6.3.3 Batched Delivery

If Metadata Provider and Release Distributor agree on a batched delivery of MeadMessages, the Metadata Provider shall create a separate folder for each Batch. 

To ensure sequential processing, a Batch shall be named YYYYMMDDhhmmssnnn/ with YYYYMMDDhhmmssnnn being the date and time that the set of MeadMessages is placed on the SFTP server.

The maximum size of a Batch is not defined in this standard but shall be agreed by the Metadata Provider and the Release Distributor before using this Profile. It is not permitted to include information about the same entity more than once in a single Batch.

If the Metadata Provider wants to have several Batches “open” at the same time, it needs to ensure that no information about the same entity is contained in more than one Batch.

The maximum time a Batch may be kept “open” is a matter for the Metadata Provider and the Release Distributor to define in their commercial agreement.

The Metadata Provider shall make sure that the Batch folder name is unique for each Batch.

The trigger to indicate that a Batch is complete, a zero-byte semaphore file shall be placed into the Batch folder. The semaphore file shall be named BatchComplete_YYYYMMDDhhmmssnnn.

Each file containing a MeadMessage shall be placed into such a batch folder, following the same file naming convention as defined in Clause 6.3.1 of this standard.

Any additional documents referenced from the MeadMessage shall be placed into the same folder as the MeadMessage. It must be uploaded to the SFTP server before the batch is closed.

The recipient of such a Batch may acknowledge the receipt of each MeadMessage by placing a file containing an FtpAcknowledgementMessage into a sub-folder acknowledgements/ which is placed into the same folder as the MeadMessage. The FtpAcknowledgementMessage shall be named following the same file name convention as defined in Clause 6.3.1  of this Standard.