Chapter 5 Building a Collaborative Business Process Model

Designing for ebXML CPA

This section explains how to design ebXML CPA objects in the PowerDesigner Business process Model.

The ebXML CPA document is an option in the ebXML BPSS generation.

Since an ebXML CPA document is based on a BPSS document, the two documents share some parameters such as roles, business transaction activities, or business transactions characteristics (business actions, business documents and messages ordering, times to acknowledge receipt, times to acknowledge acceptance). However, CPA values often override BPSS values.

Since PowerDesigner generates either BPSS or CPA documents from the same Business Process Model, the shared items have the same value. In order to save BPSS and CPA values separately, you can:

Design a BPM to generate a BPSS document
Generate another BPM from the first one by using the Save As function or the model-to-model generation function. Then you can use this new model to define CPA specific values and generate the CPA document template.

The two Business Process Models include an ebXML BPSS 1.04 process language.

An ebXML CPA document defines a sequence of actions the trading partners take to execute a business process. These actions represent messages sent from one partner to another, typically with attached business documents. Actions always occur as CanSend/CanReceive Action pairs between the partners. This means that if the CPA defines a CanSend element for Partner A, then it must also define a corresponding CanReceive element for Partner B.

The CPA template generation is, therefore, mainly based on the choreography of Binary Collaboration, Business Documents and signals exchanged during each Business Transaction.

Each CanSend/CanReceive action constitutes an elementary agreement between the two partners. It defines agreed technical parameters related to message exchange such as delivery channel protocol and security, or message packaging. PowerDesigner provides CPA specific extended attributes to define these technical parameters.