Intelligent Business Objects

As described in the Business Objects as Carriers of Data section all data in AwareIM is encapsulated in business objects. Software systems and electronic devices that an application needs to communicate with are also represented in AwareIM by business objects. Unlike other business objects, though, software systems and electronic devices contain certain “intelligence”, because they are capable of receiving and/or processing the electronic data. Communication with software systems and devices is nothing else but the exchange of the electronic data between applications configured with AwareIM and other software systems and devices.

Human beings and organizations can also be modelled as intelligent business objects provided that AwareIM has electronic means of communication with them (for example, e-mail or fax).

Intelligent business objects are, therefore, those elements of a business capable of receiving, sending and processing electronic information thus ensuring meaningful communication.

Aware IM can communicate with intelligent objects in two ways: sending notifications or requesting services. A notification is a way of communicating where a party can send a message to another party without having to identify itself and without expecting a reply back from the other party. It is entirely up to the other party to decide how to react upon receiving a notification. E-mail is a good example of a notification. Configuration of notifications is described in the Adding/Editing Notifications section.

A service is a more formal and comprehensive way of communication than a notification. A party requesting a service from another party must first identify itself to the other party, and can expect a meaningful reply back. For example, sending payment details to a payment processing system for completion and getting a payment reference number back.

Aware IM communicates with external parties through channels. A channel is software adaptor carrying information between Aware IM and an intelligent business object. Aware IM offers several standard channels including an e-mail channel and a SOAP channel. In practice it means the following:

1. Aware IM can send e-mails to people and organizations as long as they are configured as intelligent objects with the e-mail channel (see also Outgoing Email).
2. Aware IM can use electronic services of service providers over the Internet as long as the service providers are configured as intelligent objects with a suitable channel.

If you need to get Aware IM to communicate with a system or a device that does not support the standard protocols, you can develop a custom channel and plug it into **Aware IM **(see AwareIM Programmer’s Reference). This way you can communicate, for example, with legacy software systems, or process data input from devices such as barcode readers, utility meters, inventory trackers, etc.

Configuration of intelligent business objects is described in detail in the Defining Intelligent Business Objects section.