Linking and Sequencing

You can impose conditions on a set of messages, process a group of messages together, or make a decision contingent upon the receipt or non-receipt of all messages of a certain type. By using BPM’s linking and sequencing capabilities, you can sort messages into separate containers and execute Business Rules on containers of messages rather than on the individual messages. A container’s link identifier (a correlation ID) differentiates containers and links the messages identified with that container.

When BPM retrieves a message, it correlates the received message to a Business Process instance. If BPM finds a correlation match, it stores the message in the container for that Business Process. Otherwise, it instantiates a new Business Process instance.

For example, a Business Process handles HL7 messages that have been broken up with a continuation pointer. The Business Process contains logic that detects this condition and defers processing the HL7 message until it has been completely reassembled. The container qualifies as “full” when all HL7 messages for the same continuation pointer have been received.