IBM BPM, V8.0.1, All platforms > Create processes in IBM Process Designer > Modeling processes > Integrating with IBM Case Manager

Building the IBM Case Manager Integration service

Like other integration services, this service integrates with another system. Specifically, this service integrates a business process developed in IBM Process Designer with an IBM Case Manager case management solution.

The name for the IBM Case Manager solution you will use and the process application that you are currently using to develop your IBM Case Manager Integration service must be identical. Before developing your service, check that your IBM Case Manager solution name and your process application name match.

Should you rename the IBM Case Manager solution in future you will also need to rename the corresponding process application, and vice-versa.

To build an IBM Case Manager Integration service, follow these steps:


Procedure

  1. Click Implementation in the library section and select IBM Case Manager Integration Service from the menu to create a service that the business process could use later. The library section is found in the upper left area of Process Designer. Enter a name for the service on the following dialog box and click Finish. The IBM Case Manager Integration Service editor opens with the Diagram tab in focus.

  2. From the palette, drag an IBM Case Manager Integration step onto the canvas. The initial IBM Case Manager Integration step is named Untitled which you can rename to something more appropriate.

  3. Click Implementation in the Properties view. Under IBM Case Manager Server, select a case management server from the list of known servers. The drop-down list of servers is located in the Server field. These servers are initially defined under Process App Settings (see Adding an IBM Case Manager server). Should there be no entries in the list that means that no servers have been specified. Click Use Process Application Settings to add a server and add a server.
  4. Under Case Operation, select the appropriate operation.

    • Create case: This operation lets you create a new case. A case is an instance of a case type.
    • Search case: This operation retrieves a set of case references according to a query. See Building a query for a search case operation. The case references are returned in an array object.
    • Retrieve case: This operation retrieves a case, that is, a case instance, based on a case reference. It can be used with a search case operation which provides the case references.
    • Update case: This operation lets you modify a case. See Processing a search case operation result if you want to search for cases and then perform multiple updates by iterating through the array object that is returned.

  5. Beneath Case Type, select the type of case to use.

    For example, a case type for a case pertaining to insurance claims might have an Auto Claim case type.

    Should your case type change in the future you will need to repeat the previous steps for the new case type name and regenerate the business objects which you do in the next step. In other words, changing a case type name in an IBM Case Manager solution is independent of creating this service.

  6. Click Generate Types. This generation creates the business objects which are used by variables to contain the data transferred between your service and the case management server. To see the business objects, click Data.

    If that generating the business objects does not mean that you have created variables with these business objects as types. You still need to create those variables to handle the input and output data for each operation. In the next step on data mapping, you can create these variables quickly by using an auto-map function.

  7. Click Data Mapping. This section lets you create the map between the variables for input and output. As stated previously, these variables need to be created. A simple way to both create and map the input and output variables for an operation is to use the auto-map function. The auto-map function creates private variables for the business objects, which are used by the IBM Case Manager Integration service. Click the auto-map icon to create these private variables.

    The mapping structure for each operation is discussed in Data mapping in case operations.

  8. Save your work to update the process application with any changes to your service.

Integrating with IBM Case Manager