Lombardi key terms and concepts

WebSphere Lombardi Edition 7.2 > Plan Lombardi projects

Lombardi key terms and concepts

Before using IBM WebSphere Lombardi Edition, you should be familiar with the following terms and concepts:

Term or concept Definition

Business Process Definition (BPD) When you model a process in Lombardi Authoring Environment, you are creating a Business Process Definition (BPD). A BPD is a reusable model of a process, defining what is common to all run-time instances of that process model.
Pools and Lanes Each process that you model in Lombardi Authoring Environment includes the default Lombardi pool, which consists of lanes that you designate. Lanes typically represent departments within a business organization. Plus, the lanes in a process model are containers for the activities and events that take place during process execution. For example, a Call Center lane would include all activities to be handled by Call Center personnel during process execution.
Activities An activity represents a logical unit of work that can be completed by a human or a system during process execution.
Sequence lines Sequence lines control the sequence of activities and events during process execution.
Services Services are similar to programs, which you create in Lombardi Authoring Environment to implement activities or to perform one-time or recurring system tasks.
Gateways Gateways control the divergence and convergence of sequence lines, determining branching, forking, merging, and joining of paths that a process can take during execution.
Events When modeling processes, you can use events to trigger an action based on a timer, a message arriving from an external system, or some other occurrence such as a run-time exception. Events enable you to control or alter process flow during execution.
Variables Variables represent the data that passes from one step to another in a process. For example, if you create a process to automate escalation of customer issues, you need to create variables to hold information such as the customer's name and the issue ID. With these variables, each person involved in the process receives information necessary for completing her work.
Coaches Coaches are user interfaces that you create in Lombardi to collect user input required for an underlying service.
Process Center Console Interface to the Process Center repository where administrators can create and manage process applications, manage user access to library items, install snapshots on test or production servers, and perform other tasks.
Designer Authoring Environment interface where you can create process models and supporting implementations.
Inspector Authoring Environment interface that enables you to step through processes during playbacks and makes it easy to inspect, troubleshoot, and debug running processes and services.
Optimizer Authoring Environment interface that enables you to simulate process performance during development and then analyze process performance after processes are up and running.
Process applications Containers in the Process Center repository for the process models and supporting implementations. Ordinarily, a process application includes process models, also called the Business Process Definitions (BPDs), the services to handle implementation of activities and integration with other systems, and any other items required to run the processes. Each process application can include one or more workspaces.
Toolkits A collection of library items that can be used across numerous process applications in Lombardi Authoring Environment.
Workspaces Optional subdivisions in a process application based on team tasks and/or process application versions. When enabled, workspaces allow parallel development to occur with isolation from changes in other workspaces. For example, workspaces enable one team to fix the current version of a process while another team builds a completely new version based on new external systems and a new corporate identity.
Snapshots You can capture and save the items in a process application at a specific point in time. Usually snapshots represent a milestone or are used for playbacks or for installation.
Global assets These assets are individual library items that are available to the entire process application in which they reside. For example, if you set environment variables for a process application, those variables are global assets and they can be called from any implementation. The installation service for a process application is also a global asset.
Managed files Library items created outside of Lombardi Authoring Environment that are part of a process application. For example, you might need an image or Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) for a Lombardi coach. You can create such assets using other tools and store the necessary files in the Process Center repository. Doing so ensures that all required files are available and installed when a project is ready for testing or production.
Installation service Lombardi service that you can build to handle specific requirements for the installation of a process application on the Process Servers in your test and production environments. An installation service is created by default when a process application is created. The installation service for a process application is a global asset.
Tags You can mark library items in Lombardi Authoring Environment with custom tags for easy access. For example, you can tag items with your initials so that you can search for and retrieve each item that you worked on.
Favorites You can mark library items in Lombardi Authoring Environment as favorites for easy access. For example, if you are working on a particular set of services that span several processes, you can mark them as favorites so that you can quickly access them each time you start Lombardi Authoring Environment.
Environment variables Environment-specific variables that you can set for each process application. These variables are necessary to provide values for each type of environment in which a process will run (development, test, and production). For example, the Process Server host will likely be different for each environment. As global assets, you can call these variables from Java™ Scripts and other implementations in BPDs.

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Term or concept	Definition
Business Process Definition (BPD)	When you model a process in Lombardi Authoring Environment, you are creating a Business Process Definition (BPD). A BPD is a reusable model of a process, defining what is common to all run-time instances of that process model.
Pools and Lanes	Each process that you model in Lombardi Authoring Environment includes the default Lombardi pool, which consists of lanes that you designate. Lanes typically represent departments within a business organization. Plus, the lanes in a process model are containers for the activities and events that take place during process execution. For example, a Call Center lane would include all activities to be handled by Call Center personnel during process execution.
Activities	An activity represents a logical unit of work that can be completed by a human or a system during process execution.
Sequence lines	Sequence lines control the sequence of activities and events during process execution.
Services	Services are similar to programs, which you create in Lombardi Authoring Environment to implement activities or to perform one-time or recurring system tasks.
Gateways	Gateways control the divergence and convergence of sequence lines, determining branching, forking, merging, and joining of paths that a process can take during execution.
Events	When modeling processes, you can use events to trigger an action based on a timer, a message arriving from an external system, or some other occurrence such as a run-time exception. Events enable you to control or alter process flow during execution.
Variables	Variables represent the data that passes from one step to another in a process. For example, if you create a process to automate escalation of customer issues, you need to create variables to hold information such as the customer's name and the issue ID. With these variables, each person involved in the process receives information necessary for completing her work.
Coaches	Coaches are user interfaces that you create in Lombardi to collect user input required for an underlying service.
Process Center Console	Interface to the Process Center repository where administrators can create and manage process applications, manage user access to library items, install snapshots on test or production servers, and perform other tasks.
Designer	Authoring Environment interface where you can create process models and supporting implementations.
Inspector	Authoring Environment interface that enables you to step through processes during playbacks and makes it easy to inspect, troubleshoot, and debug running processes and services.
Optimizer	Authoring Environment interface that enables you to simulate process performance during development and then analyze process performance after processes are up and running.
Process applications	Containers in the Process Center repository for the process models and supporting implementations. Ordinarily, a process application includes process models, also called the Business Process Definitions (BPDs), the services to handle implementation of activities and integration with other systems, and any other items required to run the processes. Each process application can include one or more workspaces.
Toolkits	A collection of library items that can be used across numerous process applications in Lombardi Authoring Environment.
Workspaces	Optional subdivisions in a process application based on team tasks and/or process application versions. When enabled, workspaces allow parallel development to occur with isolation from changes in other workspaces. For example, workspaces enable one team to fix the current version of a process while another team builds a completely new version based on new external systems and a new corporate identity.
Snapshots	You can capture and save the items in a process application at a specific point in time. Usually snapshots represent a milestone or are used for playbacks or for installation.
Global assets	These assets are individual library items that are available to the entire process application in which they reside. For example, if you set environment variables for a process application, those variables are global assets and they can be called from any implementation. The installation service for a process application is also a global asset.
Managed files	Library items created outside of Lombardi Authoring Environment that are part of a process application. For example, you might need an image or Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) for a Lombardi coach. You can create such assets using other tools and store the necessary files in the Process Center repository. Doing so ensures that all required files are available and installed when a project is ready for testing or production.
Installation service	Lombardi service that you can build to handle specific requirements for the installation of a process application on the Process Servers in your test and production environments. An installation service is created by default when a process application is created. The installation service for a process application is a global asset.
Tags	You can mark library items in Lombardi Authoring Environment with custom tags for easy access. For example, you can tag items with your initials so that you can search for and retrieve each item that you worked on.
Favorites	You can mark library items in Lombardi Authoring Environment as favorites for easy access. For example, if you are working on a particular set of services that span several processes, you can mark them as favorites so that you can quickly access them each time you start Lombardi Authoring Environment.
Environment variables	Environment-specific variables that you can set for each process application. These variables are necessary to provide values for each type of environment in which a process will run (development, test, and production). For example, the Process Server host will likely be different for each environment. As global assets, you can call these variables from Java™ Scripts and other implementations in BPDs.