A method for promoting properties for processing a message in a business automation system includes the steps of receiving a message which has a plurality of parts where each part has associated properties; identifying the associated properties to be promoted; extracting the information of the promoted property; storing the information of the promoted property in a memory; and processing the message by accessing the information of the promoted property from the memory instead of directly from the message. The method may further include correlating a received message with an earlier processed message by using a correlation method utilizing a strong naming convention to generate a correlation identifier.