Identifiers 

Identifiers are used to identify objects uniquely.

An identifier comprises the following:

●      Agency

Defines the identification scheme and issues names for the objects to be identified.

●      Scheme

Constitutes the reference framework within which objects are uniquely identified by names.

●      Name/Value

A name or value that identifies the object within the given identification scheme.

An object can only be uniquely identified when all three have been specified.

A person can be identified in many different ways, for example, by their customer number at a mail order company, or their name or employee number at their place of work. To be able to identify a person uniquely, it is not sufficient to just know the customer number, for example, you must know that this number is a customer number. Only once the frame of reference (an identification scheme) is also known can a person be identified uniquely (by using a number or a name).

In the example, the agency Mail Order Company manages the identification scheme Customer Number. Different customers are issued unique names (customer numbers) within this scheme.

Identifying Communication Parties

In the PCK, identifiers are used to identify communication parties.

Multiple globally-recognized identifiers are supported for identifying companies involved in cross-company processes (for example, D&B D-U-N-S-Number). In the Integration Directory, you can specify multiple alternative identifiers to identify a communication party.

An identifier for a communication party comprises the agency, scheme, and name of the party. Internally, a communication party is identified uniquely by its name (in the PCK).

In a particular collaboration step, two parties must agree on a particular identifier. You define this in the collaboration agreement (in the assigned communication channel).

In certain adapter types, addressing is specified at communication component level (unlike that of communication parties). Adapter-specific identifiers are created for these adapter types.

More information: Communication Component

In the PCK, an agency can represent an organizational unit or a technical unit (a system).

Possible Agency Types

Instance	Meaning	Example
Organization	Manages an identification scheme to identify companies uniquely across the world and issues the values.	The organization Dun & Bradstreet manages the identification schema D&B D-U-N-S-Number.
Technical Unit	Contains an object, which, together with a namespace, forms an identification scheme.	The business system BS_1 (agency) contains the object ’Customer’. In this case, an identification scheme is given by the object type Customer and a namespace. Within this identification schema, a customer (an instance of the Customer object) can be uniquely identified by a name (00001).

Alternative Identifiers in the PCK at Runtime

●      Inbound Processing

If a message from an external party contains an identifier for a company in the message header, the identifier is mapped to the name of the internal party (normalization). Only then can the relevant configuration objects required for the message to be processed further be found and analyzed in the Integration Directory.

●      Outbound Processing:

The internal party name of an outbound message is mapped to the identifiers to be used (in accordance with the configuration settings). The external receiver then receives a message that contains the externally-valid identifier in the message header (denormalization).