Configuring Batching (X12)

Batches define how BizTalk Server generates and sends an EDI batches to the party.

Prerequisites

You must be logged on as a member of the BizTalk Server Administrators or BizTalk Server B2B Operators group.

To configure batching settings

1. Create an X12 encoding agreement as described in Configuring General Settings (X12). To update an existing agreement, right-click the agreement in the Parties and Business Profiles page, and click Properties.

2. On a one-way agreement tab, under Interchange Settings section, click Batching Configuration.

3. From the Batch Configuration page click New Batch to create a new batch configuration. A Batch1 tab is added.

4. In the Identification section of the tab perform the following steps:

   1. Enter the Batch name. This value is used as the tab identifier for this batch configuration.

   2. Enter a description of this batch configuration in Batch description.

   3. Batch ID is a read-only text box that displays a unique batch ID after you apply the settings for the batch.

   4. Orchestration instance ID is a read-only text box that displays the batching orchestration instance ID that the batch is associated with. An orchestration instance ID is displayed after a batch is started.

5. In the Filter section of the tab perform the following steps:

   1. Click Filter.

   2. In the Batch Filter dialog box, enter the property, operator and values to build the subscription filter for the batching orchestration. These filter clauses determine which transaction sets the routing orchestration will route to the MessageBox for batching.

      Note

      To specify that all messages to a group will be batched, set the party property in the batch filter to the party name.

      Note

      For more information about the batching process, see Assembling a Batched EDI Interchange.

   3. To delete a row, select the row and click Delete.

   4. To move a row up or down, click the Move Up or Move Down buttons.

6. In the Release section of the tab perform the following steps:

   1. Select Schedule to create and send a batch according to a predetermined schedule. To define the schedule, click Scheduler and then proceed as follows:

      Note

      A batch schedule may be affected by special events. An example is the onset of daylight savings time. If a batch were scheduled on an hourly basis less than an hour after the onset of daylight savings time, the batch would not be created and sent after clocks were reset by incrementing the hour. You can compensate for special events that result in a skipped batch by clicking the Start button on the Batches page to start the batching orchestration manually. You may also have to stop a duplicated batch.

      • To send a batch on an hourly basis, select Hourly. From the drop-down list for First release at, select a date for the first release of the batch, and then enter the time. For Subsequent release every, select from the drop-down list whether the period is in Hours or Minutes, and then enter the number of hours or minutes that will separate each batch.

      • To send a batch on a daily basis, select Daily. From the drop-down list for First release at, select a date for the first release of the batch, and then enter the time. For Subsequent release every, enter the number of days that will separate each batch.

      • To send a batch on a weekly basis, select Weekly. From the drop-down list for First release at, select a date for the first release of the batch, and then enter the time. For Subsequent release every, enter the number of weeks between the week of the first release and the week of each subsequent release. Then select the days of the week that the batch will be released on.

        Note

        The first release will be made at the date and set in the First release at field, even if that day of the week was not selected in the dialog box.

        Note

        If you selected one or more days of the week in the dialog box, a release will be made on any selected day of that first week that comes after the first release. For example, if Monday and Friday have been selected, and the first release was on a Wednesday, a release will be made on Friday of the first week. Subsequent releases will occur n weeks after the first week, with n determined by the value in the Subsequent release every field. Release will occur on each day of the week selected in the dialog box.

      • Select Send empty batch signal to send an empty batch signal if no messages have been received by the batching orchestration when the batch is scheduled to be sent.

   2. Select Maximum number of transaction sets in to create and send a batch whenever a certain number of transaction sets or messages has been routed to the MessageBox for batching. Select the part of the message to count the transaction sets in (either Group or Interchange), and then enter the maximum number of transaction sets to be in the batched group or interchange.

      For example, if you want to batch two interchanges into one batch select Interchange from the drop-down and enter 2 in the text box.

   3. Select Maximum number of characters in an interchange to create and send a batch when a specific number of characters are available for batch processing. Enter the maximum number of characters in the batched group or interchange.

      The batching orchestration will accumulate batching elements until the character count in those elements (minus the count in the envelope) exceeds the maximum count. It will then batch all but the last element (which caused the count to exceed the maximum count).

      Note

      For the maximum number of characters, enter a number large enough that you will generate meaningful batches. That number should at least be greater than the total number of characters in the batch headers and the maximum number of characters in a message. A number that is too small could result in empty batches.

   4. Select External release trigger to create and then send a batch when an external trigger is executed by an application external to BizTalk Server. For more information about how to set up this mechanism, see Implementing an External Batch Release Mechanism.

      Note

      The Override button and Activation range controls remain valid if the External release trigger property has been selected.

7. In the Activation section of the tab perform the following steps:

   1. Select Start Immediately to have the batching orchestration begin batching messages immediately.

      To start the batching orchestration on a specific date, clear the Start Immediately box and select a date and time to activate the batching orchestration.

8. In the Termination section of the tab perform the following steps:

   1. Keep No end date selected if you do not want to specify an end date for the batching orchestration to be deactivated.

   2. Select End after (occurrences) to specify that the batching orchestration will be deactivated after a certain number of batches have been generated. Enter the number desired in the text box.

   3. Select End by to specify an end date that the batching orchestration will be deactivated. Messages will no longer be collected for batching as of this time. Select an end date from the calendar or change the date or time directly in the text box.

9. Click Apply to apply the batch settings you provided in the previous steps. After you click Apply, a batch ID is created and is displayed in the Batch ID text field in the Identification section.

   Note

   A message Batching is not activated will be displayed under the Start button.

10. Click Start to activate a batching orchestration manually.

    Note

    To make sure that the batching orchestration will be promptly activated when you click the Start button, update the polling interval for the SQL adapter in the BatchControlMessageReccvLoc receive location. For more information, see Walkthrough (X12): Sending Batched EDI Interchanges.

    Note

    After you click Start, click Refresh. It can take a while to associate the batch with the orchestration instance. If you click Refresh before the batch is associated with the orchestration, you see the message Batching is activated, Batching orchestration not instantiated yet. Click Refresh again to see the associated orchestration’s instance ID in the Orchestration instance ID text box. The message Batching is activated is displayed under the Start button.

11. Click Override to forces the batching orchestration to send a batch, whether or not the release criteria have been met. Using this option overrides the existing batch criteria, with the result that a batch is created using existing elements and then sent immediately. After this, the batching orchestration resumes batch processing according to the established settings.

12. Click Stop to terminate an active batching orchestration without sending a batch and deactivate the batching orchestration manually.

13. Click Refresh to refresh the status of the batching orchestration.

    Note

    You can use the drop-down list at the top of the Batch Configuration page to filter the batch configuration tabs displayed by selecting All (to see tabs for all batches), Active (to see tabs for active batches), or Inactive (to see tabs for inactive batches).

    Note

    If you change the configuration settings while the orchestration is processing a batch, the new settings will not be applied to that batch. This can result in validation errors in the send pipeline.

    Note

    To speed up activation of the batching orchestration party on a development server, you can decrease the polling interval for the batching SQL adapter receive location (BatchControlMessageRecvLoc) on that server. We recommend you set the polling interval for a development server to 30 seconds.

14. Click OK to validate the changes and then close the dialog box.

See Also

Configuring Interchange Settings (X12)
Configuring an Outgoing Batch
Assembling a Batched EDI Interchange
Implementing an External Batch Release Mechanism