Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration > Custom EAI Business Scenarios >
About Performing Data Transformation
When performing data transformation within the Siebel environment, you use two types of integration objects:
- Internal integration objects mirror the data structure of a Siebel business object and contain a subset of business components and fields.
- External integration objects mirror the data structure of an external system.
You define integration objects of both types in Siebel Tools. The EAI Siebel Adapter performs the same function whether the data transformation is performed inside or outside the Siebel environment. The XML Converter and the transports also perform the same function, whether they are used within the Siebel environment or outside the Siebel environment. The only difference is that when used outside the Siebel environment, both of these business services perform operations on external integration object instances, as opposed to performing operations on internal integration object instances when used within the Siebel environment. You define data mapping and data transformation rules using business services. In the prebuilt external adapters, Siebel EAI has provided many mappings and transformation rules. NOTE: Business services provide a flexible scripting environment for mapping data from the Siebel data structure to an external data structure. Within a business service, Siebel applications provide a set of methods that allow you to perform operations on integration object instances.
Creating Orders to Pass to an External Application
In this scenario, an order is created in Siebel Business Applications and is then passed to an external application. The external application returns the order status and an order number. Table 10 details the requirements for data transformation integration.
Table 10. Data Transformation Integration Requirements
|
Technological Requirement |
|
To create a new internal Integration Object |
Integration object tool or wizard |
Siebel Integration Object Wizard |
To create a new external Integration Object |
Integration object tool or wizard |
Siebel Integration Object Wizard |
To create a new business flow |
Workflow technology |
Siebel Workflow Process Designer |
For this task, identify the Siebel business object that you would want to update. For that business object, identify the components and fields that you expect to update. Next, identify the object in the external system with which you want to integrate. Then, determine the mapping between the Siebel business object and the external object. In Siebel Tools, create a new internal integration object using the Integration Object Wizard. Select only the components and fields that you want to update. Then, in Siebel Tools, create a new external integration object. Then, either in Siebel Tools or in the Siebel client, define the data mapping and data transformation using business services. In Siebel Tools, define an integration workflow process and add any exception handling to it. Test the workflow process using the process simulator. Finally, add a mechanism for invoking it from Oracle's Siebel applications.
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