Business Message Envelope (BME) — Putting Header and Business Message Into One Controlled Package

ISO 20022 Beyond the Message

Example scope: The named banks, application states, identifiers and system designs are fictional implementation teaching. Tree drawings show conceptual containment, not verified BME XML element names or cardinalities. Paths containing an ellipsis are explanatory sketches, not executable XPath. Exact BME, BAH and business-document versions and their service rules must be selected independently.

The ISO 20022 Business Message Envelope (BME) is a technical message container used to bundle a Business Application Header together with an instance of a Message Definition — the business document — typically to support processing or transport. ISO 20022 also allows the BME to contain additional data elements that apply to the message-instance container itself.

The business message is the letter. The BAH is the identity slip travelling with the letter. The BME is the controlled envelope that can hold both together.

It is the technical container around a single message instance and its related application header, with room for container-level data where defined .

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