Best Practices: BizTalk 2004

1. Although simple mappings can be performed using BizTalk Mapper, use XSLT to perform mappings if they get to long and/or complex
2. Do not use Human Workflow Services (HWS) or even install it, as it is not a good Human Workflow engine and Microsoft is going to deprecate it
3. Fix all SQL Server jobs that are created when you install BizTalk, most of them will not successfully run when BizTalk is initially installed
4. After installation of BizTalk (assuming you installed Enterprise Single-Sign On), make sure you backup and document your master secret
5. Use separate Active Directory Users for each BizTalk service and Groups for BizTalk Hosts. This will keep BizTalk more secure by granted minimum access needed as well as making your BizTalk environment easier to scale out.
6. Create separate BizTalk Hosts for each solution deployed
7. Create separate BizTalk projects and namespaces for Orchestrations, Schemas and Pipelines
8. Following:
9. [CompanyName].[BusinessUnit].[ProjectName].[VSNetProjectName]
   Example:
   Microsoft.Office.HelloWorld.Orchestrations
   Microsoft.Office.HelloWorld.Pipelines
   Microsoft.Office.HelloWorld.Schemas
10. Use Enterprise Library Configuration blocks within your Orchestrations to avoid hard coding information in them
11. To avoid manual deployment with BizTalk, script it (using batch files) or create an MSI package to install it
12. Use late binding for send/receive ports
13. Name your send/receive ports after your solution’s namespace, using Pascal casing
14. Use source code control