Two Patterns For Using B2B for Oracle Integration
B2B for Oracle Integration can be used in two different ways. This section describes these two patterns for processing B2B messages.
- Standalone mode:
Uses the basic building blocks such as the AS2, FTP, SOAP, or REST Adapters along with the B2B action to process B2B messages. This is the same as any other integration. You build the B2B integrations yourself and track the processing of B2B messages as integration instances on the Track Instances page. In this mode, the B2B trading partner definitions are not used.
- B2B trading partner mode:
Extends standalone mode and provides a fully declarative and configuration-driven setup with trading partner management and a specialized B2B message tracking user interface (the Track B2B Messages page). You define trading partner profiles at design-time and use them during runtime. You only create integrations to interface with your backend applications. Behind the scenes, however, message processing still occurs through integrations. The integrations are automatically created for you using templates available with B2B for Oracle Integration. In short, this mode provides you with a ready-to-use solution that you simply configure and use.
The differences between these two modes are as follows. Overall, the B2B trading partner mode is the preferred pattern to use because it is fully-declarative and simpler to use. This mode was introduced recently when compared to the standalone mode.
Note:
The B2B trading partner mode is only available in Oracle Integration Generation 2 and later.| Feature | Standalone Mode | B2B Trading Partner Mode |
|---|---|---|
| Processing basic B2B messages, including EDI processing | Available. You design and build the B2B integrations using any technology adapters and actions available in Oracle Integration. For instance, you use the AS2, FTP, REST, or SOAP Adapter to interface with your trading partner. To integrate with backend (or back-office) applications, you also use any available application adapters, such as Oracle ERP Cloud Adapter or Oracle NetSuite Adapter. | Available. You start by defining trading partners and other objects in a specialized B2B user interface. The B2B integrations are automatically created for you using a transport type you choose (for example, AS2 or FTP). You separately create the backend (or back-office) integrations using any available application adapters and link to them inside the trading partner profile. |
| Tracking B2B message activity | Limited capability. B2B message traffic is tracked solely as integration instances. Each incoming or outgoing message is one integration instance. You use the Track Instances page to view B2B messages. Tracking and troubleshooting requires deeper skills, likely requiring knowledge about how the integrations were built. | Specialized tracking is available. In this mode, B2B messages are persisted separately and a specialized B2B tracking user interface (the Track B2B Messages page) is provided to view them. This page is less technical and designed for use by B2B operations or help desk staff for routine tracking and troubleshooting. |
| On-boarding new trading partners | To on-board a new trading partner, you manually create and activate additional integrations to receive and send messages from the new trading partner. Design your integrations to support document-based routing. This mode does not use B2B trading partner definitions. | To on-board a new trading partner, you add a trading partner definition in the user interface and input additional configuration. This automatically creates additional integrations to receive and send messages from the new partner. Document-based routing is defined as part of trading partner definitions. |
| Using any adapter to interface with a trading partner | Because the standalone mode only provides basic build blocks, it gives you the power to design the B2B integration any way you want using any technology adapter available in Oracle Integration. For example, you can use the AS2, FTP, REST, or SOAP Adapter to communicate with a trading partner even though some adapters do not currently provide a B2B trading partner mode. | At this time, only the AS2 and FTP Adapters support the B2B trading partner mode. For example, you cannot currently use the REST or SOAP protocols in this mode. |
If you initially built integrations in standalone mode, you can continue to use them as-is. You cannot mix and match the two modes; they work separately and their input/output schemas are different.
More details about each pattern are provided in subsequent chapters.