SEEDing Inter-Organization Integration

A BizTalk Server SEED Package contains the configuration information needed to exchange business documents between two disparate applications. The process works as follows: The initiator runs the SEED Wizard on its BizTalk Management Desk (a workstation with the BizTalk Server tools) to create a SEED Package that includes information that uniquely identifies the initiating organization, document schemas that define the format of all documents to be exchanged, sample documents that comply with the schemas, the URL of the initiator’s test BizTalk Server, and the URL of the initiator’s production BizTalk Server. The initiator distributes the SEED Package to the recipient (by FTP, e-mail, CD-ROM, etc.) The recipient opens the SEED Package with the SEED Wizard with the BizTalk Management Desk and uses the information in the package to configure its BizTalk Servers and prepare the channel that will perform document translation. The recipient uses the test documents in the SEED Package to test the configuration locally, passing documents between its test and production servers. The recipient uses the test documents in the SEED Package to test the integration between its test BizTalk Servers and the initiator’s test BizTalk Server. Then it tests the integration with its own documents, based on the document schema from the SEED Package. The recipient and the initiator begin the integration of the applications, passing business documents between their production servers.