Process applications: Overview

A process application is a container for process models and their supporting implementations; it is stored in the repository. After the artifacts have been authored or otherwise created, they are assembled into a process application.

Process applications contain some or all of the following artifacts:

One or more process models, also called Business Process Definitions (BPDs)
References to toolkits
The services required to implement activities or integrate with other systems, including Advanced Integration Services
One or more tracks
Service Component Architecture (SCA) modules and libraries (authored in IBM® Integration Designer)
An IBM Business Monitor model for monitoring business performance
Any other items required to run the process

Process application tip, snapshots, and tracks

Any changes you make to a process application are dynamically saved to the Process Center repository at the tip, which is the current working version of the process application. You can use playback sessions on the tip to instantly test and manage the current working version of the process application.

The process application remains at that tip level until you decide to create a snapshot, which records the state of library items within a process application or track at a specific point in time. Typically, you take a snapshot every time that you are ready to test the integration or want to install the process application on a process center server or a process server for testing, staging, or production.

Note: The tip is a special snapshot; it is the only type of snapshot in which you can change contents, but you can run it only on the Process Center server. You cannot install a tip on a process server.

By default, each process application has a single track, called Main. If you want to allow parallel development on a process application, you can create additional tracks. These optional subdivisions in the process application keep changes isolated. For example, imagine your company is in the process of rebranding; during this transition, the current process applications must be maintained while new versions are being developed based on the updated corporate identity. In this situation, one team might be making minor fixes on the current version of a process application (in the Main track) while another team is building a new version of the process application in a separate track.

Toolkits for process applications

Toolkits are containers that store library items (for example, BPDs) for reuse by process applications or other toolkits. Process applications can share library items from one or more toolkits, and toolkits can share library items from other toolkits. If you have access to a toolkit, you can create a dependency on it and use that toolkit’s library items in your process application.

Process applications and business level applications

A process application has a business level application (BLA), which acts as a container for the process application and its assets (assets include things like monitor models, SCA modules, toolkits, and libraries). Each process application snapshot has its own BLA. Many of the administration tasks for a snapshot (for example, stopping or starting it on a production server) are done at the level of the BLA, allowing for quicker and simpler administration of the snapshot and all of its assets.