TIBCO iProcess Practice: An Introduction about Integrate with BusinessWorks

TIBCO BusinessWorks is a very powerful enterprise application integration platform. TIBCO iProcess intergrate with BusinessWorks will provide very strong integration function for BPM platform. This document will describe how the iProcess integrate with BusinessWorks.

Software

TIBCO iProcess Engine (iPE) and BusinessWorks (BW) should be installed on the server side and iProcess Workspace should be installed on the client side. To integrate iPE and BW, beside the software mentioned above following software must be installed.

TIBCO iProcess BusinessWorks Connector

TIBCO iProcess BusinessWorks Connector is required in the integration of iProcess and BW. iProcess BusinessWorks Connector is to provide an efficient and easy to use interface between BusinessWorks and the iProcess Engine. The iProcess BusinessWorks Connector can be used in the following ways:

•  A TIBCO BusinessWorks process definition can invoke a TIBCO iProcess Engine procedure. For example, a BusinessWorks process starts or suspends a case of an iProcess Engine procedure.

•  A TIBCO iProcess Engine procedure can invoke a TIBCO BusinessWorks process definition. For example, a step in a TIBCO iProcess Engine procedure calls a BusinessWorks process and waits for a reply.

The iProcess BusinessWorks Connector consists of three components:

•  TIBCO BusinessWorks iProcess Plug-in — this component is installed on the same machine as TIBCO BusinessWorks and provides a set of resources that allow a TIBCO BusinessWorks process definition to communicate with the TIBCO iProcess Engine.

•  TIBCO iProcess BusinessWorks Client Plug-in — this component is installed on the same machine as the TIBCO iProcess Client and the TIBCO iProcess Modeler. It provides a set of steps that allow an iProcess Engine procedure to invoke a TIBCO BusinessWorks process definition.

•  TIBCO iProcess BusinessWorks Server Plug-in — this component is installed on the same machine as the TIBCO iProcess Engine and provides the communication mechanism that allows the engine to make calls to TIBCO BusinessWorks.

TIBCO Enterprise Message Service

TIBCO Enterprise Message Service (EMS) is a TIBCO Message Oriented Middleware product which based on Java Message Service (JMS) standard. In the integration, iPE and BW transfer the message between them thought EMS server. (It seems the BWC can use other JMS product beside TIBCO EMS, but I never tried it.)

Environment Introduction

 

 

 The two figures above illustrate the integration environment of iPE and BW. This section describes the relationship of these components.

1. iPE procedure develop client tool connect with iPE server, the tool can get iPE procedures which had been released in the server. Users can modify, delete or create procedures using the tool. The client tool which installed with iProcess BW Client Plug-in can create, modify and release the procedures which include BW EAI Step that can invoke BW Process.

2. On the iPE server which had been installed iProcess BW Server Plug-in, when start the iPE procedure that include EAI BW Step. The EAI Step will send EMS message to EMS server according the user's configuration when release the EAI Step.

3. On the BW Server which had been installed BW iProcess Plug-in, start the application which include iProcess Service Agent and this application will connect to a queue on EMS server. When the iProcess Service Agent receive a message that send by iPE, it will invoke relevant BW Process.

4. When the BW Process in the step 3 finished running, the process result will return to iPE through EMS . The Procedure in iPE will receive this message and continue release to next BPM step.

5. The operation to the iPE procedures in BW Process is actually operation on the iPE database. All these operations are encapsulated in the Activities of BW.

6. There is no relevant with the integration in this step, just introduce the data of the iPE all stored in database. So if we operation to the database in step 5, the iPE procedures can be operation.

Configuration

Following work should be done after installing iPE and BW software.

•  Start iPE and EMS

•  Configure iPE client

Execute SWDIR/ jmsadmin/jmsadmin.sh on iPE server, configure a JMS Endpoing.

•  Configure BW applicaiton

1. To invoke iPE procedure in BW process, user should configure iProcess Connection first.

iProcess Start Case and iProcess Procedure Case Management can be used in BW process to operation iPE procedure.

2. To invoke BW process in iPE procedure, user should configure iProcess Service Agent.

Select BW processes for iProcess Service Agent and export interface file.

Start iProcess Service Agent, it can receive JMS messages that iPE procedure sent and invoke relevant BW process.

•  Configure iPE Procedure

EAI Step should be add in iPE procedure to invoke BW process.

Set EAI_BW as EAI Type for the EAI step.

Configure EAI Call-Out Definition, after importing interface file which generated by TIBCO Designer, the BW EAI step can invoke the BW processes.

TIBCO BusinessConnect
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 TIBCO BusinessConnect™ is an enterprise-level B2B gateway. It enables an organization to conduct transactions with other businesses by enabling the secure exchange of business documents and automating cross-company processes. BusinessConnect ties together systems and business processes across company boundaries using the internet. BusinessConnect is built on TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks™, which allows for a familiar experience and ease of integration. BusinessConnect supports all major transport and business protocols and comes bundled with EZComm, an easy-to-use data transfer protocol that allows you to securely exchange data with minimal configuration. • Securely communicate over the internet. • Expose internal process efficiently to external partners. • Secure transport and documents. • Seamless integration to back-end process.

 Key Features
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• Proven Technology: Built on proven technology (TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks™) that provides a familiar management interface and development environment for those familiar with TIBCO products. • Protocols: BusinessConnect support all major transport and business protocols that are needed. BusinessConnect transport protocol support includes HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, FTPS, AS1, and AS2. BusinessConnect business protocol support includes EDI, HIPPA, ebXML, RosettaNet, cXML, and SOAP. • Smart Routing: BusinessConnect allows you to define simple business rules in order to route inbound public messages coming from your trading partners to be processed by multiple clusters of load balanced engines. BusinessConnect allows you to define simple business rules to route messages to specific private processes. • Native XML Support: Through the use of the SOAP protocol (and others), BusinessConnect allows XML for message format, providing a platform-neutral format for communication. • Full Audit Non-Repudiation Support: BusinessConnect provides a complete set of tools, allowing companies to do full audits of their B2B activities. A non-repudiation database enables BusinessConnect users to determine the authenticity of a message and a sender.  

TIBCO BusinessConnect Remote
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TIBCO BusinessConnect™ Remote is a lightweight B2B client application. BusinessConnect Remote provides an easy-to-use interface that can be easily distributed and can dramatically increase the size of a companies trading community. It allows companies without a B2B infrastructure to send and receive messages and business documents to and from their enterprise trading partners. BusinessConnect Remote is used in conjunction with TIBCO BusinessConnect™ to provide robust, lightweight, partner-to-host communication. • Easy integration of business partners without B2B infrastructure. • Lightweight client application for simplified partner communication. • Provides secure, authenticated communication with no partner administration. • Partner can send and receive documents from the BusinessConnect Host. Key Features of BusinessConnect Remote lightweight B2B Client • Robust Interface: BusinessConnect Remote provides a simple but powerful user interface. The BusinessConnect Remote Console provides a partner company with a complete logging of all transfers accomplished, information about every document transferred, and drag-and-drop ease of use. • Reduced Administration: BusinessConnect Remote creates a self-contained B2B environment that eliminates security risks. A deployment wizard creates all the necessary configuration and connection information. • Security: Security is managed by BusinessConnect. The partner does not have to configure and manage security; it is all managed by the host. • EDI Support: BusinessConnect Remote provides a partner with the ability to send and receive EDI documents easily and securely. IBCO BusinessConnect Trading Community Management TIBCO BusinessConnect™ Trading Community Management is an add-on module for TIBCO BusinessConnect™ that extends the common administrative tasks for the partner community to the participating trading partners. It serves as a central place for enrolling new trading partners and allows trading partners to manage their exchange profiles through a series of self-service operations. BusinessConnect Trading Community Management is a web-based application. All services are provided through a web browser client that allows partners to receive alerts, credentials, and transport updates from the trading host. Trading partners in the trading community can invoke queries for self service and other document exchange activities and manage their identities, credentials, and transports. • Simplify partner management through partner self management. • Minimize partner maintenance and errors in partner profile definitions. • Real-time updates to partner profiles. • Real-time alerting of profile issues.  

TIBCO BusinessConnect & TIBCO BusinessConnect Trading Community Management Architecture
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Key Features of BusinessConnect Trading Community Management 

• Web-Based Application: BusinessConnect Trading Community Management is a web-based application that eliminates the need for software to be installed on local and partner machines. • Manage Profile: Manage your exchange profile information including business location, domain identities, destination URLs, credentials, and transports that are specific to the exchange protocol standards. You can also view trading host's exchange profile. • Manage Users: Add users and manage their privileges to work with business document exchange profile; protocol-specific information such as domains, identities, transports, and security; and business contact information. • Certificate Updates: Have partners provide update certificates proactively through the web interface as well as download latest certificates from the trading host. • Partner Alerts: Notify partners when issues in their profiles have occurred or are going to occur including: certificates expiry, host identity and credentials updates and failures. Partners can also receive community site news broadcast by the trading host.