (headername) on the current message being processed by the connector.
LongDate	Evaluates to the current datetime of the system in long-handed format (for example, Wednesday, January 24, 2024).
ShortDate	Evaluates to the current datetime of the system in a yyyy-MM-dd format (for example, 2024-01-24).
DateFormat:format	Evaluates to the current datetime of the system in the specified format (format). See Sample Date Formats for the available datetime formats
Vault:vaultitem	Evaluates to the value of the specified vault item.

Examples

Some macros, such as %Ext% and %ShortDate%, do not require an argument, but others do. All macros that take an argument use the following syntax: %Macro:argument%

Here are some examples of the macros that take an argument:

• %Header:headername%: Where headername is the name of a header on a message.
• %Header:mycustomheader% resolves to the value of the mycustomheader header set on the input message.
• %Header:ponum% resolves to the value of the ponum header set on the input message.
• %RegexFilename:pattern%: Where pattern is a regex pattern. For example, %RegexFilename:^([\w][A-Za-z]+)% matches and resolves to the first word in the filename and is case insensitive (test_file.xml resolves to test).
• %Vault:vaultitem%: Where vaultitem is the name of an item in the vault. For example, %Vault:companyname% resolves to the value of the companyname item stored in the vault.
• %DateFormat:format%: Where format is an accepted date format (see Sample Date Formats for details). For example, %DateFormat:yyyy-MM-dd-HH-mm-ss-fff% resolves to the date and timestamp on the file.

You can also create more sophisticated macros, as shown in the following examples:

• Combining multiple macros in one filename: %DateFormat:yyyy-MM-dd-HH-mm-ss-fff%%EXT%
• Including text outside of the macro: MyFile_%DateFormat:yyyy-MM-dd-HH-mm-ss-fff%
• Including text within the macro: %DateFormat:'DateProcessed-'yyyy-MM-dd_'TimeProcessed-'HH-mm-ss%