Using Adapters to Start Business Processes

Some adapters can dynamically select and run business processes. These are known in Sterling B2B Integrator as bootstrap adapters.

Bootstrap adapters are generally input adapters, such as the File System adapter, Command Line Adapter 2, and FTP Client adapter.

When you plan your business process models, use bootstrap adapters to run independently of the process model and then dynamically start the process whenever possible. This strategy encourages reusability, which is one of the best practices recommended for creating your business process models.

Using a bootstrap adapter involves configuring an instance of the adapter, in which you indicate the business process it starts. You can also configure a schedule for running the adapter. For example, in a translation-related process, you can use different configurations of the File System adapter, set up to poll different folders on systems for data input from different places, in different formats. Then, configure your business process model so that the different configurations of the adapter can call and start the same process to translate their data; the translator step determines on the fly which map to use to translate the format of the data it received.