GLTransactionSync Collaboration Template

The GLTransactionSync collaboration template is used to move general ledger transactions from one application into another. The intent of the collaboration is to send these transactions to the destination application with all the relevant data in the business object so that the transactions are posted to the appropriate GL accounts.

The GLTransactionSync collaboration uses the generic JournalEntry business object. The JournalEntry business object is a hierarchical business object so that an atomic accounting transaction can be captured where debits equal credits. The business object contains information such as company code, transaction amount, the GL posting account number, and the posting key information that identifies the appropriate action (debit/credit) that needs to be taken.

General Ledger (GL) refers to a set of financial transactions that are summarized by categories that underscore the financial statements of a company. A GL also has the following properties:

The process diagram below displays a high-level view of a company's financial process and the flow of account balances into a GL. Three business processes have been identified for this application.

Process 1:

A company can have several business units, each of whom might manage their sub ledgers, Accounts Receivables (AR) and Accounts Payables (AP), in their own independent financial applications. At predetermined intervals the business units have to roll their subledger balances into the corporate financial system's general ledger so that it coincides with the periodic closure of books, so as to arrive at an accurate depiction of the company-wide Income Statement and Balance Sheet.

Process 2:

A company might be in the middle of migrating from one financial system to another. To analyze historical financials and derive metrics, the new system might be the recipient of all GL transactions that were maintained in the old system.

Process 3:

Frequently in mergers and acquisition scenarios, the parent company (or acquirer) typically consolidates the acquired company's financials into its own so that the financials of the two companies are accurately reflected in the resulting company's books. The business-process assumption that the collaboration is based on, is that these GL transactions will be synchronized into a "system of record." The frame of context used during design is that the system of record will presumably be an ERP application such as SAP. In this context, the collaboration should be run uni-directionally so that the receiving or target application is an ERP application.

Figure 1. GLTransactionSync process flow

Issues and assumptions

Collaboration object setup

This section includes information on port bindings and required steps for setting up collaboration objects based on GLTransactionSync. 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.

Port information

Figure 2 illustrates GLTransactionSync's ports, as they are displayed in the System Manager. The tables that follow the figure provide information about each port.

Figure 2. GLTransactionSync 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.

Port name: DestinationAppRetrieve
Business object Bound to Function Verbs used
JournalEntry 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 JournalEntry.

Retrieve


Port name: From
Business object Bound to Function Verbs used
JournalEntry 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


Port name: To
Business object Bound to Function Verbs used
JournalEntry Destination application's connector

Sends the triggering business object out of the collaboration.

Create Update Delete

Setting up the collaboration object

GLTransactionSync is designed to be used as a stand-alone collaboration. To set up GLTransactionSync as a stand-alone collaboration object, follow these steps:

  1. Create the GLTransactionSync collaboration object.
  2. Bind each of the collaboration object's ports as described in Port information.
  3. Set the Configuration properties for GLTransactionSync.  

Collaboration template processes

This section illustrates the process logic for this collaboration template:

Overall process logic

Figure 3 illustrates GLTransactionSync's process logic.

Figure 3. GLTransactionSync collaboration process logic

Inherited process logic

This collaboration template uses the following standard collaboration business processes:

For information about these processes, see the Collaboration Development Guide.

Compensation processing

InterChange Server Express can roll back a transaction when any step in a transactional collaboration fails. For example, when GLTransactionSync 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 GLTransactionSync 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:

  1. Add this capability to the collaboration template and to every other collaboration template in the collaboration-object group.
  2. Set the minimum transaction level of the collaboration object and all members of the collaboration-object group to a value higher than None. If a failure occurs in any subtransaction step, settings of Minimal Effort or higher cause this collaboration object and other collaboration objects in the group to execute compensation for Create, Update, and Delete operations performed on all business objects.
  3. Set the USE_RETRIEVE property of the collaboration object and all other members of the collaboration-object group to "true." Forcing the collaboration objects to retrieve values before changing them allows the collaboration objects to restore the original values in an Update or Delete process.

Configuration properties

Note: GLTransactionSync does not have unique configuration properties. All of its properties are standard.Standard properties

This collaboration template uses the following standard configuration properties for collaboration templates:

For information about these configuration properties, see the Collaboration Development Guide.

Collaboration messages

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:

  1. In the Start menu, click Programs > IBM WebSphere Business Integration Express > Toolset Express > Administrative > Log Viewer.
  2. In the File menu, click Open.
  3. Use the Look In field to change the current folder to ProductDir\collaborations\messages, and then select the message file for this collaboration template.

Upgrade information

Upgrade process

To upgrade to a newer version of the collaboration template, perform the following steps:

  1. Stop the current GLTransactionSync collaboration.
  2. Back up the repository. For information about backing up the repository, see the System Implementation Guide.
  3. If you have customized the collaboration template:
  4. Install the new GLTransactionSync collaboration template.
  5. Add your customizations to the new collaboration template.
  6. Create the new collaboration object, binding it to the appropriate connectors. For more information, see Collaboration setup.
  7. Run and test the new collaboration object.
  8. Make changes to the collaboration object based on any problems found during testing.

Copyright IBM Corp. 1997, 2004

Copyright IBM Corp. 2004