When the Integration Service runs in the ASCII data movement mode, it sorts session data using a binary sort order.

When the Integration Service runs in Unicode data movement mode, the Integration Service uses the sort order configured for the session. You select the session sort order in the session properties. The session properties lists all available sort orders based on the code page used by the Integration Service.

For example, you have a Rank transformation configured to return the top three values of a string port. When you configure the workflow, you select the Integration Service on which you want the workflow to run. The session properties display all sort orders associated with the code page of the selected Integration Service, such as French, German, and Binary. If you configure the session to use a binary sort order, the Integration Service calculates the binary value of each string, and returns the three rows with the highest binary values for the string.