Service flow runtime terminology

activity
One part of a process managed by CICS business transaction services. Activities implement the business logic. Typically, an activity is part of a business transaction and is executed by a normal CICS® transaction responding to CICS BTS events.
adapter service
A reusable composed business function that exposes a programmatic interface to a service requester in an Enterprise Information System. An adapter service is the generated output from Service Flow Modeler.
basic mapping support (BMS)
An application programming interface between CICS programs and terminal devices. A BMS map set is made up of maps that specify how field data is to be formatted. BMS removes device dependencies from the application program. It interprets device-independent output commands and generates device-dependent data streams for specific terminals. It also transforms incoming device-dependent data into device-independent format. These features eliminate the need to learn complex device data streams. They also allow you to use the same program for a variety of devices, because BMS determines the device information from the terminal definition, not from the application program
build time
The time period when the service interface is defined, modeled or modified.
business transaction
A business entity that has been defined through business process analysis and that can be implemented using information technology. Typically, a business transaction maps to multiple CICS transactions. Developer's use the Service Flow Modeler to model business transactions as adapter services, which they then can deploy to the runtime environment.
Business Transaction Services (BTS)
An application programming interface and set of services for implementing complex business transactions in CICS.
CICS-supplied interface
An interface that is used by a controlling application to initiate a CICS program. An application can use one of three interfaces - ECI, EXCI and EXEC CICS LINK - that are supplied by CICS.
compensation
The act of modifying the effects of a completed activity. How this is implemented is decided by the application designer, but often means the undoing, or reversing, of the actions that the activity took.
compensation sequence flow
A directed graph that models the processing required should a failure occur at run time. Although Service Flow Modeler does not support creating compensation service flows explicitly, a programmer can set values in a service flow and use logic in the controlling application to associate one flow to another for the purpose of performing compensation, as long as the controlling application provides the necessary information in the message header (DFHMAH).
data-container
A named area of storage, maintained by BTS, and used to pass data between activities, or between different invocations of the same activity. Each data-container is associated with an activity; it is identified by its name and by the activity for which is it a container. An activity can have any number of containers as long as they all have different names.
deploy
To place files or install software into an operational environment. In J2EE, this involves creating a deployment descriptor suitable to the type of application that is being deployed. In the case of Service Flow Modeler, the deployment descriptor would define the components and operating system parameters of the adapter service.
deployment pattern
A well defined usage pattern that describes how a service should run in the target environment. Adapter services can comply with a set of simple and complex deployment patterns.
enterprise information system (EIS)
The applications that comprise an enterprise's existing system for handling company-wide information. An enterprise information system offers a well-defined set of services that are exposed as local or remote interfaces or both.
enterprise information system interface
Represents the data source in an enterprise information system, for example 5250 and 3270 screens, COBOL record descriptions and transactions. Using Service Flow Modeler, developers are able to model and compose these interfaces in to a more SOA compliant programmatic interface, enabling the enterprise to transform or adapt to a new set of operations and methods that move the application towards a service oriented architecture.
Link3270 bridge mechanism
A facility in CICS that provides a simplified interface using LINK, ECI and EXCI. An application uses the Link3270 bridge to run 3270 transactions by linking to the DFHL3270 program in the router region and passing a COMMAREA that identifies the transaction to be run and contains the data used by the user application. If the target application used BMS, the reply is presented in the form of an application data structure (ADS), another name for the symbolic map that is generated by the BMS macros used to define the mapping of the 3270 terminal screen.
persistence
An instance state of data that is maintained across session boundaries, or of an object that continues to exist after the execution of the program or process that created it, usually in nonvolatile storage such as a database system.
process
In BTS, a collection of one or more activities. A process is the largest unit that CICS business transaction services can work with, and has a unique name by which it can be referenced and invoked. Typically, a process is an instance of a business transaction.
root activity
The activity at the top of the activity tree (it has no parent activity). The root activity normally is the control program for a business transaction that represents the start and the end of the process. It initiates and controls a set of child activities.
run time
The time period during which the adapter service is available for invocation by a service requester.
runtime environment
The CICS region where the Service Flow Runtime is installed and where a developer can deploy an adapter service.
screen
In its native state, a screen represents the user interface to a 3270 or 5250 application on a host system. A single host application can contain many screens, each of which has a purpose within the context of the application. Screens contain both text and control (or formatting functions) and traditionally display as green screens on 3270 or 5250 terminals.
sequence flow
A graphical representation of a composed service. It shows a sequence of operations, assignments and conditionals that are linked into finite paths such that a request message is processed resulting in a response message.
Service Flow Modeler
An eclipse-based application integration tool set that enables developers to capture, model and expose adapters as services. It enables an organization to expose existing applications as a service-like interface, facilitating the move to a service oriented architecture (SOA).
Service-oriented architecture (SOA)
An architecture pattern that describes at a conceptual level the structure of a software system in terms of its components and the services they provide, without regard for the underlying implementation of these components, services and the connections between components.
transaction
A transaction is the controlled interaction between two entities, usually involving the passing of information. Transactions enforce ACID properties (atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability) in the runtime environment. In certain cases transactions can be rolled back, or reversed to a certain point.
transform
The process of changing the structure and values of data from one form to another. At build time, a developer can use Service Flow Modeler to transform existing interfaces in an EIS in order to facilitate participation of EIS applications in a service in an SOA.