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Store-and-Forward Messaging Server Components

Figure 2 displays the server components for Siebel Store-and-Forward Messaging.

Figure 2.  Siebel Store-and-Forward Messaging Server Components

A Siebel application server with Store-and-Forward Messaging enabled can support multiple Siebel Handheld applications. Store-and-Forward Messaging includes the following services and server components.

Store-and-Forward Messaging Message Service (SMQ Message Service)

The Store-and-Forward Messaging Message Service is called SMQ Message Service. SMQ stands for Siebel Messaging and Queuing. The SMQ Message Service consists of the following methods:

1. GenDataMsg method is used to extract data messages based on Siebel Handheld application definition. For example, if the Action business component defined for a Siebel Service Handheld application includes activity status and activity description, the method extracts activity status and activity description data based on the application definition. The extracted data is delivered to a Service Handheld application by way of a data message.
2. FormatMsg method is used to convert Siebel data into well-formed XML data or to convert XML data to Siebel data.
3. ProcessUserQueue method is used to receive and process server inbound messages. The method calls the Siebel Handheld Synchronization engine if the inbound message is a transaction-type message.

Store-and-Forward Messaging Transport Service (SMQ Transport Service)

The Store-and-Forward Messaging Transport Service (SMQ Transport Service) is a bidirectional transport service which interacts with the MQe queuing system. The transport service sends or receives messages to and from the server queues, provides data encryption or decryption and performs data compression or decompression. Data is encrypted with the RC4 cipher and compressed with a suitable compression algorithm such as GZIP.

The SMQ Receiver

The SMQ Receiver is a server component which polls the server inbound queues by way of the transport service. Server inbound queues consist of two-level queues, the main application queue and individual queues. For each Siebel Handheld application with Store-and-Forward Messaging enabled, there is one main application inbound queue; for each application user, there is one individual inbound queue. SMQ Receiver dispatches messages from the main application queue into the individual user queues and it starts an inbound workflow task for each user to process the inbound messages in each individual queue. The inbound workflow calls the inbound message handler ProcessUserQueue method, which processes the message based on the message type. For example, if the message is a transaction message, the message is passed to the Handheld Sync Transaction Apply Services.

Outbound Workflows

Siebel Store-and-Forward Messaging comes with three sample outbound workflows: SMQ Outbound Activity to One Recipient, SMQ Outbound Activity to Primary Owned By, and SMQ Outbound Activity to Team. These workflows are defined below.

• The SMQ Outbound Activity to One Recipient is a basic workflow. It is based on the Action business object. This workflow's main function is to generate a message, format the message, send the message to a server outbound queue, and update the message history table.
• The SMQ Outbound Activity to Primary Owned By workflow uses the SMQ Outbound Activity to One Recipient workflow as a subworkflow. This workflow is triggered by the WriteRecordUpdated runtime event in the Action business component. If an activity is assigned to a mobile user or an activity owned by a mobile user is updated, the workflow sends a data message to the mobile user with the updated activity information and its associated data.
• The SMQ Outbound Activity to Team workflow also uses the SMQ Outbound Activity to One Recipient as a subworkflow. The workflow allows you to send a same activity message to all the service technicians on the same team.

Inbound Workflow

Siebel Store-and-Forward Messaging comes with one sample inbound workflow, SMQ Process User Queue. This workflow picks up server inbound messages from each individual inbound queue and processes them.

For greater detail, see Siebel Store-and-Forward Messaging Sample Workflows. In addition, these workflows can be examined using Siebel Tools. For more information see, Siebel Business Process Designer Administration Guide.