Diagnosing error conditions

Some procedures to follow to determine how an item failed in processing and where in the processing flow it failed.

Determining the problem from e-mail messages

The Product Information Management for Retailers solution uses e-mail routed to specific user IDs to alert users when errors occur during item processing. The e-mail provides basic information about the errors. E-mail messages can be configured or modified.

Determining the problem from log or trace files

Use the log file to determine how far an item progressed through the solution flow before a problem occurred. Filter the log file to examine specific collaboration object or business object events. If the log does not provide enough information about the failure, activate tracing for one or more collaboration objects and examine the trace file for more details. Filter the trace file to search for specific collaboration object or business object events.

Determining the point of failure

The point of failure in solution processing determines the method used to restart item processing. The following sections outline check points that can help pinpoint where in item processing an error occurred.

Check that the item exists in the message store
Use database user interface methods to examine the message store. Search for a message that correlates to the item in error. Refer to the key of the message store to correlate the item.
Check that the item completed validation checks
Examine the log file for messages originating from the ItemValidation collaboration object that indicate that the item completed validation checks.
Check that the item reached the business review/approval process
Use the user interface for the business review/approval process to search for the item in question. If the item reached the business review/approval process and the business review/approval process used is WebSphere® MQ Workflow, the item appears as a new task in the workflow.
Check that the item completed the business review/approval process
The log information related to the ItemCollector collaboration object indicates the state of the item as it arrives from the business review/approval process. If the error occurred in this process, the status of the item passed to the ItemCollector collaboration object is Error.

If the error resulted from the ItemCollector collaboration object not being able to read the item from the item store, information in the log or trace files can identify the failure. Remove the item from the stores and restart the item from UCCnet.

Check that item synchronization to the back end occurred
In the context of the Product Information Management for Retailers solution, the JTextConnector synchronizes the item to a back-end file system by writing it to a flat file. Examine the directory containing the item files to see if the failed item was written to a file. If it was, the item was synchronized properly and the error occurred at a later stage.

If the item was not written to a file, the error occurred prior to processing performed by the Process_Reviewed_Item collaboration object. Most likely, no response was sent to UCCnet.

Check that a response was sent to UCCnet

Verify that a response was sent to UCCnet by examining the logging and tracing information related to the UCCnetMessageSend collaboration object or the AS2 channel output directory.

If the response sent to UCCnet was Synchronised (for systems using the XSD XML definition) or Authorized (for systems using the DTD XML definition), the item was synchronized to the back-end system before the error occurred.

If the response sent was Rejected, most likely the item was rejected. The error might have occurred after the response was sent. Normally, a UCCnetMessageSend collaboration object is configured to not send responses if errors occur during item processing.

If no response was sent for the item, the item can be reprocessed.

Parent topic: Handling solution processing errors