Overview of Siebel Connector For IFX XML

Overview of Siebel Connector for IFX XML

This chapter includes the following topics:

About Siebel Connector for IFX XML

Oracle’s Siebel Connector for IFX XML provides integration between Siebel Business Applications and other systems. The connector makes use of the IFX Business Specification document Version 1.0.1, a financial industry standard XML specification.

The Siebel Connector for IFX XML receives, parses, and processes the business operations specified in the XML message. It handles both outbound and inbound messages.

This integration offers powerful capabilities designed to support communication between a financial institution and its customers, its service providers, and other financial institutions. Eventually it will support direct communication between a financial institution and its customers. This solution allows you to effectively harness the synergies between Siebel front office applications and IFX-based applications. The Siebel Connector for IFX XML extends Siebel applications to integrate with back office data and business processes.

The Siebel Connector for IFX XML supports both synchronous and asynchronous transactions across application boundaries. The resulting consistency and sharing of data enables efficient coordination between front and back office operations. For example, a customer can request a balance inquiry in Siebel Financial Services Enterprise Applications and receive real-time response from an IFX-enabled banking application within the bank. Similarly, an individual account holder may bank from home using a secure connection over the public Internet to connect to the financial institution’s Siebel Business Application. The request message, sent from the customer’s personal computer at home, may enter the financial institution’s private data network for processing or be routed to a third-party service provider that processes that message on behalf of the financial institution. Regardless of the organization that actually processes the message or what computing and network architecture that organization has installed, the customer receives a response message with standard semantics.

Required Components for Siebel Connector for IFX XML

The Siebel Connector for IFX XML requires the following components in order to implement message exchanges between Siebel Business Applications and IFX-compliant applications:

Siebel Financial Services
A license to use the Siebel Connector for IFX
The Siebel Connector for IFX XML license key can be obtained from by logging a service request on My Oracle Support.

Note: Siebel Connector for IFX XML is not automatically available as part of Siebel Financial Services, but must be purchased separately.
Siebel Event Manager to initiate a workflow process through a Siebel workflow manager (optional). In the absence of the event manager, an eScript can initiate a workflow process. The Workflow Process Designer is delivered as a part of Siebel Financial Services.

Note: You must also be familiar with IFX XML models. Additional information about these models can be obtained by visiting the Interactive Financial eXchange (IFX) Forum: http://www.ifxforum.org.

For the purposes of this document, it is assumed that all these products have been successfully installed and tested for completeness by trained personnel before starting to use the Siebel Connector for IFX XML for integration.

Using the Siebel Connector for IFX XML

This chapter provides a brief overview of the capabilities of the Siebel Connector for IFX XML. Additional information about integration with Siebel Business Applications is available in:

Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration
Siebel Financial Services Enterprise Application Integration Guide

Your work with the Siebel Connector for IFX XML consists of:

Using the IFX wizard to create integration objects to map data between Siebel and IFX-based external applications.
Creating integration workflow processes based on the mapped objects.

You can learn how to build the transformation maps and create workflow processes from this guide. You can also use some out-of-the-box IFX messages and workflow processes defined in this guide as your reference for implementation. Some information on customizing your integration is included in this guide, but you will also need to consult additional guides specified in the text.

Major chapters in this guide provide a description of IFX rules and syntax, the methods and arguments for configuring a Siebel Connector for IFX XML to customize your integration solution, and a sample implementation showing the steps involved to configure and use the connector.

Siebel Connector for IFX XML Architecture

The Siebel Connector for IFX XML is a configurable set of components that allow data to be exchanged between your Siebel application and external IFX-based applications and databases. As shown in the following image, the Siebel Connector for IFX XML is built on the Siebel Financial Services Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) Architecture, which in turn is built on Siebel Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) Architecture. The Siebel Financial Services EAI framework has been built to support an XML messaging-based communication infrastructure.

Generally speaking, users of Siebel Financial Services must integrate with many different applications through messaging mechanisms. In order to fulfill this requirement, many connectors have to be built in order to support various industry standards. Siebel Financial Services is in a position to quickly and easily build and deploy multiple connectors based on the flexible Siebel EAI Architecture.

To demonstrate such flexibility, Oracle has built two connectors, ACORD P&C Connector and Siebel Connector for IFX XML, both based on the Siebel Financial Services EAI framework. Please refer to Siebel Financial Services Enterprise Application Integration Guide for more information about the flexible Siebel Financial Services architecture.

High-Level Architecture of Siebel Financial Services EAI: In this image, Siebel Financial Services EAI Architecture sits on top of Siebel EAI Architecture, which in turn sits on top of Siebel Business Architecture. IFX XML Connector (including Teller Application and EBPP ) and ACCORD XML Connector (including Commercial Lines and Personal Lines ) both sit on top of Siebel Financial Services EAI Architecture. The following components are under Siebel Business Architecture: Security, Data Visibility, Workflow, Transaction Management, Data Synchronization and Replication, Data Analysis, Customization, Software Distribution, Personalization, Content Management, Routing and Assignment, Dynamic Load Balancing, MultiLanguage/Multicurrency, Data Movement, Application Upgrades, Access Control.

Financial Services architecture provides the functions required for XML processing, such as:

Handling the XML message header
Handling heterogeneous commands in the body section of an XML message
Data type formatting and conversions
Data model mapping through the various connector modules

These Siebel Connector for IFX XML modules include the FINS IFX Wizard, the FINS IFX XML Dispatcher, the FINS IFX XML Converter, the FINS IFX XML DTE, and the FINS IFX XML Transaction Manager.

The Siebel Connector for IFX XML is based on the IFX XML standard for financial industry data exchange. Siebel Connector for IFX XML was built using the IFX XML standard. The IFX XML standard is designed to address financial institutions’ real-time requirement by defining banking transactions that include both a request and a response message. The IFX specification with this connector allows financial institutions to support customers using a broad range of channels, including, but not limited to:

World Wide Web access using any standard web browser software
Personal computers with personal financial manager (PFM) software
Voice response units (VRUs) that provide bank by phone services
Automated teller machines (ATMs)
Consumer mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones
Mobile telephones with data capabilities

The Siebel Connector for IFX XML supports all data types in the IFX specification that are used to represent all data passed between clients and servers using the messages defined.

Business Data Flows for Siebel Connector for IFX XML

Each standard integration or custom integration is based on business data flows. A business data flow controls the transformation of an IFX-based data object to a Siebel data object and a Siebel data object to an IFX-based data object.

There are two types of business data flows:

Outbound to an external IFX-based application (Send)
Inbound from an external IFX-based application (Receive)

The following figure illustrates both inbound and outbound business data flows. For more information on each of these data flows, see the following topics:

Data Flow in the Siebel Connector for IFX XML. This image contains the following components: Siebel User Interface, Siebel Object Manager(s), Database Server, Business Integration Manager, External Applications. There is an arrow going from Siebel User Interface to Siebel Object Manager(s) and then onto Database Server. There is an arrow going from Siebel Object Manager(s) to Business Integration Manager. There is a double-sided arrow going from Business Integration Manager to External Applications. Business Integration Manager contains the following components: FINS IFX Transformation Manager, FINS IFX XML Data Transformation Engine, FINS IFX XML Converter, FINS IFX XML Dispatcher, XML Hierarchy Converter, MQ Series, Integration Object Manager, External Integration Object.

The processing for each type of data flow is contained within a Siebel workflow process. The workflow process is initiated by the Siebel Event Manager or by a Siebel eScript call.

Outbound Data Flow for Siebel Connector for IFX XML

The image in Business Data Flows illustrates an outbound data flow as well as an inbound data flow. During an outbound data flow:

When the workflow process is initiated, the FINS IFX XML Transaction Manager extracts data from the Siebel database. It takes as input all the ROW_IDs of the objects.
This data is then used to instantiate the internal integration objects based on the Siebel business objects.
The FINS IFX XML Transaction Manager then returns all the instances retrieved as Siebel property sets.
A property set is a representation of data in memory in the Siebel internal format. It is used widely by the business services that constitute the connector components.
The internal integration object instances are then passed to the FINS IFX XML Data Transformation Engine (DTE) to transform the internal integration object instances into external integration object instances.
The FINS IFX XML DTE also adds all necessary IFX-specific command layer attributes into the instances transformed.
The FINS IFX XML Converter converts all external integration object instances into proper XML integration object instances. It also adds the envelope, header, and other sections to the newly converted instance.
Lastly, the XML Hierarchy Converter converts the XML integration object instance from a property set format into a text format.
The message is then sent to external systems using any transport mechanism supported by Siebel EAI.

Note: Business Data Flows for Siebel Connector for IFX XML depicts the connector process using the MQ Series transport adapter. However, the transport mechanism can be HTTP, MSMQ, or any other transport mechanisms supported by Siebel EAI.

Inbound Data Flow for Siebel Connector for IFX XML

The image in Business Data Flows illustrates an inbound data flow as well as an outbound data flow.

Inbound business data flows start with a receiver server component such as the MQSeries, HTTP, or MSQM.

The receiver runs in the background continuously, waiting for data from external IFX-based applications. When the receiver receives an IFX message, it invokes the workflow process configured to handle and process the data. The workflow process typically dictates the whole Siebel Connector for IFX XML business logic.

The raw XML text string is passed through the XML Hierarchy Converter to be converted into an XML integration object instance.
The FINS IFX XML Dispatcher then takes in the XML instance, parses it and identifies the messages received according to the rule sets in the IFX Dispatcher Map. The IFX dispatcher identifies the envelope, header and body sections. The dispatcher then associates the appropriate internal and external integration objects to the message so that it can be processed by the converter.
The Dispatcher map is an integration object created by the FINS IFX wizard.
The FINS IFX Converter then takes the XML instance, and processes individual sections of the instance while converting each sub-tree into external integration object instances.
The FINS IFX XML DTE transforms the external integration object instances into internal integration object instances.
The internal integration object instances are passed to the FINS IFX XML Transaction Manager which performs the operation specified in the instance through the invocation of other business services configured in its user properties.

Workflow Integration for Siebel Connector for IFX XML

Siebel workflow processes control the flow and transformation of data into and out of Siebel applications. You create a workflow process using the Workflow Designer, a graphical user interface provided within Siebel Tools. Siebel workflow processes provide many more capabilities than those described in this guide. For more information about the Workflow Process Designer, see Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide.

Integration Objects for Siebel Connector for IFX XML

Integration objects are the data containers used within the workflow process environment. They represent the data structure of either a Siebel business object or an external application’s data object.

You can create integration objects with the integration object wizard provided in Siebel Tools. The integration object wizard can create Siebel integration objects from Siebel business objects.

For IFX integration work, please use the FINS IFX Wizard in Siebel Tools that reads an IFX Document Type Definition (DTD) and creates the required external integration objects, pairs them with the internal integration objects, creates the envelope and header integration objects, and finally associates all of these in the rule-based dispatcher map.

This document describes how to use the FINS IFX Wizard to complete design time requirements. For more information about the FINS IFX Wizard see FINS IFX XML Wizard Business Service. For more information on the integration objects read Integration Platform Technologies: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration.

Business Services for Siebel Connector for IFX XML

All of the connector components are Siebel business services. Business services execute predefined or customized actions in a workflow process. Examples of business services include the FINS IFX XML Transaction Manager, Siebel EAI Adapter, and the FINS IFX Converter.

Siebel business services act on property sets passed to them. They perform business logic operations such as interfacing with a database, interfacing to IFX-based systems, or transforming one integration object into another.

Business services have object-like qualities, such as methods, method arguments, and user properties. These elements define how a business service can be used. Although business services can be used to perform many different functions, they all have a standard interface.

Oracle provides many business services, and you can create your own. Business services are defined in Siebel Tools.

This guide describes those business services used to interface to IFX-based systems. For more information on business services in general, read Integration Platform Technologies: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration.

IFX XML Standard

When handling insurance application information, your Siebel application implements the IFX standard for XML documents to connect with external applications.

IFX publishes a DTD that allows the Siebel Connector for IFX XML to create mappings between its data and data in external databases. The DTD is required by Siebel Connector for IFX XMLs.

You can find the IFX DTD, along with complete documentation, at the Interactive Financial eXchange (IFX) Forum: http://www.ifxforum.com

Be certain to use the appropriate version of the IFX DTD, version 1.0.1.