This is one of the topics that describes the architecture of the STEP solution. The full list is defined in the STEP Architecture topic here.
The following support is available to model and integrate data management processes tailored towards specific business needs.
Background Processing
Complex and time consuming processes can be run as background processes (BGPs). Examples of fundamental core features that are implemented as background processes are import, export, translation, approve recursive, and report generation. BGPs can be started from the workbench and are passed onto a JMS-based queue system. The jobs in the queue are then processed in FIFO order, allowing processes to run in parallel to the extent defined by an adjustable queue configuration. For example, a system can be set up to have two separate queues (one for imports and one for exports) and the 'size' of the queues can be configured so that three (3) imports and six (6) exports max are allowed to run in parallel. For more information, refer to the Background Processes and Queues section of System Setup documentation here.
Business Rules
Many business processes necessitate the ability to pass approved data automatically from STEP to other systems. This poses extra requirements on the validity of data - otherwise data will possibly be rejected by the receiving system. In order to ensure validity, STEP provides an opportunity to add business rules that are applied at the time of approval. Such business rules may perform a check across all data defined on an object and reject or accept approval. In addition, STEP has support for creating approve triggers that are also executed as an integral part of the approval process. While business rules are designed for read-only validity checks on data before and after approval, the approve triggers are able to change data as an integral part of the approval process. If any business rule fails, approval does not take place, and the user is notified. Business rules can be written using a subset of the Java-based Core Domain API. For more information, refer to the Business Rules documentation (here), and also review the API documentation by clicking the STEP API Documentation button on the Start Page.
Workflows
The workflow functionality is used for modeling processes where tasks are moved between people. Workflows are 'data-centric' which means that a 'workflow instance' is defined as the relation between a workflow definition and an object in the database. For more information, refer to the Workflows documentation here.