Overview TIBCO BusinessConnect SOAP Protocol uses interfaces, versions, and operations to categorize and define actions in an electronic business transaction. SOAP Interfaces An interface is a category of operations, for example, Manage Purchase Order. This category includes a group of related operations, such as the following operations: • Create Purchase Order • Change Purchase Order • Cancel Purchase Order Each interface has a version number. Administrator can preserve older versions of interfaces when creating newer ones. Each interface contains some specific operations. For example, a Manage Purchase Order interface could have the following definition: The purpose of the interface is to specify the purchase order management process between trading partners. The management process includes the creation, change, and cancellation Business Document. All purchase order acknowledgments of acceptance are "substantive acceptance". A substantive acceptance returns some part of the original business document without modifications. SOAP Operations Each operation defines an action. For example, the definition of a Create Purchase Order operation might include the following: • The operation description and transaction type. Transaction type might be notify or synchronous request-response. • The transaction type request parameters, such as the schemas for header and body element validation, and signing and encryption options for incoming and outgoing requests. • The operation response parameters, such as the schemas for header and body element validation, signing and encryption options for outgoing and incoming response. Each installation can be the initiator for certain interfaces. At the same time, the responder can also be the initiator for the same or other interfaces. Interfaces are defined in terms of their input and output, with no inherent initiator or responder. Trading partners can exchange interfaces by exporting or importing them. After interfaces and operations have been set up, they must be associated with protocol bindings. For step-by-step instructions, see Configuring SOAP Agreement Protocol Binding.