Activity

 

A navigation tree node that provides information on Exceptions, History, Payloads, and Work to which a user has permission to see.

 

Account

 

An account is generally considered to be a set of logon credentials but in specific terms pasUnity associates an account as being an SMTP account which the Collector Agent monitors for new messages used to queue the execution of jobs.

 

Agent

 

An agent is a machine-specific installation of pasUnity comprised of a collection of Windows Services that perform tasks without the need to be interactively logged on to a machine.

 

AutoTask

 

Software that enables the management of business systems such as customer relationship management (CRM), service desk, and project management.

 

Collector Agent

 

A Windows Service that monitors POP3 accounts at regular intervals and copies messages from the POP3 account to the pasUnity database where message headers may be used to queue jobs for execution by the processing agent.

 

Context Menu

 

A menu that appears upon right-clicking an item which provides options specific to that item.  Context menus commonly appear on nodes in the navigation tree and on data grids.

 

Data File ID

 

A unique identifier assigned by the system to a data file that has been stored in a DropBox of a Matrix.

 

DNS

 

DNS is an acronym for Domain Name System which is a hierarchical naming system for naming computers and other resources on a TCP/IP based network.  One of the most common uses of DNS is translating clear text names of resources to numerical IP addresses.

 

Domain Name

 

The part of a DNS network name that identifies it as belonging to a particular domain.  In www.pasUnity.com the domain name is pasUnity.com and www is the host name.  In an email address the domain is everything after the @.

 

DropBox

 

A DropBox is the intersection of a column and a row in a matrix.  DropBoxes can be configured to accept or present data files by varying frequencies.

 

Echo

 

To emit copies of script code or their output to a log or the UI.

 

Endpoint

 

A WCF service definition that specified where the protocol, address, port, and path to a service as well as describing how the service is secured.

 

Enqueue

 

To add a unit of work (usually done by an impeller) to a queue where it will eventually be processed by the Processor Agent.

 

ETL

 

Acronym for the industry term Extract, Transform, and Load.  A process that involves extracting data from a source, transforming it to fit operational needs, and loading it into the end target (such as a database).

 

Event Viewer

 

A component of the Windows operating system which provides a centralized log service to report events that have taken place both within the operating system itself and application that operate within it.

 

Exception

 

An exception is a condition that occurs in the operation of pasUnity or the execution of jobs in which either an unexpected or undesirable condition has occurred.  Exceptions are stored in the pasUnity application database when possible and viewable through the user interface or written to the Windows Event viewer when diagnostics mode is enabled or the database is unavailable.

 

Favorite

 

A URL for an HTTP or HTTPS based resource.

 

 

File Transfer Agent

 

A Windows Service that expose Matrix objects and their contents to FTP client application software for uploading and downloading files.

 

FTP

 

File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet.

 

FTPS

 

FTPS (also known as FTP Secure and FTP-SSL) is an extension to the commonly used File Transfer Protocol (FTP) that adds support for the Transport Layer Security (TLS) and the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) cryptographic protocols using X509 certificates.

 

GUI

 

GUI (or UI) is an acronym for Graphical User Interface and refers to any application component which draws a Window or interacts with a user visually.

 

History

 

History is a list of actions and outcomes for job execution.

 

HTML

 

Hypertext Markup Language is a markup language (similar to XML) used for creating web pages and other information that can be displayed in a web browser.  It can also be used to achieve font, color, graphic, and hyperlink effects in HTML supported emails.

 

HTTP

 

Hypertext Transfer Protocol is a request-response application protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems (such as the World Wide Web) and is used transport file and other content (most commonly web pages) over the Internet or other computer network.

 

HTTPS

 

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure is the layering of a secure communications protocol (either SSL or TLS) with the HTTP application protocol.

 

Impeller

 

An impeller is a mechanism that queues a job for execution automatically or in response to a system condition.

 

IO

 

IO is an acronym for input/output and represents a stream of information that is provided to an application component or received from an application component during execution.  In pasUnity reference is often made to standard input which is an IO stream of information sent to an application, standard error which is an IO stream of exception information received from an application, and standard out which is an IO stream of processing results received normally from an application.

 

IP Address

 

A numerical label used to identify and address a device or software component on the Internet.

 

Job

 

Collection of related job steps that execute to complete a task.  Jobs are comprised of job steps which perform work and impellers which queue jobs for execution.

 

Job Step

 

Subcomponent of a job which provides the implementation of a specific unit of work.  Job steps are highly specialized and compartmentalized.  If a job step reports failure job execution is halted and the job reports failure.  If a job step reports success execution continues to the next step until all steps have been executed and a job reports success.

 

Log

A listing of events that detail the execution of work by the Processor Agent.

 

Macro

 

A small piece of interpreted code used by the system to allow for simple, programmatic access to simple functions and control structures when developing script code.

 

Matrix

 

A matrix is a three-dimensional storage structure for organizing and displaying data files and triggering jobs in response to data file events.  The three dimension are columns, rows, and time.

 

Navigation Tree

 

An explorer-like structure that organizes content hierarchically arranging content from most general to most specific using a drill-through method of navigation from parent nodes that expand into one or more collections of child nodes.

 

Node

 

A structure in a navigation tree.  Each node in a tree has zero or more child nodes which are below it in the tree.  A node that has a child is called the child’s parent node.

 

Parameter

 

A value that is provided to a job or macro as a dynamic means of providing information for the job or macro to act upon.  Job-based parameters are named blocks of code which can contain constant values or strings of macro code.  Macro-based parameters can contain values for a macro to operate against or other nested macro commands.

 

pasPortal

 

A subscription-based pasUNITY hosted collaboration and security platform that may be used to extend the built-in capabilities of pasUnity by providing an extended user interface and administration framework using browser based technologies.  The pasPortal application is available at https://www.pasportal.com.

 

pasProtect

 

The licensing component used in the pasUnity suite of applications to selectively activate product features using either license files or license codes activated over the Internet.

 

pasTransfer

 

An accounting-centric ETL (extract/transfer/load) tool in the pasUnity suite of applications.  It offers advanced features such as mapping, auditing, and lookups in addition to the base ETL functionality.  When installed on the same server as pasUnity there are additional service integration menus that will appear in pasUnity to control it and job steps to interact with it.

 

pasUnity

 

A set of tools that allows end users to implement end-to-end process automation solutions with an easy to navigate, easy to use graphical user interface.  It has functions for hosting web services, interacting with POP3/SMTP mail systems, launching external processes, centralized reporting, remote management, scheduling, and more.

 

Payload

 

A payload is the contents of a message received by an XML-based web service.

 

Payload Agent

 

A Windows Service that hosts WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) services.  Payloads received by this service are stored in the pasUnity database and may be used to queue jobs for execution.

 

Permissions

 

Rules that determine what roles can access securable objects and at what permissions level.

 

POP3

 

POP3 is an acronym for Post Office Protocol version 3, a standard which has been widely adopted as a means for accessing messages in a mailbox store on a TCP network.   To communicate with POP3 servers pasUnity needs to be configured with the DNS name or IP address of the server, the TCP port on which the server is listening (typically 110), a user name (in the form of an email address) and a password.

 

Port

 

A number which, added to a computer’s IP address, completes the destination address for a communications session for many protocols (such as HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and TCP).

 

Processor Agent

 

A Windows Service that looks for and executes jobs and maintains job schedules.

 

Schedule

 

A schedule is a type of impeller that queues a job for execution by the processing agent.  A schedule can be for a specific moment in time or recurring temporal values such as specific days of the week or month. 

 

Service

 

A service (or Windows Service) is a software component that is capable of logging into a host operating system and performing working under its own security context and workspace without requiring a user to be interactively logged on to the host.

 

SMTP

 

SMTP is an acronym for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, a standard which has been widely adopted as a means for sending email messages over TCP networks.  To communicate with SMTP servers pasUnity needs to be configured with the DNS name or IP address of the server, the TCP port on which the server is listening (typically 25), a user name (in the form of an email address) and a password.

 

SSL

 

Secure Sockets Layer is a communications-security protocol for managing the security of a network transmission.

 

Tag

 

A user-defined value that can provide additional information about a data file which has been uploaded to a Matrix.

 

TCP/IP

 

TCP/IP is an acronym for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol and designates a set of communications protocols used on the Internet and many similarly designed networks or networks that require interoperability with the Internet.

 

Trace

 

A trace (or stack trace) is a detailed listing of events at a particular moment in time during the execution of a pasUnity function.  Traces are used in debugging failed job executions.

 

UI

 

User Interface.  Any application component which interacts with a user.

 

URL

 

A URL is an acronym for Uniform Resource Locater and is a string of characters that provides minimally a schema and a host name.  The full syntax of a URL appears below.  A simple example would be http://www.pasportal.com

 

 

Watcher Agent

 

A Windows Service that monitors folders on the local machine for changes which may be used to queue jobs for execution by the processing agent.

 

WCF

 

WCF is an acronym for Windows Communication Foundation and is a set of technologies used for hosting XML-based services on Windows-based operating systems.

 

 

Wildcard

 

A character or string of characters that can be used to substitute for any of a defined subset of all possible characters when using pattern-matching functionality.

 

Work

 

Work represents any condition that forces a job to be queued for execution.  Work can be triggered by schedules or system events such as receipt of an email message or a new file appearing in a specific folder.

 

XML

Extensible Markup Language is a markup language (similar to HTML) that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that both human and machine readable.  XML is commonly used to define documents with a standard format that can be read by any XML-compatible application such as web services.

 

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