IBM BPM, V8.0.1, All platforms > Authoring services in Integration Designer > Services and service-related functions > Building mediation flows > Aggregating and broadcasting messages
Shared context
Shared context is a thread-based memory location that is shared across all instances of the service message object that are running within the same thread for the request or response flow. The shared context is used during a Fan Out / Fan In aggregation to temporarily store service responses.
The shared context area of the message is the point of aggregation. Much like the transient and correlation context, shared context is a user-provided business object that is set at the input node of a mediation flow. The shared context is where data is placed in a mediation flow for Fan In primitives to access during an aggregation.
Use shared context for Fan Out and Fan In aggregation and not for general data storage during a mediation flow. Use transient or correlation context for general data storage during a mediation flow.