SalesOrderProcessing is a core process in any business. Typically, a customer initiates a request for certain products that a company manufactures or distributes. The Customer Service Representative (CSR) records the request as a quote or order in a front-office application. The CSR then passes the information to a back-office system, which processes the order to fulfillment.
Several sub-processes can occur between the order's creation and its handoff. For example, products may be configured to suit a customer's unique requirements, a credit check may be performed to verify the customer's good standing, and an inventory availability check may be performed to verify the availability of the products being ordered.
The CSR may be empowered to carry out the different tasks before handing the order off to a back-office order management system. Alternately, the intermediate steps may be performed by the back-office system, which relies on the front-office system only to provide it with the quote or order information.
The SalesOrderProcessing collaboration abstracts the complete Order-handling business process so that it is generic. Therefore, the collaboration can be used by multiple implementations that work with multiple applications. SalesOrderProcessing is also useful when Order information is distributed across multiple systems and it is important to maintain the integrity of the data across these systems.
For example, SalesOrderProcessing handles the following business scenarios:
SalesOrderProcessing uses the generic Order business object to synchronize order data.
Although it synchronizes only Orders, SalesOrderProcessing can be configured to call the appropriate collaborations to verify or synchronize the following related business objects:
Business object | Related collaboration properties | Called collaborations |
---|---|---|
Contact | FAIL_ON_CONTACT_ERROR VERIFY_SYNC_CONTACT | ContactSync |
Customer | VERIFY_SYNC_CUSTOMERS | CustomerSync |
Item | ItemSync |
This section includes information on port bindings and required steps for setting up collaboration objects based on SalesOrderProcessing. For information on standard features, ports, and configuration properties for collaboration templates, see the Collaboration Development Guide. For general information on creating collaboration objects, see the System Implementation Guide.
Figure 1 illustrates SalesOrderProcessing's ports, as they are displayed in System Manager. The tables that follow Figure 1 provide information about each port.
Figure 1. SalesOrderProcessing collaboration ports
Note: To prevent the collaboration object from using a port, bind that port to the Port connector. Binding the port indicates that the port is unused without causing the collaboration object to provide additional functionality.
Business object | Bound to | Function | Verbs used |
---|---|---|---|
Order | The destination application's connector | Sends a reference-valued business object to retrieve the full-valued business object. The result determines the verb to use when synchronizing the Order. |
Retrieve |
Business object | Bound to | Function | Verbs used |
---|---|---|---|
Order | 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 |
---|---|---|---|
Order | The destination application's connector |
Sends the triggering business object out of the collaboration |
Create Update Delete |
Business object | Bound to | Function | Verbs used |
---|---|---|---|
Any of the generic item business objects, such as Item, ItemBasic, ItemOrder, or ItemPlanning |
|
Used to send an Item business object for verification or synchronization |
Sync Exists |
Business object | Bound to | Function | Verbs used |
---|---|---|---|
Contact |
|
Used to send a Contact business object for verification or synchronization |
Sync Exists |
Business object | Bound to | Function | Verbs used |
---|---|---|---|
Customer |
|
Used to send a Customer business object for verification or synchronization |
Sync Exists |
To set up SalesOrderProcessing as a stand-alone collaboration object, follow these steps:
To verify or synchronize related Customers, header or line item Contacts, or Items as part of the SalesOrderProcessing process, you can create any combination of the following collaboration-object groups:
Verify Synchronize Required collaborations Contacts SalesOrderProcessing, ContactWrapper Contacts SalesOrderProcessing, ContactWrapper, ContactSync Customers SalesOrderProcessing, CustomerWrapper Customers SalesOrderProcessing, CustomerWrapper, CustomerSync Items SalesOrderProcessing, ItemWrapper referenced Items SalesOrderProcessing, ItemWrapper referenced and prerequisite Items SalesOrderProcessing, ItemWrapper, ItemSync
The following procedure describes the steps for setting up SalesOrderProcessing as part of a collaboration-object group: For the sake of example, these steps assume you want to synchronize Orders and only their referenced Items.
This section illustrates the process logic for this collaboration template:
The process logic includes the following subprocesses:
For more information, see Figure 4. Figure 2 illustrates SalesOrderProcessing's process logic.
Figure 2. SalesOrderProcessing collaboration process logic
This collaboration template uses the following standard collaboration business processes:
For information on these processes, see the Collaboration Development Guide.
Figure 3 illustrates SalesOrderProcessing's process for verifying or synchronizing Customers, Header Contacts, and Line Item Contacts. SalesOrderProcessing calls its wrapper collaborations in the following order: Customer, Contact (for header contacts), Item, Contact (for line-item contacts).
Figure 3. Verification or synchronization of Customers, Header Contacts, and Line Item Contacts
Figure 4 illustrates SalesOrderProcessing's process for verifying or synchronizing related items.
Figure 4. Verification or synchronization of items
Note: For a collaboration to process ItemBasic, ItemOrder, and ItemPlanning successfully, your installation's repository must contain the Utility business object. This business object is referenced in the collaboration code, which uses it to instantiate temporary iterator variables. The collaboration fails if this object is not present in the repository.
InterChange Server Express can roll back a transaction when any step in a transactional collaboration fails. For example, when SalesOrderProcessing 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 Express rolls back the processing of every collaboration in the group.
When a SalesOrderProcessing 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 modification of the collaboration template. To understand transaction processing in the IBM WebSphere Business Integration Server Express Plus system, see the System Implementation Guide. For information about adding transaction processing to the collaboration template, see the Collaboration Development Guide.
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 the Collaboration Development Guide.
In addition to its standard configuration properties, this collaboration template has the configuration properties described below.
Property name and explanation | Possible values | Default value |
---|---|---|
FAIL_ON_CONTACT_ERROR Set to "true" to cause SalesOrderProcessing to stop processing if VERIFY_SYNC_CONTACT evaluates to "sync" or "verify", and ContactWrapper fails to verify or synchronize any of the referenced Contacts. Set to "false" to cause SalesOrderProcessing to continue processing if VERIFY_SYNC_CONTACT evaluates to "sync" or "verify", and ContactWrapper fails to verify or synchronize any of the referenced Contacts. In this case, SalesOrderProcessing removes each failed Contact from Order's array of ContactRef child business objects. |
true, false | true |
FIND_ALL_ITEM_ERRORS Set to "true" to cause SalesOrderProcessing to continue verifying all Items if VERIFY_SYNC_ITEM evaluates to "verify", USE_RETRIEVE evaluates to "true", and ItemWrapper fails to verify a referenced Item. After verifying all Items, SalesOrderProcessing enters an exception or the email process for error handling. Set to "false" to cause SalesOrderProcessing to stop processing if VERIFY_SYNC_ITEM evaluates to "verify", USE_RETRIEVE evaluates to "true", and ItemWrapper fails to verify a referenced Item. |
true, false | false |
ITEM_TYPE Set to the type of generic Item whose existence should be synchronized or verified before the collaboration synchronizes the Order business object. If its VERIFY_SYNC_ITEM property evaluates to "sync" or "verify", SalesOrderProcessing uses the value of this property to determine the type of item to be synchronized or verified. |
Item, ItemBasic, ItemOrder, ItemPlanning | Item |
VERIFY_SYNC_CONTACT Set to "sync" to cause SalesOrderProcessing to synchronize related Contacts in the destination application. SalesOrderProcessing copies the ContactId from each of Order's ContactRef child business objects and creates a generic Contact business object for each referenced Contact. SalesOrderProcessing sends each Contact business object with the Sync verb to ContactWrapper. In turn, ContactWrapper retrieves values all attributes from the source application and sends the business object with the Create verb to ContactSync. If ContactSync fails to create the related Contact, the behavior of SalesOrderProcessing depends on the value of its FAIL_ON_CONTACT_ERROR property. Set to "verify" to cause SalesOrderProcessing to verify related Contacts in the destination application. SalesOrderProcessing copies the ContactId from each of Order's ContactRef child business objects and creates a generic Contact business object for each referenced Contact. SalesOrderProcessing sends each Contact business object with the Exists verb to ContactWrapper. In turn, ContactWrapper retrieves the business object from the destination application. If ContactWrapper fails to retrieve the related Contact, the behavior of SalesOrderProcessing depends on the value of its FAIL_ON_CONTACT_ERROR property. Set to "neither" to cause SalesOrderProcessing to synchronize the triggering Order business object without first synchronizing or verifying related Contacts. |
neither, verify, sync | neither |
VERIFY_SYNC_CUSTOMERS Set to "sync" to cause SalesOrderProcessing to synchronize the related SoldTo Customer in the destination application. SalesOrderProcessing performs the following process:
Set to "verify" to cause SalesOrderProcessing to verify the related Customer in the destination application. SalesOrderProcessing performs the following process:
Set to "neither" to cause SalesOrderProcessing to create the Order business object without first synchronizing or verifying the related Customer in the destination application. |
neither, verify, sync | neither |
VERIFY_SYNC_ITEM Set to "sync" to cause SalesOrderProcessing to synchronize related items in the destination application. SalesOrderProcessing copies the ItemId from the Order business object and creates the type of generic business object specified in the ITEM_TYPE property. SalesOrderProcessing sends the business object with the Sync verb to ItemWrapper. In turn, ItemWrapper retrieves values for all attributes from the source application and sends the business object with the Create verb to ItemSync. If ItemSync fails to create the related item, SalesOrderProcessing handles the error as specified in its INFORMATIONAL_EXCEPTIONS property. Set to "verify" to cause SalesOrderProcessing to verify related items in the destination application. SalesOrderProcessing copies the ItemId from the Order business object and creates the type of generic business object specified in the ITEM_TYPE property. SalesOrderProcessing sends the business object with the Exists verb to ItemWrapper. In turn, ItemWrapper retrieves the business object from the destination application. If ItemWrapper fails to retrieve a related item, SalesOrderProcessing handles the error as specified in its INFORMATIONAL_EXCEPTIONS property. Set to "neither" to cause SalesOrderProcessing to synchronize the triggering Order business object without first synchronizing related items or verifying existing related items in the destination application. |
neither, verify, sync | 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:
To upgrade to a newer version of the collaboration template, perform the following steps: