Document Tracking and Activity

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In a queued environment, it is important to get information back to the server in case something goes wrong. For example, if the transfer of data is not completed, the server needs to know this so that it can try and resend the data or cancel the transaction. It is also desirable to have some way that operators can interrogate the status of a particular message or get statistics of the processes in general.

Your BizTalk server should have sophisticated transaction-tracking information, which might include the following features:

• Tracking documents individually or in batches
• Determining whether a document was delivered properly
• Querying the tracking database based on a document, a trading partner, or an activity
• Attaching time stamps for every activity a document takes
• Storing user-defined data, such as aggregate totals of purchase orders for easily reporting account activity on a partner-by-partner basis

All this data should be available at any time during the document's lifetime or afterward if you need to create post-transaction reports or support any possible post-transaction claims.