BizTalk Accelerator for RosettaNet and RNIF

RNIF describes a messaging framework, where different types of documents can be exchanged in a reliable manner. It provides a business flow without getting involved with the details of the transaction documents themselves. For this reason, so far RNIF has received strong acceptance by different industries, such as the electronics supplier and chemical industries. Perhaps the biggest reason for this acceptance is the speed and accuracy of automatic document exchange, hence the savings it can bring over to manual processing.

With its rich and flexible feature-set, BizTalk Server provides a perfect bed for RNIF. Accelerator for RosettaNet, a vertical add-on to BizTalk Server, makes a reliable platform for implementing RNIF solutions. Accelerator for RosettaNet includes the following:

• Messaging components

  • Custom parser, serializer, and signer for RNIF 1.1 messages

• Patterns for implementation of any PIP

• Utilities

  • Messaging Configuration Wizard, which facilitates and automates the process of creating new BizTalk messaging interfaces for a new partner relation

  • PIP Schema Manager, for incorporating new document schemas into the Accelerator

  • PIP XLANG Schedule Tester, an end-to-end process testing tool

  • PIP Administrator, for creating and managing overall partners and process flow

• Software Development Kit, for tailoring the solution to fit the custom needs.

• Detailed documentation of the solution object model and user guide

Before going into the details of the Accelerator, it is important to understand the RNIF and the underlying messaging structure. For that, the best resource is the RosettaNet organization Web site; www.rosettanet.org. Following is a relatively quick introduction.