Enabling Oracle Integration B2B and Oracle BPEL Process Manager Interoperability

by Jeffrey Hutchins, E-Commerce Strategist, Oracle SOA Suite Product Management

Published December 2006

For this technical note two transaction sets (documents) from the "order-to-cash" process will be used as examples: Purchase Order: outbound and Payment: Inbound

Document Management

How Does the Process Identify the Document?

Documents are exchanged between Integration B2B and BPEL Process Manager using Oracle Advanced Queues (IP_IN_QUEUE and IP_OUT_QUEUE). In Integration B2B these queues are called the Internal Delivery Channel. In the BPEL Process Manager these queues are accessed via a Partnerlink.

A process receives a document from the B2B Gateway (Inbound). Set the AQ consumer and the routing_id to 820_PAYMENT. This enables the process to identify the inbound document.

A process sends a document to the B2B Gateway (Outbound). Set the AQ recipient B2BUSER and the routing_id to <blank>. This enables the process to deliver the outbound document.

More than one process uses a document (Inbound/Outbound). To enable the process to identify the inbound document, set the AQ consumer and the routing_id to 850_PurchaseOrder. To enable the gateway to identify the outbound document, set the AQ recipient to B2BUSER; the routing_id is ignored.

How Does the Process Manage Document Differences?

Even if you use one standard there will always be variations to a document. The implementer may:

• Adhere to the standard
• Apply variations within the specification (additional codes, changing mandatory/option fields, changing placement/semantics of the data, etc.)
• Apply extensions
• Take the document out of specification—a "one-off"

Addressing variances in the same standard. In an ideal world each participant would adhere to the standard but in practice, variations are the rule and must be accommodated. It is neither scaleable nor reusable to carry these variations throughout the end-to-end integration; therefore, if a superset XML schema can be utilized, this is the best practice. That approach will give you the most flexibility.

Using a BPEL Pick Process Activity

When the superset XML Schema cannot represent the variations in the document, or your business requirements dictate that your business process manage multiple standards and/or endpoints, then create multiple partnerslinks and utilize a Pick activity:

1. Use the On Message activity within the Pick activity to manage each partnerlink interaction.
2. Set a flag (Boolean variable) enabling the process to identify the appropriate flow.
3. Invoke the appropriate XSLT Map using information provided by tthe  IP_MESSAGE_TYPE. (Discussed later in Tech Note)
   
   

The Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF)

The focus of this Tech note is modeling, not coding and the best practice is to model. Note: There is functionality in the adapter framework that can enable the identification of the document, assign an XSD, and initiate a process or process step from a coding perspective. You can find more information on this topic in the Application Development Framework Developers Guide 10g Release (10.1.3.0) (Chapters 1 and 20).

Why Establish a Common Data Model?

To avoid point-to-point mapping that creates an n^n-1 scenario, establish a common data model to represent the business object —e.g. a Purchase Orrder and Payment. This best practice requires work up front, but the result is a scalable and flexible solution. The instantiation of a canonical XML Schema based on that model provides a consistent target—in this case, the Purchase Orrder and  Payment documents—to which each endpoint system maps.

Process Management

How Does the Process Correlate Multiple Documents?

• B2B is document centric.
• At the business level, document are asynchronous.
• Header information is not in the payload.
• Ordering is not guaranteed.

Therefore, when a process receives a message from a B2B gateway, it must be able correlated the documents by content in the payload.

• The Oracle AQ consumer identifies the document and the correlation identifies the correct process instance. Example: Correlating the initiating document, Purchase Order  to the responding document, Payment.
• In BPEL Process Manager a correlation set can be created to accomplish this task. (Note: There must be a unique identifier in the payload to perform the correlation.)
• There may be multiple correlation sets based on the complexity of the process.
  
  

1. Create the Correlation Set.
2. Create the Property.
3. Create the Property Alias.
   
   

In this example the PO Number is the unique identifier used to correlate the initiating and responding documents.

How Does the Process Obtain Information about the Document?

When extending your business processes beyond your enterprise, the differences between the B2B standards/protocol and those used within the enterprise must be recognized and addresses:

Oracle Integration B2B provides a structure with addition information that bridges some of theses gaps. The IP_MESSAGE_TYPE is a header that enables interoperability across these components.

IP_MESSAGE_TYPE (Example)

Error Handling

• IP_EXCEPTION: When an error occurs the IP_EXCEPTION data is sent back to the process using consumer B2BERRORUSER.
• IP_MESSAGE_TYPE: When an error occurs the IP_MESSAGE_TYPE provides basic information.
• b2b_InstanceMessage: This public view of the runtime repository provides detail information of each transition. The unique key for these structures is b2bMessageId.

IP_EXCEPTION (Example)

IP_MESSAGE_TYPE (Example)

DB View: b2b_InstanceMessage (Structure)

Conclusion

Traditionally, business-to-business integration is viewed as a separate exercise from all other types of integration, which  is counter to the philosophy of an SOA. The reality is, for any integration project to succeed it must be solutions based, driven by the business requirements, and address the complete end-to-end solution. B2B is just another endpoint.

• Identify the document
• Manage multiple documents
• Manage document variances
• Correlate multiple documents
• Manage errors
  

Jeffrey Hutchins works in the Oracle SOA Product Management Team and is responsible for e-commerce strategy. He has created methodologies addressing compliance, security, visibility, scalability, and standards from the business and IT aspects. His focus is Business-to-Business (B2B) standards, best Practices, and complete end-to-end integration (ESB, BPM, B2B, BAM). He has presented new products and technologies via business and technical white papers, hands-on sessions and presentations at national and international events from 1996 and is recognized as Oracle's subject matter expert in the e-commerce arena.