Process Correlation

In this sample scenario, we explore how to use correlation sets to route a message to an existing instance of a business process. We are going to use the simplest possible BPEL process. An Echo Process which accepts the same request message twice. The following is a sequence diagram for the sample scenario:

Since the second EchoRequest can either create a new instance of the EchoProcess or be routed to a previously created instance of EchoProcess, we require a correlation set.

Introducing CorrelationSet, Property and Property Alias

A CorrelationSet is a unique set of values contained in the message that is used by the process engine to select the correct process instance to send the message to. Correlation is done between two or more messages. A CorrelationSet can contain one or more properties.

Once we define a correlation property, we have to define the corresponding values in each of the messages we expect to correlate. These corresponding values are called Property Aliases.