Describing Exchange Contracts
An Interaction represents the exchange of information between architecture components.
An interaction represents a contract established in a specific context between autonomous entities that are internal or external to an enterprise. These entities can be enterprise org-units, applications, activities or processes, as well as external org-units. The content of this contract is described by an exchange contract.Content of an interaction is described by an exchange contract.
An exchange contract is a model of a contract between organizational entities. This contract is described by exchanges between an initiator role and one or several contributor roles.An exchange contract is described by a sequence of operations which are represented:
• by exchange contract use
An exchange contract use is associated with an exchange contract. It enables representation of complex exchanges.• or by exchange use
An exchange use represents the usage of an exchange in another exchange contract.
For more details on exchanges, see Describing exchanges.Examples of Exchange Contract Diagrams (BPMN)
An exchange contract is described by a sequence of steps which are represented:
• either by exchange use
• or by exchange contract use
An exchange contract use is associated with an exchange contract. It enables representation of complex exchanges.The exchange contract roles, presented at the border of the frame, represent participants:
• customer/supplier, or
• sender/recipient
An exchange can be described by involving more than two participants. In this case, one role is the initiator of the exchange contract and the others are contributors.
Exchange Contract Diagram (BPMN) example
The exchange contract diagram associated with the “Customer identification” exchange contract describes, in BPMN formalism, the operations executed.
Exchange Contract Diagram (BPMN) "Customer Identification"
Customer identification protocol starts with a customer identification step. If the customer is found the exchange contract returns customer information, if not, a customer creation exchange contract is activated.
Advanced communication exchange contract example
"Information Requirement" Exchange Contract Diagram (BPMN)
The "Information Request" exchange contract is used by the call center to take account of a customer request online. There are therefore three participants in this exchange contract: the customer, the IT applications and the customer representative who is the effective requester of the service (in this case the call center).
This exchange contract consists of identifying the customer, then analyzing the request. The request is then processed as a purchase request or as another request if it is an information request for example.
The Roles property page provides access to the list of contributor roles and to the initiator role.