Glossary

A

access client
A component that acts as an intermediary between collaborations and an external process such as a Web server. The access client communicates with InterChange Server through Server Access Interface.

access request
A request from an access client to InterChange Server.

access response
Response returned from a component in InterChange Server to an access request.

action
A single step that specifies a unit of work in a collaboration business process. See also action node.

action node
The rounded rectangle symbol that represents a unit of work in an activity diagram in Process Designer. Every action node contains a Java code fragment place holder to which a developer can add code. Process Designer embeds the code fragment in the code it generates. See also action and code fragment.

activity
A set of steps that perform a portion of a scenario. See also action, activity diagram, scenario.

activity diagram
A graphical implementation of an activity, including actions, execution flow, and external calls. An activity diagram contains symbols that specify the steps, the order of the steps, and the logic that determines how they execute.

adapter
The component in the WebSphere business integration system that provides components to support communication between an integration broker and either an application or a technology. An adapter always includes a connector, message files, and configuration tools. It can also include an Object Discovery Agent (ODA) or a data handler.

afterimage
A business object that contains all of an entity's data after changes have been made to it during an update operation. An afterimage contains the complete business object rather than only the primary key and those elements that were changed. See also delta business object.

application
A software program or package of programs designed for a particular purpose, for example, an SAP package that manages manufacturing data or a PeopleSoft personnel records management program.

application entity
A logical grouping of application data into a unit with a discrete function, such as a case, contract, contact, or item. An application data entity is an application's way of organizing data in database tables into units or objects that correspond to business functions.

application event
An operation that modifies an application entity and is of interest to the WebSphere business integration system. See also event and event detection.

application-specific business object
A business object whose attributes represent an entity in an application's data model. Such a business object usually contains attributes that correspond to the fields of the application entity, and contains application-specific metadata, which gives the connector information on how to process the business object and its attributes. The connector uses mapping to transform data between application-specific and generic business objects. See also business object, generic business object, and meta-data.

application-specific information
Text strings that are part of the metadata of a business object and that enable the connector to interact with its application or data source (for example, Siebel or a Web servlet). Application-specific information can be associated with the business object as a whole, with individual attributes, and with individual verbs. See also meta-data.

archive table
A table created in an application to store information about a processed event. This table is created as part of the installation and configuration of a connector. Not all connectors use an archive table.

array attribute
An attribute that represents an array of child business objects in a WebSphere business integration system. The type of this attribute is the same as that of the array it represents. See also simple attribute and single-cardinality attribute.

attribute
An element of a business object that represents a single data entity, a single child business object, or an array of child business objects. See also array attribute, simple attribute, single-cardinality attribute.

B

bi-di
See bidirectional.

bidirectional (bi-di)
Pertaining to scripts such as Arabic and Hebrew that generally run from right to left, except for numbers, which run from left to right.

binding
The process of attaching a collaboration object to a port, which is a variable that represents a business object. These business objects are sent to or received from the collaboration object. A collaboration object can be bound to connectors, to other collaboration objects, or to external processes (called access clients). See also port.

business logic
The codified procedures in a business software system that implements an organization's day-to-day operations (such as processing an order, payroll management, and so on). Business logic typically includes industry-standard procedures for business operations and customizations reflecting an organization's unique business policies. In the WebSphere business integration system, business logic can be represented (that is, codified) as a collaboration.

business object
A set of attributes that represent a business entity (such as Employee) and an action on the data (such as a create or update operation). Components of the WebSphere business integration system use business objects to exchange information and trigger actions. See also application-specific business object, generic business object, and meta-data.

business object definition
The name, set of ordered attributes, properties, supported verbs, version number, and application-specific text that specify a type of business object. Components of the WebSphere business integration system use the business object definition to instantiate a business object, which they load with data before processing. See also meta-data.

Business Object Designer
A WebSphere Business Integration tool with which you create, discover, edit, and delete business object definitions.

business object handler
A connector component that contains methods that interact with an application and that transforms request business objects into application operations.

business object property
An element of a business object attribute that defines one quality of the attribute. The set of properties provides information such as the attribute's name, type, maximum length, or default value, whether the attribute is required or whether it is a primary or foreign key.

C

call-triggered flow
A data flow triggered by a direct call that the collaboration receives through the Server Access Interface. An access client initiates a call-triggered flow.

character conversion
Encoding applied to a character so that it retains its meaning when it is transferred from a location that uses one character code set to a location that uses a different code set. See also character encoding.

character encoding
The mapping from a character (a letter of the alphabet) to a numeric value in a character code set. For example, the ASCII character code set encodes the letter "A" as 65, while the EBCIDIC character set encodes this letter as 43. The character code set contains encodings for all characters in one or more language alphabets.

child business object
A business object that is contained or referenced by another business object. When the full child business object is part of its parent's hierarchy, the child is contained by the parent. When only they key information of the child business object is contained by its parent, the child is referenced by the parent. See also array attribute and single-cardinality attribute.

code fragment
In Process Designer, the specification of an action through WebSphere business integration API methods or other Java code. A developer can add or customize default code fragments. Process Designer embeds each code fragment in the code it generates to produce a whole program. See also action.

collaboration
A WebSphere business integration system component that contains business logic describing a distributed business process. Collaborations are used to coordinate and extend the business processes of disparate enterprise software products and to facilitate meaningful data exchange between them. Collaborations use business objects to exchange and manipulate data. See also business logic.

collaboration object
An object created from a collaboration template that is executable after it is configured and bound. Each collaboration object is configured for a specific business environment to integrate specific applications or software products.

collaboration-object group
An executable set of collaboration objects bound together to represent a combined business process. Two collaborations are bound such that the calling collaboration sends a business object through a service call to trigger the execution of the called collaboration. A collaboration group enables data to be processed in discrete units of logic, which allows modular development and testing, easy expansion of existing collaboration logic, and isolation of data so that two collaborations do not work on the same data concurrently. See also event isolation.

collaboration property
A configuration option that, with the full set of such options, enables an administrator to customize the business processing behavior of a specific collaboration object. Collaboration properties are set in System Manager.

collaboration template
The logic and framework of a collaboration that provides the definition of its actions. A collaboration template consists of Java code, which Process Designer generates and the developer can customize. The template consists of scenarios, which specify sets of actions. A collaboration template is not executable; it is a Java class used to instantiate executable collaboration objects. See also action and collaboration object.

compensation
The action that a collaboration takes during rollback of a transaction to undo a previously executed service call. Such an action semantically negates the action taken by a corresponding step in the service call, which has already been executed. For example, the compensation step for a Create action might involve deleting the object just created. See also isolation checking and Minimum Transaction Level.

composite identity relationship
An identity relationship that relates two business objects through a composite key. The composite key consists of a unique key from a parent business object and a key, which is not unique, from a child business object.

connector
The component of an adapter that uses business objects to send information about an event to an integration broker (event notification) or receive information about a request from the integration broker (request processing). A connector consists of the connector framework and the connector's application-specific component.

connector agent
The subcomponent of a connector that interacts with a defined interface of an application or URL.

connector configuration properties
Configuration settings used by the connector. Connectors use standard and connector-specific configuration properties, which can be set using System Manager. After the values are set, they are saved in the repository. See also standard connector configuration properties and connector-specific configuration properties.

connector controller
The subcomponent of a connector that interacts with collaborations. A connector controller runs within InterChange Server and initiates mapping between application-specific and generic business objects, and manages collaboration subscriptions to business object definitions.

Connector Development Kit (CDK)
C++ class libraries used when developing a C++ connector. These libraries contain predefined classes that are used to derive connector classes and libraries. Also, they provide methods for implementing services such as tracing and logging.

connector framework
The component of a connector that manages interactions between a connector's application-specific component and the integration broker. This component provides all required management services and retrieves the metadata that the connector requires from the repository. The connector framework, whose code is common to all connectors, is written in Java and includes a C++ extension to support application-specific components written in C++.

connector-specific configuration properties
Configuration settings whose values determine how the connector interacts with the application and processes business objects. These properties are specific to each connector. See standard connector configuration properties.

control flow
The sequence that dictates the order in which steps of a business process are executed. The sequence can include branching based on decisions, iterating over a set of steps until a certain condition is reached, and so on. In a collaboration, control flow refers to the path that a scenario takes, which depends on the order of action nodes in an activity diagram. When an action node has multiple transition links, the path reflects the state of those links. This path is illustrated in a top-to-bottom direction. See also transition link.

D

data handler
A Java class or library of classes that a process uses to transform data into and from specific formats. In the WebSphere business integration environment, data handlers transform text data of specified formats into business objects, and transform business objects into text data of specified formats.

deadlock
A situation in which two or more partially completed processes or transactions are unable to complete because each has temporarily locked resources needed by another.

delta business object
A business object used in an update operation. Such a business object contains only key values and the values to be changed. See also afterimage.

deployment
In WebSphere InterChange Server, the process of taking generated components and making them available for use by InterChange Server. This process begins with the user choosing the components to deploy, then System Manager (or the repos_copy utility) packaging the user's choices and sending them to the server. The server uses the data and instructions it receives to integrate the components into the system.

developer
A person who creates or modifies components of the WebSphere business integration system, such as connectors, collaborations, business objects, and maps. The developer typically uses IBM-provided templates or existing components as the basis for developing new ones. Contrast with WebSphere business integration administrator.

E

end-to-end privacy
The process of securing data from a source adapter process, through WebSphere InterChange Server, to the destination adapter process, ensuring authentication, integrity, and privacy.

event
A change to an application entity that triggers a business object. This business object, which contains data and a verb, becomes an event in the WebSphere business integration system.

event delivery
The action of delivering an event (by a connector) to InterChange Server.

event detection
The process by which the WebSphere business integration system identifies that an application event has been generated. Event detection is part of the overall process of event notification. See also event notification.

event detection mechanism
The mechanism or processes that identify that an application event was generated. For example, some application connectors use database triggers to detect events. See also event detection and event notification.

event isolation
A feature of InterChange Server that ensures that when multiple collaborations process events containing the same business object instance, the events are processed sequentially in the order received. InterChange Server does not automatically perform event isolation. The collaboration developer must design templates to take advantage of this feature. See also port matching.

event management service
A service of InterChange Server that persistently stores events until collaborations are finished using them. This service ensures that InterChange Server and collaborations can recover from crashes without losing events.

event management table
One of three types of database tables in the InterChange Server repository, the event management tables store business objects that are currently being processed.

event notification
The mechanism by which events are polled for and detected by a connector. See also event detection.

event notification mechanism
The mechanism or processes that notify the connector that an application event was generated. The event notification mechanism includes all of the subprocesses of event polling. See also event notification and event detection.

event polling
The process by which a connector retrieves application events. Event polling consists of requesting and retrieving events from the event table and passing them to the connector for further processing. In most cases, the processed event or the status of the event is returned to the application. You can customize how the connector polls for event, including setting specific times and frequency. See also event retrieval.

event record
A temporary record of an application, which is stored in cache until the connector picks it up for processing. See also event store.

event request
See event retrieval.

event retrieval
The process of polling and retrieving events from the repository event store. When a connector initially receives an event from the event store, it sends a request business object with only key data back to the application to retrieve the full-valued business object. The data is then passed back to the polling mechanism for further processing. See also event polling.

event sequencing
A feature of InterChange Server that ensures that when multiple threads of the same collaboration process events containing the same business object instance, the events are processed sequentially in the order received. InterChange Server automatically performs event sequencing. The collaboration developer does not have to design steps to take advantage of this feature.

event store
A persistent cache in an application where event records are saved until the connector can process them (for example, a connector's event store might be a simple text file or an event table). In many cases, only the type of operation and the key values of the application entity are recorded in the event store. See also event record and event table.

event table
A table that is created in an application and that stores an event record. This table is created as part of the installation and configuration of a connector. Not all connectors use an event table.

event trigger
The mechanism or processes that detect an application event and generate an event from it. Typically, an event trigger adds an entry to an event table for delivery to the connector. The event trigger is part of the event notification process. See also event notification and event detection.

event-triggered flow
A data flow triggered by an event that the collaboration receives from a connector controller. A connector initiates an event-triggered flow.

exception transition link
In a collaboration template's activity diagram, the line that represents the path between a node for an action, subactivity, or iterator that encountered an exception and the next node. See also normal transition link.

F

failed event
See unresolved flow.

flat business object
A business object that contains only simple attributes and does not contain any child business objects. See also hierarchical business object.

flow
The process of data moving through InterChange Server. A flow is usually initiated by a call or by an event.

foreign key attribute
A simple attribute whose value uniquely identifies a child business object. Typically, this attribute identifies the child business object to its parent by containing the child's primary key value. See also child business object and reference-valued business object.

full-valued business object
A business object that contains data values for all of its attributes, not only for its key attributes. Such a business object represents a complete entity. For example, when a collaboration sends a reference-valued business object with a Retrieve verb to a connector, the connector returns a full-valued business object. See also reference-valued business object.

G

generic business object
A business object that generically represents a business entity across multiple applications or data sources. See also application-specific business object and business object.

H

hierarchical business object
A business object that contains one or more child business objects. See also top-level business object.

I

IBM WebSphere InterChange Server Access
A collection of WebSphere business integration components, including Server Access Interface and data handlers, that enable the WebSphere business integration system to receive calls from external processes.

identity relationship
The association between business objects or other data on a one-to-one basis. Each participant in the relationship is associated with a business object that has a value (or combination of values) that uniquely identifies the object. Identity relationships typically transform the key attributes of business objects, such as ID numbers and product codes.

inbound map
A map that transforms a generic business object into an application-specific business object.

integration broker
The component in the WebSphere business integration system that integrates data among heterogeneous applications. An integration broker typically provides a variety of services that include the ability to route data, a repository of rules that govern the integration process, connectivity to a variety of applications, and administrative capabilities that facilitate integration.

InterChange repository
See InterChange Server repository.

InterChange Server
A multi-threaded, Java-based runtime environment that provides distributed system services and executes the WebSphere business integration software components. InterChange Server provides a comprehensive set of technical services, including system management, event management, repository services, error handling, transaction management, data transformation, and messaging.

InterChange Server repository
A persistent data store maintained by InterChange Server consisting of configuration information and definitions of all WebSphere business integration objects (metadata). The InterChange Server database contains three types of database tables: repository, event management, and transaction.

isolation checking
A feature of InterChange Server that ensures that data revisited during execution of a transactional collaboration has not changed its value since the previous visit. The server performs isolation checking only for a transactional collaboration that has its transaction level set to Best Effort or Stringent. See also compensation.

iterator
In a collaboration template's activity diagram, a specialized form of subdiagram that is analogous to a "for" loop and that allows a collaboration to perform an operation on all the attributes of a business object or on all the elements of a business object array. Also, the activity diagram symbol that embeds a reference to a nested diagram that implements such a looping operation, and the diagram that contains the looping behavior.

J

Java Connector Development Kit (JCDK)
Java class libraries used when developing a Java connector. These libraries contain predefined classes that are used to derive connector-specific classes and libraries. Also, they provide methods for implementing services such as tracing and logging.

K

key attribute
A simple attribute whose value is unique for each business object.

L

locale
The part of a user's environment that brings together information about how to handle data that is specific to the end user's particular country, language, or territory. The locale is typically installed as part of the operating system.

lookup relationship
The association between data, such as attributes in business objects. The data can be related on a one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many basis. Each participant in the relationship is associated with a simple data type, not a business object. Lookup relationships typically transform non-key attributes whose values are represented with codes, such as marital status or currency code. Use a lookup relationship if the data in the attributes is static, that is, if new values are not often added or existing values removed.

M

map
An entity that contains the Java code to specify how to transform attributes from one or more source business objects to one or more destination business objects. A map either converts from an application-specific business object to a generic business object (outbound map) or from a generic business object to an application-specific business object (inbound map).

Map Designer
A WebSphere business integration code-generation tool with which you create and edit map definitions to define transformations between source and destination business objects.

mapping
The process of transforming (or mapping) data from one application-specific format to another.

message transport driver
A component of the IBM WebSphere business integration system that interacts with the underlying transport protocol to exchange data between InterChange Server and connectors.

metadata
The set of characteristics that describe the structure of a WebSphere business integration component, such as a business object, collaboration, or connector. metadata describes facets common across an entire class of objects. For example, attributes, properties, verbs, and application-specific information constitute the metadata for a business object. Similarly, ports and scenarios are part of a collaboration template's metadata. Metadata can exist at different levels. At the business object level, every business object has attributes; an attribute is part of a business object's metadata. For example, every Customer business object has an attribute called CustomerID. Thus, the CustomerID attribute (not its value) is part of the metadata for every Customer business object.

metadata-driven
A descriptive term for a connector that uses the metadata in its business objects to interact with an application or data source (such as Siebel or a Web servlet). A metadata-driven connector handles each of its supported business objects based on the metadata encoded in the business object definition rather than on instructions hard-coded into the connector.

minimum transaction level
The level of transaction services required for executing collaboration objects. Specified as a property of a collaboration template during its development, and of a collaboration object during its configuration, the transaction level for a collaboration object cannot be lower than the level specified in its template. For example, if a collaboration does not generally deal with critical data and need not use its transactional features, the developer may set the template's Minimum Transaction Level to the lowest value, None. The administrator who creates a collaboration object from the template can configure the collaboration to a higher level if both of its connectors support the higher transaction level. See also compensation, transaction level, and transactional collaboration.

N

normal transition link
In a collaboration template's activity diagram, the line that represents the path between a successfully executed node for an action, subactivity, or iterator and the next node. See also exception transition link.

O

outbound map
A map that transforms an application-specific business object into a generic business object.

P

participant definition
A component of a relationship definition that describes an entity that participates in the relationship. This entity is either attributes in a business object or simple data. Participant definitions are stored in the repository.

participant instance
The runtime instantiation of a participant. The participant definition is a template for the participant instance.

participant type
A specification of the kind of data associated with instances of the participant. The participant type is either a business object or a simple data type (Data).

port
The interface between a collaboration and other objects in the WebSphere business integration system. It is through a port that a collaboration object binds with a connector or with another collaboration object.

port matching
The process by which InterChange Server determines at runtime whether to isolate the currently running events. In its analysis, the server checks whether, among any of the collaborations, the ports are bound to the same set of connectors. If ports are bound to the same set of connectors, the server checks whether the ports bound to the same connector have the same business object type. If they do, the ports are considered to match and event isolation is required. See also event isolation.

Process Designer
A modeling and code-generation tool with which you create and edit collaboration templates to define their business processes and configurable properties.

property
Any configurable information about a WebSphere business integration component. A component typically has properties that are common to all components of that type (for example, standard connector properties) as well as properties that are specific to that component (for example, connector-specific properties). See also collaboration property, business object property, standard properties.

protocol handler
In the WebSphere business integration system, protocol handlers receive and send messages in specific communication protocols--such as HTTP and HTTPS--and call data handlers to extract the data contained in the messages.

publish-and-subscribe interaction
A type of interaction used for moving information about application events into the WebSphere business integration system for processing. Collaborations subscribe to events, and connectors publish events to subscribed collaborations.

R

reference-valued business object
A business object that contains data values only for its key attributes. See also full-valued business object.

relationship
An association between two or more data entities in the WebSphere business integration system. Most often, these entities are business objects. You use relationships to transform data that is equivalent across business objects but is represented differently.

relationship definition
An entity that identifies each participant and specifies how the participants are related. Relationship definitions are stored in the repository.

Relationship Designer
A code-generation tool with which you create and edit relationship definitions to define identity and lookup relationships between attributes of source and destination business objects. Relationship Designer also allows you to create and edit participant definitions, which define the attributes that participate in the relationship.

relationship instance
The runtime instantiation of the relationship. The relationship definition is a template for the relationship instance.

relationship instance ID
An integer identifier that is unique for each relationship instance. The WebSphere business integration system assigns relationship instance IDs to relationship instances. This instance ID allows the WebSphere business integration system to correlate the participant values. In general, given any participant in a relationship, you can retrieve the data for any other participant in the relationship by specifying the relationship instance ID.

relationship table
A database table that holds the relationship runtime data for one participant in a relationship. InterChange Server stores relationship instances in relationship tables, with one table (sometimes called a participant table) storing information for one participant in the relationship.

repository
See InterChange Server repository.

repository table
One of three types of database tables in the InterChange Server repository, the repository tables store information about the collaborations, business objects, connectors, maps, and relationships that you can configure in the WebSphere business integration system. The other two types of database tables in the repository are the event management tables and the transaction tables.

request
In a request/response interaction, the role performed by a business object that instructs a connector to interact with an application or other programmatic entity.

request business object
A business object sent as a request by a collaboration to a connector. Requests specify an action such as retrieving, updating, creating, or deleting data. When a request business object is a child of a wrapper business object, the WebSphere business integration system uses it to facilitate exchange of data to and from a URL. In this case, this business object contains collaboration request data passed to a URL by the appropriate protocol handler and data handler. See also wrapper business object.

request/response interaction
The type of interaction used by collaborations to move data into or extract data from connectors and the applications or processes with which the connectors interact. The collaboration sends a request in the form of a business object and the connector responds with either data in the form of a business object or a notification of success or failure.

response
In a request/response interaction, a message from a connector to a collaboration that carries the results of a request made by the collaboration. The message can be either a business object or a response code.

response business object
A business object returned by a connector to a collaboration. This business object contains response data from the connector's application or data source. Responses include the results of processes such as retrieving, changing, creating, or deleting data. When a response business object is a child of a wrapper business object, the WebSphere business integration system uses it to facilitate exchange of data to and from a URL. In this case, this business object contains response data from a URL. It is passed by a synchronous protocol handler to the appropriate collaboration. See also wrapper business object.

role-based access control
The process of restricting integral components of a system based on user authentication, roles, and permissions.

rollback
The execution of a scenario's compensation steps by InterChange Server to undo the effects of a partially completed scenario.

S

scenario
A set of actions representing a business process within the context of a collaboration. Scenarios can be used to partition a collaboration's logic. For example, if a collaboration handles one type of business object with various possible verbs, you might develop Create, Update, and Delete scenarios.

scenario tree
The set of scenarios, displayed hierarchically, that includes composite scenarios, subdiagrams, and iterators.

service call failure
Response from the connector to indicate that processing of the service call request failed.

service call request
A request to a connector from a service call.

service call response
Successful response from the connector to a service call request.

simple attribute
An attribute that represents a single value, such as a String or Integer. See also array attribute, single-cardinality attribute.

simple identity relationship
An identity relationship that relates two business objects through a single-attribute key. Each business object that participates in the simple identity relationship contains a key with a single unique value that identifies it.

single-cardinality attribute
An attribute that represents a single value, which may be either a simple attribute or a single child business object. When this attribute represents a child business object, its type is the same as that of the business object it represents. See also array attribute and simple attribute.

standard connector configuration properties
Configuration settings typically used by the connector controller. These properties are generic for all connectors and enable you to manage the connector (such as setting the trace level, log file name, or polling information). See also connector-specific configuration properties.

standard properties
A configuration option shared by all instances of a particular WebSphere business integration component, such as all collaborations or all connectors. These properties differ from options that are unique to a particular component.

subdiagram
In a collaboration template's activity diagram, a nested diagram. Also, the activity diagram symbol that represents a nested diagram.

submap
A map that is called from within another map. Submaps are often used to map child business objects.

system administrator
The person who has the access and responsibility to install and configure hardware, software, and networking on a computer system. Some or all of the system administrator's tasks may be delegated to others, such as a WebSphere business integration administrator or an end user. See also WebSphere business integration administrator.

System Manager
A graphical user interface to administer and manage the WebSphere business integration system. Most administration tasks are performed using System Manager, and many of the tools, such as Map Designer and Relationship Designer, can be accessed through System Manager.

T

template tree view

The tree viewer that displays the template definitions, scenario tree, and message file of the collaboration template. Display of the template tree view is optional.

top-level business object
The individual business object at the top of a hierarchical business object. It is a parent business object but does not itself have a parent business object.

transaction level
The degree of transactional isolation that a transactional collaboration provides. Transactional isolation involves keeping the data that the transaction affects from being affected by other processes (such as other collaborations).

transaction table
One of three types of database tables in the InterChange Server repository, the transaction tables store the status of each transaction being processed, which may include the action and business objects, depending on the transaction level. The two other types of database tables in the repository are the event management tables and the repository tables.

transactional collaboration
A collaboration that provides compensation for its service calls and executes under the control of InterChange Server transaction services. Such a collaboration can roll back when a runtime error causes the collaboration to fail. See also compensation.

transformation step
A segment of Java code that returns the value of a destination attribute. A map contains one transformation step for each destination attribute that is being transformed.

transition link
In a collaboration template's activity diagram, the line that indicates control flow between two nodes. If more than one outcome is possible between the nodes, each outcome is represented by a different transition link that leads to a different execution path. Each transition link may have an associated condition that is evaluated at runtime. Flow passes along the transition link whose expression evaluates to true. If the nodes have a single transition link, its condition is assumed to be true. See also normal transition link and exception transition link.

triggering event
The business object that a connector sends to subscribing collaborations when an application event occurs.

U

Unique Identifier (UID)
A unique identifier for each symbol in an activity diagram.

unresolved flow
The business object whose receipt causes a collaboration to execute a scenario that ends unsuccessfully. An unresolved flow can be a failed flow (a flow that failed due to application or logic problems), a deferred flow (a flow whose recovery was deferred), an in-transit flow (a flow created when the server crashed during a service call transmission in a collaboration configured for Service Call In-Transit persistence), or a possible duplicate flow (a flow that might have been received by the collaboration).

V

verb
The text string in a business object that specifies an operation to be performed on the attributes in a business object. A business object definition contains a list of supported verbs; the business object itself contains one of the supported verbs.

W

WebSphere business integration administrator
The person who has the access and responsibility to install, configure, and maintain the WebSphere business integration system. On an NT system, the WebSphere business integration administrator account is set up with administrator privileges, while on a UNIX system, the WebSphere business integration administrator account is a user account with write privileges, set up by the root user.

WebSphere business integration system
An enterprise solution that moves information among diverse sources to perform business exchanges, and that processes and routes information among disparate applications in the enterprise environment. The business integration system consists of an integration broker and one or more adapters.

wrapper business object
A top-level business object that groups child business objects for a WebSphere business integration system component to use in a single operation. Alternatively, a top-level business object that contains processing information about its child business object.

wrapper collaboration
A collaboration that handles the verification or synchronization of a business object for another collaboration. Using a wrapper collaboration is important when a collaboration's triggering business object references another top-level business object, as when an Order references Customer. To isolate and preserve the integrity of the referenced data, the first collaboration creates a business object for the referenced data and sends it to a specific wrapper collaboration for further handling.