General Modeling Concept Guidelines for Modeling Integration Scenarios

This section introduces the general modeling concept on which the design of integration scenarios in the Integration Builder is based.

· Multiple logical participants are involved in an integration scenario (=collaborative process). These participants are represented by application components.

· Local (private) processes run within the application components.

¡ The parts of the local process that are visible in the entire process must be shown in the integration scenario (in other words, seen or used by other participants).

¡ All other parts of the local process are private parts of the application component. They are only represented in the integration scenario if this is necessary to understand them.

¡ Actions (= functions running in the application component) and sequences are used to represent the local processes.

· The points of interaction and synchronization between the individual application components are also shown in the integration scenario. This is also known as a global model.

· The integration scenario must contain all communication steps that could potentially occur in the process.

¡ Communication steps are represented by connections between actions in different application components.

¡ Synchronous communication is represented by a horizontal double-headed arrow. Both actions are on the same level in the graphic.

¡ Asynchronous communication is represented by a downward-pointing arrow. The source action is always on a higher level than the subsequent action.

· The vertical arrangement of actions and connections (from top to bottom) implies a logical sequence between the steps. This is similar to UML sequence diagrams.

· The meta model on which integration scenarios are based corresponds to the description with BPEL4WS. This enables you to easily create BPEL4WS documents that describe the process from an integration scenario.

You must follow the modeling principles described here when modeling your integration scenario. In the sections that follow you will find detailed information about modeling the individual objects within an integration scenario.