IBM BPM, V8.0.1, All platforms > Authoring services in Integration Designer > Services and service-related functions

Integrating BPEL processes with IBM Case Manager cases

Business process management and case management are intersecting domains that are converging as corporations use both approaches to stay agile in a turbulent and competitive business market. They have some similarities in that they both have processes, however, their designs are different though complementary.

Integration Designer and IBM Case Manager offer a way of using both approaches together. From a case management task, a BPEL process created in Integration Designer can be invoked. The process can be a microflow, that is, responds immediately, or long running, that is, takes longer to respond as the process is more complex. To provide access to a microflow or a long-running process, you use the external service wizard in Integration Designer to create a web service.

In addition, an Enterprise Content Management adapter is offered to allow interaction with an IBM Case Manager repository.

The information in this section focuses on using the external service wizard in Integration Designer to create a web service. To see how to create a task in IBM Case Manager that uses this web service, see the information in IBM Case Manager.

• Create a web service to implement a case management task
  Case management tasks integrate with BPEL processes through a web service which you can build by using the Integration Designer external service wizard. The web service can be implemented in the following ways: a microflow process, which provides a synchronous response; a long-running process, which provides an asynchronous response; or any combination of Service Component Architecture components.
• Editing and validating exports used with case management tasks
  As the case design or BPEL process evolves, the input and output parameters can change. If the web service needs to be moved to a different server to do an integration test, for example, then the host name, port and path can change. You can edit the input and output parameters then validate your changes.
• Delete a web service export used with a case management task
  Changes to your case management task may require deleting the web service export used with it.
• Design considerations for web services used with case management tasks
  

  You should be aware of some differences when working with case management tasks.