In some cases you may need to customize the default message scheme to meet your business requirements. For example, you may need to add an additional field to an existing segment or define a new custom Z-segment. With HL7 Module, you can customize the XML schemas for the HL7 message definitions by making copies of the default message definitions (XML schemas) provided with the module and modifying them as required. These customized XML schemas represent the custom message scheme. For information about how to configure HL7 Module to use the custom message scheme, see Creating a Custom Message Scheme.

Using Trading Networks, two trading partners can exchange messages that conform to a specific HL7 message scheme. To use a specific HL7 message scheme between two trading partners, you must generate the message scheme in HL7 Module and then associate the message scheme ID with the trading partner agreement that you use for the message exchange. For information about associating a message scheme ID with a trading partner agreement, see Associating a Trading Partner Agreement with a Message Scheme ID.