comments on ebBP FAQ

[Sacha Schlegel <sschlegel@cyclonecommerce.com>]

Hi Sally FAQ editor

Some very casually formulates questions and some possible answers.


question)

What is the actual value of using business signals? It seems it needs a
lot of infrastructure to a) monitor them and b) to handle exceptions.

You mention it is used for state alignment, what state are you talking
about? 

For example a business transaction that has a requesting business
document and a responding business document. When I sent the requesting
business document I just have to wait to receive the responding business
document without all the business signal. The same for the following
business transaction ... as soon I send the next requesting business
document my trading partner knows that I received the responding
business document of the previous business transaction.

possible answer)

business signals are especially useful when it can take a long time
before the responding business document follows the requsting business
document. Instead of waiting for the responding business document which
can be received in 15 days ... the business signals assure you that the
requesting business document arrived at the trading partner and that it
started to process it. Potentially you can add user defined business
signal to send status update, such as work in process completed 10 %,
work in process completed 20 %. How you make use of this additional
business information is completely up to you.

question)

couldn't I just use business documents which indicate the status of the
process.

possible answer)

yes you could but those are not substantive business documents but
rather state information. Another advantage of business signals is that
you are making use of standardized business signals (except the ones you
define in addition to the standard ones). 

Monica please check this: Also business signals have semantic meaning
and go with the common business transaction patterns. So for business
people these business signals make sense, too.

question)

can an ebBP instance be executed by an execution engine?

asnwer)

an ebBP instance is not inteded to be executed per ce but can be
interpreted for monitoring.

question)

MUST the actual message flow between trading partner follow exactly the
choreography defined in the ebPB? should the ebBP be enforced?

answer)

??? potentially yes. Actually it is up to you to decide how to handle
out of bound messages. If a 1 Million Euro order is not in sync ...
better think twice whether you reject this message simply because it is
out of order or not. But generally you use ebBP to standardize the
collaborative business processe between the different trading
partners ... so it is intended to be followed as well.

question)

if the ebBP is not enforced what is the purpose of the ebBP?

answer)

to have the definition of what is supposed to go on ... so in case
something goes wrong to immediatly become aware of the exceptiononal
situation.

question)

OK. I have defined a complicated busienss collaboration between trading
partners. MUST the business collaboration be completely executed
electronically or are non automated electronic means still possible,
such as phone calls, faxes etc.

answer)

ebBP helps to define the collaborative business processes between
organisations. How you execute these collaborative business processes is
up to you. If you have a mixed execution of them ... just make sure the
ebBP interpreting or monitoring system is aware of all types of
interactions, such as the confirmation of a purchase order over the
phone.

question)

can an ebBP also be used for other things?

answer)

the ebBP is a great help to document the collaborative business process
and then communicate these collaborative business processes to your
trading partners. So it defenitely can be used as a documentation tool.

Another usage of ebBP's is to drive a portion of the ebXML CPA
management process, if you are using the ebXML CPA component at all.

question)

is there a reference BSI implementation?

answer)

no but maybe check with ebSOA and/or ebRM.	

Regards

Sacha