Schemas and Data Mapping
Different applications in your enterprise use different data representations. For example, a purchase order in a PeopleSoft system differs from a purchase order in a Siebel customer service system. ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks allows you to view and manipulate the data coming from and going into each service or activity using XML schemas.
This section first gives a brief introduction to schema (Understanding Schemas), then discusses "Schemas in ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks."
Understanding Schemas
The example below shows a simplified XSD (XML Schema Definition) that includes an Order ID element restricted to integer data. Incoming XML documents that use integers for the Order ID are allowed, while an alphanumeric Order ID is rejected.
Figure 26: XML files conforming or not conforming to XSD
Schemas are especially useful if you are deploying a complex system. Schemas are used by the running application but are not included in the code. The use of schemas makes it possible to enforce that outgoing and incoming data strictly comply with the prespecified data description.
Schemas in ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks
In the TIBCO Designer GUI, you can define the schema for adapters and view and manipulate the schema for each activity in the business process.
For business process activities, you can view the available process data and define the input schema for each activity. The process data is the list of available data for that activity. The input schema (required or optional) defines input values for an activity.
You can map the process data to the input data using a drag and drop interface. You can specify conditional mapping using XPath, and you do not need detailed knowledge of XPath for simple conditions. For more information, see Step 7: Perform Mapping and Transformation for Each Activity .
Data mapping is discussed in detail in the TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks™ Process Design.