two important biztalk tips

without further ado, here are the two tips (in question form):

1. do you really need an orchestration?
2. do you really need an xsd/xml message?

most developers making the switch to biztalk are most comfortable with procedural code, and thus writing orchestrations feels natural and is a lot more intuitive. however, i've learned that messaging based solutions are extremely powerful, easier to maintain, and incredibly flexible. i'm not saying that you can't build a messaging based solution if you are using orhcestrations... all i'm saying is that most of the time, whatever you're doing in an orchestration, really doesn't need to be done in an orchestration; this is specially true if all you're doing is message manipulation.

also, most projects don't need and xsd/xml message. a .net class as a message is, for most solutions, the better option. there's one big con in using a .net class however. if you need to publish your message externally, the you have to go with xsd, because a .net class offers nothing as far as publication goes. nonetheless, if you don't need an externally published message, go with a .net class... it'll save you tons of times and headaches ;)