Patent ID: 8655790

Claim:
A method of supporting an inter-enterprise business interaction that includes electronic exchange of XML-based messages and activation of local processes internal to a business entity, including: maintaining in memory a template model of an inter-enterprise business interaction that includes exchange of XML-based messages, wherein the template model is a data object that internally represents an electronic commerce conversation process standard compliant, XML-based specification of at least an order and timing of electronic messages exchanged in the inter-enterprise business interaction; receiving an inbound message and verifying that the inbound message conforms to a conversation instance of the template model, including conforming to a history of conversation flow in the inter-enterprise business interaction, the history including the order and timing of messages exchanged in the conversation instance; submitting at least part of the inbound message to an internal process manager for posting to a task activation data structure that is used to activate local processes asynchronously from the conversation flow; receiving, after at least one task activation, information responsive to the inbound message; and preparing and sending an outbound message that conforms to the conversation instance of the template model and that includes the information responsive to the inbound message.