Business Process Automation (BPA)

The process of integrating enterprise applications, reducing human intervention wherever possible, and assembling software services into end-to-end process flows. » full

Business Process Execution Language (BPEL)

An activity performed by business analysts within a company. Analysts use BPM tools to model both the current state of an enterprise and the intended direction of future development. With advances in technology, the vision of BPM models becoming fully executable (and capable of round-trip engineering) is coming closer to reality. » full

Business Process Modeling (BPM)

An XML language to describe business processes. A BPEL program is invoked as a Web service, and it can interact with the external world only by calling Web services. » full

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)

The leveraging of technology vendors to provide and manage a company's critical and non-critical enterprise applications. » full

Business Service Provider (BSP)

A company that offers business applications over the Web - especially delivering these applications as Web services designed with modern security, management, and identity standards to facilitate the plug-and=play integration of these services. » full

Collaboration Services

Software that integrates work on a single project by several concurrent users at separated workstations (see also Computer supported cooperative work). » full

Component Services

Software technology for encapsulating software functionality. » full

Content Services

A set of processes and technologies supporting the evolutionary life cycle of digital information. This digital information is often referred to as content or to be precise: digital content. » full

Data Center

A data center is a facility used for housing a large amount of electronic equipment, typically computers and communications equipment. As the name implies, a data center is usually maintained by an organization for the purpose of handling the data necessary for its operations. » full

Database Services

A database is an information set with a regular structure. Any set of information may be called a database. Nevertheless, the term was invented to refer to computerised data, and is used almost exclusively in computing. Sometimes it is used to refer to not yet computerised data, but usually in the process of planning its possible computerisation. » full

Directory Services

Organizes content into a logical and accessible structure. It provides a single, consistent database in which to store information about the network and all network-based resources - users, servers, files, printers, shares, etc. It acts as a central authority that can securely authenticate resources and manage identities and relationships between them. » full

Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)

The use of software to allow applications within an enterprise, or across multiple enterprises to communicate to one another. Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) is related to middleware technologies such as message oriented middleware MOM and data representation technologies such as XML. EAI is also related to older EDI technologies. » full

Enterprise Information Integration (EII)

Focuses on aggregating disparate sources of business information into a single analyzable body of information. » full

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)

An emerging standard for integrating enterprise applications in an implementation-independent fashion, at a course-grained service level and using an XML-based message-oriented, event-driven paradigm. » full

Grid Computing

Grid computing offers a model for solving massive computational problems using large numbers of computers arranged as clusters embedded in a distributed telecommunications infrastructure. » full

Model-Driven Architecture

A software design methodology that defines the overall functionality of an enterprise system as a platform-independent model, using an appropriate specification language which is then translated into one or more platform-specific models for the actual implementation. » full

Ontology

The formulation of an exhaustive and rigorous conceptual schema within a given domain, a typically hierarchical data structure containing all the relevant entities and their relationships and rules (theorems, regulations) within that domain. » full

Portal

A starting point to other resources on the Internet or Intranet. Portals are also known as Enterprise information portals (EIP). Portals typically provide personalized capabilities to their users. They are designed to use distributed applications different numbers and types of middleware and hardware to provide services from a number of different sources. In addition, business portals are designed to share collaboration in workplaces. A further business-driven requirement of portals is that the content be able to work on multiple platforms such as personal computers, personal digital assistants PDAs, and cell phones. » full

Portlet

Reusable Web components that display relevant information to portal users. » full

Service-Oriented Analysis and Design (SOAD)

An approach to software modeling and development specially designed for the Service Oriented Architecture paradigm. It builds upon early development processes, including OOAD and Business Process Modeling. » full

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)

A software architectural concept that defines the use of services to support business requirements. In a SOA, resources are made available to other participants in the network as independent services that are accessed in a standardized way. Most definitions of SOA identify the use of Web Services (using SOAP, WSDL and UDDI) in its implementation, however it is possible to implement SOA using any service-based technology. » full

Service-Oriented Transformation (SOT)

A set of new methodologies and approaches that incorporate technology trends such as Service Oriented Architecture, Enterprise Service Bus, and Model Driven Architecture. » full

Single Sign-On (SSO)

A specialized form of software authentication that enables a user to authenticate once and gain access to the resources of multiple software systems. » full

Web Services

A collection of protocols and standards used for exchanging data between applications. Software applications written in various programming languages and running on various platforms can use web services to exchange data over computer networks like the Internet. This interoperability is due to the use of open standards. OASIS and the W3C are the steering committees responsible for the architecture and standardization of web services. To improve interoperability between web service implementations, the WS-I organisation has been developing a series of profiles to further define the standards involved. » full