Standard Action and Event Verbs

Acknowledge

Indicates receipt of a processing request. Also conveys the result of the original request. (For example, your application acknowledges a purchase order (PO) when a PO has been issued and the corresponding business application acknowledges the receipt of the PO and responds with an acceptance or counter offer.)

Add

Use when a complete entity has already been constructed and needs to be communicated for the first time to another business application, and when business implications go beyond what a Sync message would convey. Transactional messages may use Add; setup data should use Sync.

Adjust

Clarifies a specific process (for example, adjustment of inventory quantity on hand when neither Add, Change, or Delete conveys the full meaning).

Allocate

Clarifies a specific process (for example, allocating costs to different business applications when neither Add, Change, or Delete conveys the full meaning).

Approve

Use when an entity passes an approval process and is ready for the next business process step.

Cancel

Use when business implications go beyond a simple change or delete (for example, canceling a purchase order).

Change

Use when an entity is changed based on a business event and the change needs to be communicated to another business application. Encompasses business implications beyond what a Sync message would convey (for example, SalesOrderChange). Transactional messages can use Change; setup data should use Sync.

Confirm

Responds to a request from the receiving application to confirm. This function conveys the result of the original request (for example, when an inventory issue must be confirmed in an application based on an event in a warehouse management business application).

Create

Use when the processing must initiate the building of the document rather than moving the document from one system to another.

Find

Requests a list of items from a business application. The response to this request is List. Equivalent to a search dialog box in which you pass the search criteria over as the message.

FullSync

Replicates a complete entity, including all record instances, between business applications to initially seed the receiving application with that data. Use with all full message definitions.

Get

Requests a specific data entity from a business application. The response to this request is Show. Differs from Find in that the specific entity’s key values are known and its details are being requested, whereas Find checks for existence and returns a list of values that match the Find criteria.

Issue

Clarifies a specific process (for example, issue material from inventory in cases in which neither Add, Change, or Delete conveys the full meaning).

List

Use when sending a list of multiple data entities in a summary format. The List verb can be used to respond to a Find or Get request, or in a publish scenario, to push information to other applications based on a business event. The results of a List can be used as is, or they can be used to select a specific instance of a document or entity to issue a detail Get request.

Load

Initiates the addition of a data entity to another business application where maintenance of the document passes to the receiving application permanently. When the request is passed, the sending application no longer has direct control over the document or entity.

Post

Clarifies a specific process (for example, a posted journal entry, in cases in which neither Add, Change, or Delete conveys the full meaning).

Receive

Clarifies a specific process (for example, when you receive inventory against a PO, in cases in which Change is not detailed enough for the business context).

Request

Requests specific data from a business application. The requested data should be passed back as a separate message.

Show

Sends information about a specific instance of a business entity. Can also be used to respond to a Get request, or in a publish scenario in which it pushes information to other applications based on a business event.

Sync

Communicates the need to update master files between business applications. Facilitates application integrity and ease of data entry for the business user by enabling a single point of input. Should contain only incremental messages of Add, Change, and Delete actions to the entity. Normally used for passing setup messages between applications.

Transfer

Clarifies a specific process (for example, in the event of a transfer of material from one inventory location to another, in cases in which neither Add, Change, or Delete conveys the full meaning).

Update

Clarifies a specific process (for example, in the event of an update of inspection information from one business application to another, in cases in which neither Add, Change, or Delete conveys the full meaning). The event is not adding a document or changing fields, but communicating the occurrence of an event as well as the corresponding data that accompanies the event. Transactional data may use Update; setup data should use Sync.