Documents and business processes

With the rise of web services and exchange of data in XML format, we are essentially talking about document delivery and messaging.  BizTalk provides a reliable business document delivery service which is rules-based and role-based, giving every business a great deal of control over the automation which is occurring.

In addition, the documents can be transformed, tracked and protected with the BizTalk and Windows DNA infrastructure, and if that isn't easy enough… all this is designed through a Microsoft Visio style graphical and user-friendly system!

With the comfort of a guaranteed document delivery system, you can graphically define business processes and trading relationships.  If necessary, you can even design a process which spans multiple companies, defining the way in which the data (for example: purchase orders) is transformed when it arrives at the partner business!  Transformation is the key to ensuring that the disparate business systems that have been built up over time around the world are able to exchange data with other systems (since most systems require their data into many different formats).

How does BizTalk send and receive these documents?  BizTalk provides a gateway for sending and receiving documents over the Internet, which allows companies to interchange business documents with external trading partners.  It does this by supporting existing industry standards, protocols and data formats.

Let's assume you have a trading partner and you will be automating your purchase orders to that partner.  The data for the purchase order is delivered to BizTalk.  BizTalk in turn transforms the purchase order into a text-only format (the format of the text document is in XML) and delivers that XML message (or document) to the remote BizTalk.  The remote receiving BizTalk then transforms the XML message into the required format for the remote system to accept as a valid purchase order.

Because companies already rely on existing software and services for their purchasing, procurement and similar needs, BizTalk provides integration with many existing products (such as ERP systems) and this enables businesses to automatically initiate further dependant transactions with other partners.

As an example, when the company received the purchase order, the SAP system initiates a just-in-time request for delivery of raw materials to other companies.  If necessary, BizTalk can receive these requests and deliver them as well.

Considering that one of the goals of the BizTalk community is to reduce the number of human interventions into the transactions performed by a business, we need to consider how a business will discover which other business (anywhere in the world) supplies a specific item.  For example how do you find a company that supplies the bits of plastic that surround a motor car windshield?  Once you have found that company, where do you go to find out what an acceptable purchase order looks like in that industry and how do you supply it in an automated transaction?

Perhaps more to the point, where does BizTalk go to find a list of alternatives to provide to the IT manager who is visually designing the process (bearing in mind that the IT manager will be visually mapping their data to the businesses purchase order requirements).

BizTalk.org is the key in this type of situation as it contains the document which defines what an acceptable purchase order looks like and possibly how to use it.  BizTalk.org also shows usage statistics in order to determine which schema a particular industry is favouring or is preferred.  We have already mentioned XML and its central role in the design of the messages which BizTalk creates and delivers.  BizTalk.org is a central repository of the "design" for that message and the resulting purchase order.  The document which contains the acceptable "design" is called a schema.

This is why BizTalk.org is referred to as a schema repository and is central to the BizTalk solution for Internet B2B eCommerce.  It provides a guide to the do's and don'ts of B2B eCommerce.  As more and more businesses publish their purchase orders and by advantage of XML schemas which are BizTalk Framework compatible, BizTalk Server enables organizations to conduct business online effectively and efficiently.

How can a business use BizTalk?

There are many different ways in which an organization can use BizTalk.  Some of the ways in which businesses can use BizTalk include:

• Trading partner integration: Web-based or traditional Internet-based electronic data interchange (EDI), supply chain integration, order management, invoicing, and shipping coordination
• Automated procurement: Maintenance repair and operations (MRO) pricing and purchasing, order tracking, and government procurement
• Business-to-business portals: Trading communities, electronic catalog management, content syndication, and post-sale customer management
• Business process integration or exchanges: Commerce site to enterprise resource planning (ERP), commerce site to legacy, and ERP to ERP integration
• Improvement of the company's internal IT development designs and application integration

All of the above result in substantial savings in terms of maintaining flexibility, reducing transaction costs and providing a relatively low cost route to expanding online business practices.

For any company engaged in any level of B2B (or 'business-to-business') integration, BizTalk Server provides the right combination of document interchange and transformation capabilities coupled with enhanced trading partner management tools.

Enhancing existing investments

When you already have a ERM system like SAP, JD Edwards, and Baan; host-based systems; and custom-built solutions - who is going to abandon all that investment now that the internet has highlighted the vast opportunities available to businesses these days?  

BizTalk Server 2000 can meld all these proprietary systems by using the open standards of the Internet and the power of XML.  This is a key benefit of BizTalk since even those companies that have deep pockets (and usually have short arms) will tend to look for a solution that leverages their existing investment.  BizTalk provides for that.

What about EDI?

Initially, BizTalk will only support the X12 and EDIFACT flavors of EDI and it is important to understand that EDI and BizTalk are not competitors.  EDI is effectively the forerunner of non-XML and non-Internet messaging.  BizTalk is the plumbing which underlies the online XML messaging world. 

It is true that BizTalk XML messaging provides significant advantages over EDI in terms of:

BizTalk (and by extension, the company using BizTalk) is "aware" of the contents of the documents being transferred (this is due to the use of schemas, namespaces and XML in general) and can react to those contents based on rules.  Extensive support for data mining and profiling is provided by both BizTalk and the other Windows DNA applications.  (EDI essentially moves a closed document from one location to another.)

Unlike EDI, BizTalk supports a wide range of widely and freely available and inexpensive to use Internet protocols (such as FTP, email and HTTP) and can be fully configured to try one or another route to the destination based on the urgency of the delivery.

Like MSMQ (or 'Microsoft Message Queue') BizTalk can garuantee the delivery of documents and includes configuration features to set the order of delivery of dependant documents.

BizTalk supports EDI

EDI has seen significant growth over the recent years, but with these benefits, it is no surprise that research shows the following growth in Internet based transaction revenues, as contrasted to EDI based transaction revenues:

BizTalk supports the following EDI features:

• The ability to parse EDI and route documents based on standard EDI identifiers
• Transformation of EDI (initially to X12 and EDIFACT only) to any other format (XML, flat file, and so on)
• Transformation of any other format to EDI
• Ability to create EDI and wrap it with standard envelopes, including control numbers
• Support for EDI data types, code lists, and syntax rules
• Ability to parse EDI and route documents based on standard EDI identifiers.
• Database lookup/cross-reference functionality supported by BizTalk Mapper and server core
• Acknowledgement generation and correlation