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Basic Terms in This Documentation

This section briefly describes the basic terms of a DPF system.

DPF/SEAL Environment

Shell or Terminal window with configured environment settings specialized for Digital Process Factory or a wider range of SEAL Systems products.

Job

During assignment, a DPF client passes a job to the DPF system. A job consists of the desired process, the job-specific parameters and possible one or more files to be processed.

Literature

- [Administrate Jobs in DPF Tracker](../use_cases/dpf_tracker/dpftracker_admin_jobs.md)

Ready-Made Working Unit

SEAL Systems offers a set of ready-made working units which realize frequently performed working tasks, for example:

  • checkout gets a file from SAP.
  • stamppdf stamps a PDF file.

RLI

An RLI job file (*.rli) is a file containing information for checking out and outputting files stored locally or in an archive.

Node Working Unit

A working unit provided as an npm package (@sealsystems/dpfwu-<name>) instead of an external script. It consists of README.md, workingunit.xml or workingunit.json, and index.js. DPF discovers a node working unit the same way as a classic working unit: via the workingunit.xml file in server\dpf\templates. You use a node working unit in DPF Director the same way as a classic working unit.

Parameter

You specify the job's parameters when assigning the job or in the configuration of the working units or the processes. Other parameters are set internally by the DPF system.

Literature

Process

A process specifies the order in which working units are called. Processes can be combined in order to split complex projects into manageable tasks.

Literature

Subprocess

A sequence of working units which is used in different processes again and again can be compiled to a subprocess. A subprocess represents a fully-fledged process to which the role of a subordinate process within another process is assigned.

Working Unit

A single module within a DPF system is called working unit. A working unit is the smallest part of a working process. Each working unit performs one single closed task such as converting a file from format A into format B, stamping a file or entering data.

Literature

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