Collaboration with an EXTERNAL organization

Hi All,

I am estimating usage of Documentum Content Server (now I have downloaded and installed Developer Edition). Partially, I have interested: how Documentum Content Server can communicate with an EXTERNAL organization? My potential customer will be creating ‘projects’; each project consists of several documents. After the documents are created, they must be sent to an external organization that should review them, approve (or require them to be modified) and send them (with some modifications) back. How can Documentum Content Server perform this workflow?

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aflowers001

The Documentum BPM engine (Process Engine) can do this quite happily.

It can be done in a variety of ways but 2 that spring to mind are

a. Email

You can send the documents out from BPM via email and await there return using the provided SMTP inbound tasks. Sent email include metadata that is used to identify the documents and running workflow. The documentation will assist with this.

b. Web Services

You can send the documents out from BPM to a web service endpoint hosted by the external party via email and await there return using the provided Inbound Web Service tasks. You will have to agree the web service contract but other then this it's fairly standard. The documentation will assist with this as well.

GlenLantz

Thank you.

As I understand, such communication requires to have another separate product in addition to Documentum Content Server - Documentum Business Process Management, correct? Or its official name is Documentum Process Suite, and BPM Engine is its part?

Weird - I cannot find Process Suite or Business Process Management in list of Products on http://www.emc.com/products/category/enterprise-content-management.htm. Or they are inside some other chapter, not Enterprise Content Management?

aflowers001

Process Suite is probably a name. I don't know too much about how it is licensed but we have an all 'you can eat' agreement and as such we have the ability to just install it onto the content server machine. Might be worth checking with your Documentum account manager to see what it might cost.

It is now a part of xCP I believe as well and a link to it is

http://www.emc.com/products/detail/software/xcp-business-process-management.htm

and here's links within the community forums

https://community.emc.com/docs/DOC-4237

https://community.emc.com/docs/DOC-8250

DCTM_Guru

BPM is now part of xCP suite and is additional product that you have to license:

http://www.emc.com/products/detail/software/xcp-business-process-management.htm

GlenLantz

Can you tell me: how will this look like for an end-user? There will be a step named like ‘Send to external organization’ in a workflow? And how modified workflow that comes back from the external organization will be merged with the workflow on Documentum server? Especially if instance of the workflow on the Documentum server was modified too meanwhile?
The ‘’b)” is interesting for me. Where can I find more information about the “web service endpoint”? The reason is: I can install on the “external organization” server my own software that will import information from Documentum into document management system of the “external organization”. The “external organization” has its own document management system (named Aconex - http://www.aconex.com/) with its own ‘workflows’ etc. Now I am considering: how to implement it. What could be best approach for this? My software could perform requests to Documentum using DFS, for instance; retrieve such documents and import them into the Aconex. Is there some API in the BPM for this?

DCTM_Guru

1. There are custom workflow activities that allow to either make external web services calls, send email (and/or documents) to external email address, etc. In the Documentum workflow, you have define a listener that makes the workflow "wait" until your external workflow finishes its process and returns the flow back to Documentum. If you modify the Documentum workflow template, when you check it in, you will have the option to apply this to existing workflows or only new workflows. Obviously, if your change occurs passed where your running workflow is at, the running workflow will not get the updates (only new workflow instances will).

2. DFS is designed to allow developers to integrate Documentum with other systems using web service calls. DFS is library of web services, so if you need to do specific things with Documentum, you have access to these web services. Keep in mind that DFS web services are high level - in other words, there is not one-to-one parity with low-level Documentum java methods.

GlenLantz

Thank you – this is information I need. Could you please clarify:

The ‘custom workflow activities’, ‘listener’, ‘external workflow’, ‘to return the flow back to Documentum’ – are they official terms I will meet in Documentum docs? I am rookie in Docummentum; so it is important to me to know exact terminology, you understand.
“define a listener that makes the workflow "wait"” – is this ‘listener’ a programmatic object (BOF?) I have to create on Java/.NET/…; or no?
In which docs will I find details of the mentioned ‘external workflow’, ‘listener’ etc? I still have not bought a Documentum license – still cannot decide do I need only Content Server, or xCP too. I have downloaded Documentum Developer Edition 6.6. Will I find this info in its docs?

DCTM_Guru

1. The terms I posted is how I describe them. If you want the "official" terms, just read the Process Builder User Guide.

2. When I say define, I do not mean develop custom code. You can define listener within Process Builder so that your workflow template can "pause" while waiting for external event.

3. Process Builder documentation is part of xCP. If you need access to xCP, I suggest you contact your EMC sales rep.