The CustomerAccountManager collaboration template is used to synchronize customer account data across multiple applications in the telecommunications (telco) industry. Each of these applications supports a different business function, which can include the following:
Because account information may be distributed across multiple systems, maintaining integrity and ensuring that all systems are synchronized with the most current information becomes a key business challenge. The CustomerAccountManager collaboration addresses this challenge by specifying a common definition of how customer account information is maintained and synchronized across all applications. This results in a common view of all customer account information throughout the organization.
CustomerAccountManager uses the generic CustomerAccount business object to contain customer account data.
Although it synchronizes only CustomerAccount business object data, CustomerAccountManager can be configured to call the appropriate collaboration to verify or synchronize the following related business object:
Business object | Related collaboration properties | Called collaborations |
---|---|---|
Customer | VERIFY_SYNC_CUSTOMERS |
CustomerWrapper CustomerSync |
This document describes how to create and configure the collaboration template and describes its business processes.
This section includes information on port bindings and required steps for setting up collaboration objects based on CustomerAccountManager. For information on standard features, ports, and configuration properties for collaboration templates, and for general information on creating collaboration objects refer to the documents listed in Required Documents for Creating Collaboration Objects.
Figure 1 illustrates CustomerAccountManager's ports, as they are displayed in System Manager.
Figure 1. CustomerAccountManager collaboration's ports
Note: To keep the collaboration object from using a port, bind that port to the Port connector. Doing so indicates that the port is unused without causing the collaboration object to provide additional functionality.
Business object | Bound to | Function | Verbs used |
---|---|---|---|
CustomerAccount | The destination application's connector | Sends a reference-valued business object to retrieve the full-valued business object. |
Retrieve |
Business object | Bound to | Function | Verbs used |
---|---|---|---|
CustomerAccount | Source application's connector or calling collaboration | Receives the triggering business object. At the end of a synchronous call, this port also returns the triggering business object to the source application when the collaboration ends successfully. |
Create Retrieve Update Delete |
Business object | Bound to | Function | Verbs used |
---|---|---|---|
CustomerAccount | The destination application's connector |
Sends the triggering business object out of the collaboration |
Create Update Delete |
Business object | Bound to | Function | Verbs used |
---|---|---|---|
Customer |
|
Used to send a reference-valued Customer business object for verification or synchronization |
Sync Exists |
To set up CustomerAccountManager as a stand-alone collaboration object, follow these steps:
To verify or synchronize related Customers as part of the CustomerAccountManager process, you can create any combination of the following collaboration-object groups:
Verify Synchronize Required collaborations Customers CustomerAccountManager, CustomerWrapper Customers CustomerAccountManager, CustomerWrapper, CustomerSync
The following procedure describes setting up CustomerAccountManager as part of a collaboration-object group.
For the sake of example, these steps assume you want to synchronize Customer Accounts and their referenced Customers.
This section illustrates the process logic for this collaboration template:
Figure 2 illustrates CustomerAccountManager's process logic.
Figure 2. CustomerAccountManager collaboration's process logic
This collaboration template uses the following standard collaboration business processes:
For information on these processes, see Required Documents for Creating Collaboration Objects.
Figure 3 illustrates CustomerAccountManager's process for verifying or synchronizing related Customers.
Figure 3. Verification or synchronization of Customers
InterChange Server can roll back a transaction when any step in a transactional collaboration fails. For example, when CustomerAccountManager is a member of a collaboration-object group that participates in a transactional collaboration, its actions are one subtransactional step of a larger transaction. If any step in the collaboration-object group's business process fails, the transactional collaboration details how InterChange Server should roll back the processing of every collaboration in the group.
When a CustomerAccountManager collaboration object is used independently of other collaboration objects or the collaboration object's From port is bound to a source application rather than to another collaboration, its process comprises a single transactional step. In such a situation, it is not necessary to perform rollback.
To cause a collaboration object or a collaboration-object group to perform rollback requires modifying the collaboration template. To understand transaction processing in the WebSphere business integration system, see the Technical Introduction to IBM WebSphere InterChange Server. For information on adding transaction processing to the collaboration template, see Required Documents for Creating Collaboration Objects.
To extend the collaboration object to handle transaction processing, complete the following steps:
This section describes the standard properties and collaboration template-specific properties for this collaboration template:
This collaboration template uses the following standard configuration properties for collaboration templates:
For information on these configuration properties, see Required Documents for Creating Collaboration Objects.
In addition to its standard configuration properties, this collaboration template has the configuration properties described below.
Property name and explanation | Possible values | Default value |
---|---|---|
VERIFY_SYNC_CUSTOMERS Set to "sync" to cause CustomerAccountManager to synchronize the referenced Customer in the destination application. CustomerAccountManager copies the ParentCustomerId from the CustomerAccount business object and creates a generic Customer business object. CustomerAccountManager sends the business object with the Sync verb to CustomerWrapper. In turn, CustomerWrapper retrieves values for all attributes from the source application and sends the business object with the Create verb to CustomerSync. If CustomerSync fails to create the Customer, CustomerAccountManager logs a message and ends. Set to "verify" to cause CustomerAccountManager to verify the referenced Customer in the destination application. CustomerAccountManager copies the ParentCustomerId from the CustomerAccount business object and creates a generic Customer business object. CustomerAccountManager sends the business object with the Exists verb to CustomerWrapper. In turn, CustomerWrapper retrieves the business object from the destination application. If CustomerWrapper fails to retrieve the Customer, CustomerAccountManager logs a message and ends. Set to "neither" to cause CustomerAccountManager to create the CustomerAccount business object without first synchronizing or verifying the referenced Customer in the destination application. |
neither, sync, verify | neither |
To view an explanation of the messages of this collaboration template, launch the Log Viewer and open the collaboration template's message file. To launch the Log Viewer and open the collaboration template's message file: