Glossary

activity    A step in an application where an assignee needs to perform an action. This is referred to as a work item in Process Express.

application    A Process Manager application defines the tasks, routing and assignments in a business process. Designers build applications in the Process Builder.

assignee    The person assigned to an activity for a particular process instance.

automated activity    A step in an application where an action is performed automatically, without an assignee.

builder    The person who creates the application using Process Builder.

child process    In subprocesses, the subordinate process that is called by the main or parent process.

class ID    The identifier of a group of fields with certain common properties.

CGI    Common Gateway Interface. The specification for communication between an HTTP server and gateway programs on the server. Allows web interfaces to databases and enables the dynamic generation of HTML documents by gateway programs.

cluster    The association of a configuration directory, a corporate user directory, one or more application servers, and a database.

configuration directory    The Directory Server where Process Manager cluster and application information is stored.

content store    The web server folder in which file attachments and the user and password needed to access them are stored.

corporate user directory    The LDAP directory service used to store the user and group information for a corporation. Process Builder reads from it when a designer sets up an application's users and groups and assigns work items. Process Express, Process Administrator, and Process Business Manager read from it when identifying a work item's assignee or when an assignee wants to delegate a task to another user.

creator    The person who initiates a process instance. In Process Express, Process Administrator, and Process Business Manager, called the initiator.

database    The relational database that stores the information generated by process instances. For example, the database could be Informix, Oracle or Sybase.

decision point    A point at which a process map branches depending upon conditions defined in the decision point.

deploy    To copy an application stored locally to a cluster. It can be deployed for storage only, or it can be deployed for testing or production. If it is deployed for testing or production, the application information is deployed to the configuration directory, and the application is activated on the application server.

entry point    A point in the process where a user can initiate a process instance.

exception handler    Used in subprocesses, a step in an application that allows the administrator to intervene manually if errors occur in the interaction between a parent and child process.

exit point    A point in the process where the process ends.

extranet    An extension of a company's intranet onto the Internet, to allow customers, suppliers, and remote workers access to the data.

form    A part of an application a user fills out to complete a process instance, or uses to view information on a process.

group    A set of users defined in the corporate user directory or within an individual application to whom the designer can assign an activity, or work item,

HTML    HyperText Markup Language. A markup language (derived from SGML) used to create web documents.

HTTP    HyperText Transfer Protocol. A protocol for communication between web clients and servers.

iAS    iPlanet Application Server.

iPM    iPlanet Process Manger.

initiator    The person who initiates a process instance. In Process Builder, called the creator.

intranet    A network which provides similar services within an organization to those provided by the Internet outside it but which is not necessarily connected to the Internet.

nested parallel process    A parallel process nested within a larger parallel process. The activities in the nested process are considered to be part of the nested process and not the larger process.

parallel processing    A step in an application that branches between two or more branches so that two or more activities can execute in parallel.

parent process    In subprocesses, the main process that calls the subordinate or child process.

participant    A user of Process Express.

Process Administrator    A web-based interface that IT administrators use to administer Process Manager clusters and applications.

Process Express    Q web-based interface that end users use to initiate process instances, complete work items, and search for process instances.

Process Builder    The component of Process Manager that designers use to build and deploy applications.

Process Business Manager    A web-based interface that business managers use to administer Process Manager work items and process instances.

Process Engine    The Process Manager software component that contains Process Express, Process Administrator, Process Business Manager and the internal software that runs Process Manager.

process    A process is a series of activities, or work items, that can be completed by end users using Process Express.

process instance    A particular instance of a Process Manager process; for example, in a time off process, a process instance would be a particular request by an employee for vacation time off for a specific period of time.

PAE    Netscape Application Server: Process Automation Edition. This was the name for Process Manager in the 4.0 release.

process map    The visual representation of the process in a Process Manager application.

processing branch    A set of activities that progress from a given split to its corresponding join. Also called a thread.

property    An attribute of an item or component used in an application that contains information about the item. For example, an activity has properties containing information such as the name of the activity and what script is run when it is completed.

role    A role is the part a user plays in a specific process instance.

script    IProcess Manager scripts, such as assignment and completion scripts, run as server-side Javascript scripts. Toolkit scripts define functions that can be called by other server-side scripts.

subprocess    A fully functional process that is called from within another process. The process that calls the subprocess is the parent process and the subprocess is its child process.

trusted user    A group in a subprocess. By adding a user to this group that matches the AppUserID in the parent process, you can set up a reliable secure handshake between two specific applications.

transition    The links between steps in a process. On the process map, they are represented by lines with arrows that lead from one item to another.

work item    A work item is an individual task in a process as it appears to the end user on a work list. This is referred to as an activity in Process Builder.