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Glossary / Index

The following is a list of all key terms within PhixFlow and links to relevant help pages.

TermDescription
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actionButtons
actionButtons
Action Button

Used to group Stream Actions into drop-down lists or display single Stream Action as a button. In both cases Action Buttons are displayed on the top of Stream View .

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aggregateField
aggregateField
Aggregate Attribute

Aggregate Attributes define the aggregated properties that are available when data is read from an aggregating Pipe.

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alarm
alarm
Alarm

Alarms are generally used to alert users to problems that need to be investigated but can also be used to indicate (positively) that there are no problems.

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alarmGenerationRule
alarmGenerationRule
Alarm Generation Rule

Specifies when an alarm will be generated by an Alarm Generator.

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alarmGenerator
alarmGenerator
Alarm Generator

Alarm Generators contain the configuration that defines the checks that PhixFlow carries out on collected and analysed data. They define the conditions which cause an Alarm. to be raised.

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alarmPriority
alarmPriority
Alarm Priority

Priority code that can be assigned to alarms to prioritise which are tackled first.

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alarmPriorityRule
alarmPriorityRule
Alarm Priority Rule

Rule used to determine the Alarm Priority that will be assigned to a generated alarm.

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alarmStatus
alarmStatus
Alarm Status

Status code that can be assigned to alarms to allow it to be tracked through the alarm management lifecycle as and when it`s status changes.

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alarmStatusRule
alarmStatusRule
Alarm Status Rule

Rule used to determine the Alarm Status that will be assigned to a generated alarm.

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analysisModel
analysisModel
Analysis Model

Allow users to logically represent a business process / control flow using configured PhixFlow objects, e.g. streams, file collectors etc.

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analysisTask
analysisTask
Analysis Task

The Analysis Engine is initiated whenever the generation of a Stream Set or alarm is requested. Users can do this by configuring Analysis Tasks in a Task Plan.

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arc
arc
Arc

In most Workflow models, Arcs simply pass Tokens from the Transition to an output Place, however dashed lines represent Arcs with Guards.

Output Arcs can implement Guards. These are filter conditions which act to stop Tokens being added to Places if they evaluate to false.

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archiveTaskRun
archiveTaskRun
ArchiveTask

Archives Stream Sets from Streams with archiving configured on them.

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array
array
Array

And object that contains an ordered list of other objects.

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attributeFunction
attributeFunction
Attribute Function

PhixFlow provides an extensive list of Attribute Functions which may be used within all expression strings.

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auditDetail
auditDetail
Audit Detail

Details of an individual audited action performed on a PhixFlow object.

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auditSummary
auditSummary
Audit Summary

A summary of all audited action performed on PhixFlow objects.

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auditAffectedObject
auditAffectedObject
Audited Item

PhixFlow objects that have auditing switched on to allow for any changes in the system to be tracked.

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autoTransition
autoTransition
Automatic Transition Node

These Transitions do not have any associated tasks/processes. They execute immediately and typically are used to split a workflow into two or more strands.

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candidateSet
candidateSet
Candidate Set

Candidate sets are a fundamental concept of function calculation in PhixFlow.

Every time a function calculation is carried out, all the required input data is brought together and organised into sets of data - one set for each Key group.

The Key groups are worked out using the Pipe Grouping Attributes defined on input Pipe for each Stream.

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centerViewDatabase
centerViewDatabase
PhixFlow Database

The database that stores the PhixFlow schema and all processed data.

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chart
chart
Chart

A Chart displays data in table form, or in one of a number of graphs styles.

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alarmClosureReason
alarmClosureReason
Closure Reason

When alarms are set to a status of Closed, a closure reason can be specified to identify the reason why alarms are closed.

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comparator
comparator
Comparator

Refers to the comparator types that can be used in a filter, e.g. greater than, starts with.

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collector
collector
Collector

A generic term for a File Collector, a Database Collector, or an Http Collector.

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contextMenu
contextMenu
Context Menu

A context menu appears above each Model Element when the user hovers over it in a model view. This menu shows all of the actions that can be performed on that element.

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control
control
Control

Primarily a "Requirements Specification" describing a process, either wholly or partially implemented in PhixFlow, to provide revenue assurance and detect potential problems in systems and operations.

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controlFramework
controlFramework
Control Framework

A structured classification of controls that should be put in place to monitor data throughout the enterprise.

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objective
objective
Control Group

These are primarily used as a grouping mechanism. Controls can be grouped according to structures within the organisation, by functional area or some other criteria.

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csvfile
csvfile
CSV File

A CSV (comma-separated variable) file is a plain text file where each line in the file consists of a number of fields separated by commas ','. If fields may contain spaces, commas or double quotes, they should be enclosed in double quotes '"'. A double quote may be represented by 2 double quotes.

A CSV file is always encoded using a specific character set. On Windows this is typically Cp1282, and on Unix/Linux US7ASCII, though the following are sometimes used: UTF-8, UTF-16, ISO-8859-1.

A CSV file typically has an extension '.csv'.

A CSV file can be created directly in a plain text editor (e.g. Wordpad/Notepad), in Excel (by saving as a CSV), or by some other application.

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cycle
cycle
Cycle

Whenever an analysis model is run it will carry out a number of tasks e.g. read a number of files, generate a number of stream sets, raise a set of alarms, export a number of files. It is possible to configure an analysis model so that in a single analysis session it will actually run several times. When a model is configured in this way, each time it runs is termed a 'cycle' and all of the items processed or generated during that cycle (i.e. the files processed, streamsets created, alarms raised, files exported etc) are flagged with the cycle number. This cycle number is visible in the Log File for that analysis run on each of the relevant tabs showing files, alarms and streamsets processed.

The most common reason for configuring a model in this way is to allow a number of files to be processed in a single analysis session but to have the results from each file saved in a separate streamset. In this way, whenever a file fails to process the user can simply rollback the streamsets associated with that file rather than rolling back all of the streamsets associated with all of the files for the whole analysis session.

To achieve this, a model is configured with a push pipe from the final stream in the model pointing back to itself. This push pipe is then given positive offsets. The file collector at the start of the model is then configured to process a single file at a time. When this model is run the file collector will read in one file, process it to create a stream set (or a chain of stream sets if there are several streams in the model) and will flag the file processed, the stream sets generated and any associated alarms or output files with the cycle number 1. When the last stream in the model has finished producing its stream set it will send a notification to itself down the push pipe. This notification (because of the positive offsets) will be taken as a signal to create another stream set which will effectively cause the whole model to run again. This second run of the model will be deemed to be cycle 2 and all files processed, stream sets produced, alarms raised or files output will be flagged with this cycle number.

When later viewing the log files the user can see which items were processed in which cycle and can choose how many cycles to roll back. In the case where the last file processed was unsuccessful the user can therefore choose to only roll back the last cycle.

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dashboard
dashboard
Dashboard

A dashboard allows the user to gather into a single view a set of charts and filtered lists of alarms and tasks. This grouping of related reports and statistics provides the user with preconfigured overviews of selected areas, making all the data that is required to view and monitor the health of the system both accessible and easy to read.

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dataGrid
dataGrid
Data Grid

A Data Grid is a particular type of Chart which displays the data in a table format.

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dataHandlerProperty
dataHandlerProperty
Data Handler Property

Definition

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databaseCollector
databaseCollector
Database Collector

Used to gather information from a external database, defined as a PhixFlow Datasource. It holds the SQL that will be sent to the datasource to retrieve data.

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driverClass
driverClass
Database Driver
The driver used to access the source database.
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databaseExporter
databaseExporter
Database Exporter

Used to write information from PhixFlow to external databases.

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datasource
datasource
Datasource

Defines a connection to an external database.

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datasourceInstance
datasourceInstance
Datasource Instance

Allows for multiple connections for individual database instances to be configured for a specific Datasource.

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directedPipe
directedPipe
DirectedPipe

A Directed Pipe is used as a secondary input to a Merge Stream.

Primary Pipes to a Merge are implemented by reading all input records from all Primary Pipes in a single operation, ordered by the Group-By fields. The primary pipes determine the key values of the Candidate Sets that will be generated.

A Directed pipe is implemented after the Primary Pipes have run, by reading records matching each Candidate Set grouping key in turn. This can result in a significant performance improvement in certain circumstances.

A Pipe can be marked as a Directed Pipe on the Pipe Details / Advanced tab.

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drillDown
drillDown
Drill Down

A user can drill down into an alarm to view the recordset that caused the alarm to be generated.

Users can drill down through successively more detailed reports from the original data item which raised the alarm through to the source data at the root of the problem.

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emailWorkflowTask
emailWorkflowTask
Email Task

An Email Task is generated when an Email Transition is triggered. It allows for specified data to be automatically emailed out to a list of recipients.

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emailTransition
emailTransition
Email Transition

An Email Transition generates an Email task to be processed. The details of the email (subject, recipients, message body, attachment) are configured using the Email Transition.

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expression
expression
Expression

An expression returns a value, usually by manipulating or transforming input data, although some expressions can be very simple: e.g. the expression "hello" always returns the string "hello" and requires no input.

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externalWorkflowTask
externalWorkflowTask
External Task

An External Task is generated when an External Transition is triggered, placing a task on a Process Queue for external processing.

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externalTransition
externalTransition
External Transition Node

An External Transition generates an External task to be processed. The details of the external task (process queue, data expression) are configured using the External Transition.

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file
file
File

Definition

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fileCollector
fileCollector
File Collector

Describes the structure, content, naming patterns and location of files of data to be imported into PhixFlow.

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fileCollectorAttribute
fileCollectorAttribute
File Collector Attribute

The data columns that a File Collector expects to be present when importing a file.

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fileExporter
fileExporter
File Exporter

Used to write information from PhixFlow to external files.

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fileReference
fileReference
File Reference

Definition

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filter
filter
Filter

Filters are made up of a set of clauses; each clause in turn contains a number of conditions. These conditions must be satisfied for data to be passed through a Pipe or returned in a filtered list.

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flash
flash
Flash

Definition

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formBar
formBar
Form Bar

If you move your mouse pointer to the bottom of the screen the PhixFlow Form Bar will appear. Contains links to all open forms (both open and minimised).

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fTPSite
fTPSite
FTP Site

A file system that is reachable via the FTP protocol.

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orderByField
orderByField
Group By Attribute

Groups the pipe data into candidate set, forms key for condidate set. However if data is coming from database or file collector, order by fields need to be specidied in the collector sql.

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http
http
HTTP

Hypertext transfer protocol - the language of the internet. In the context of PhixFlow, it means using standard internet communication as means of importing into and exporting data from a Control.

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httpCollector
httpCollector
HTTP Collector

Collect data from an HTTP Datasource.

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httpDatasource
httpDatasource
HTTP Datasource

A web site, web service or some other target that allows XML, HTML or text data to be collected from it, or exported to it, over HTTP. Data is collected from an HTTP Datasource using a HTTP Collector , and exported to an HTTP Datasource using a HTTP Exporter.

An HTTP Datasource Instance must define at least one HTTP Datasource Instance.

An HTTP Datasource Instance may define multiple XML Namespaces to support XPath expressions on HTTP Collectors .

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httpDatasourceInstance
httpDatasourceInstance
HTTP Datasource Instance

An HTTP Datasource Instance provide a default username, password and url to an HTTP Collector or HTTP Exporter.

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httpExporter
httpExporter
HTTP Exporter

Export data to an HTTP Datasource.

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internalVariable
internalVariable
Internal variables

Pre-defined variables for use in PhixFlow Expressions.

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cVLocale
cVLocale
Language

The display language of the user.

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linkProperty
linkProperty
Link Property

Definition

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logFile
logFile
Log File

Definition

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logMessage
logMessage
Log Message

Within each log list, log messages are output by the Analysis Engine as it performs analysis.

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macro
macro
Macro

A macro is a user-defined function that can be called from other Expressions.

A macro can be called with parameters. These parameters are available within the body of the macro as $arg.

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measureType
measureType
Measure Type

Measurement Types are uused to evaluate a type of score that can be assigned to an alarm or control.

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measurement
measurement
Measurement

An instance of a value of a measurement type at a given point in time

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modelElement
modelElement
Model Element

The individual objects that make up an Analysis Model e.g. streams, file collectors etc. These elements are added via drag and drop controls and context menus.

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paging
paging
Paging

Where a list is displaying more data than can be viewed in the display grid, paging allows the user to scroll through the whole list, e.g. alarm lists, log messages, Stream Set data.

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period
period
Period

This can be either a regular period, or variable. There are three possible settings:

  • Daily: generate or collect data every day.
  • Monthly: generate or collect data every month.
  • Variable: generate or collect data since the more recent run of the stream to the current date.

 

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pipe
pipe
Pipe

A pipe is a connector that links two elements in a PhixFlow model.

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place
place
Place Node

All Workflow models have a Start Place. The PhixFlow Analysis Engine places a Token here when a new alarm is raised and so initiates the workflow.

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privilege
privilege
Privilege

Privileges are used to define what actions can be performed in PhixFlow.

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processQueue
processQueue
Process Queue

Process Queues are referenced by External Workflow Transitions. They represent a queue of jobs to be done by a specific process external to PhixFlow. That process will pick up jobs from the Process Queue.

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recordset
recordset
Recordset

Definition

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refreshAction
refreshAction
Refresh Action

Represents an action that once completed will cause the enclosing view to be refreshed.

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reportTask
reportTask
Report Task

Report Tasks can be configured to distribute key information to a list of recipients. Users can do this by configuring Report Tasks in a Task Plan.

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role
role
Role

Roles represent the type of access required to do specific tasks (e.g. Designer, Operator etc.)

Roles are assigned to User Groups (or vice versa)

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role
role
Rollback

Deletes a specified set of Stream Sets from a Stream and updates the tidemarks for that Stream.

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link
link
Shortcut

Links to objects from the Control Framework.

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sequence
sequence
Sequence

A Sequence is used to generate a numeric sequence of values.

The Sequence lets you define the properties of the sequence e.g. the starting value.

The nextValue function returns the next value in the sequence each time it is called.

The curValue function returns the most recent value returned by nextValue.

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sliderPane
sliderPane
Slider Pane

Definition

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sql
sql
SQL

SQL query used to retrieve data from, or SQL or PL/SQL statement used toupdate data in, a Datasource.

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stream
stream
Stream

Represent a structured store of data within PhixFlow receiving data from one or more components, processing it then storing it.

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streamAction
streamAction
Stream Action

Defines a set of updates to the values of a Stream Item.

A Stream Action can be applied from a Stream View from a Stream Item Details form.

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streamActionAttribute
streamActionAttribute
Stream Action Attribute

Each Stream Action Attribute defines the new value to be assigned to a single field of a Stream Item. The new value is defined as an glossary expression, which can refer to the original values of the Stream Item.

When a Stream Action is applied, each attribute's expression is evaluated in turn and the result is saved back to the Stream Item.

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streamAttribute
streamAttribute
Stream Attribute

Define the type, precision and expressions of how each individual attribute is calculated based on the inputs to the Stream.

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streamFunctionFactory
streamFunctionFactory
Stream Function

Defines the basic Stream operation. Form the basis of transformations in PhixFlow to get from raw data to the elements of a control framework - controls, reports and alarms.

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streamItem
streamItem
Stream Item

Individual record in a Stream Set.

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streamItemDetails
streamItemDetails
Stream Item Details

A Stream Item Details form can be opened from a Grid Stream View by opening the view, selecting a Stream Item then selecting Show Stream Item Details from the pull-down menu.

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streamTables
streamTables
Stream Tables

Physical table in PhixFlow schema that stores the Stream data.

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streamView
streamView
Stream View

Used to customise the display of data in one or more Stream Sets.

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streamViewAttribute
streamViewAttribute
Stream View Attribute

Stream Attributes used in a Stream View. Each attribute has a role that defines how the data will be displayed.

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streamSet
streamSet
Stream Set

A set of data items for a given period.

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systemConfiguration
systemConfiguration
System Configuration

Where all general system wide properties are configured in PhixFlow.

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systemTask
systemTask
System Task

A System Task runs standard system-wide housekeeping activities. It must be run as part of a Task Plan.

The standard housekeeping activities are:

  • Deleting and (optionally) archiving Log Messages
  • Deleting Managed File entries.

The parameters controlling how long to keep Log Messages / Managed Files before deleting them, and whether first to archive Log Messages to file, are set in System Configuration.

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task
task
Task

A Task can be set up to carry out an action or set of actions in PhixFlow. Tasks can be one of:

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taskPlan
taskPlan
Task Plan

Contains a set of Tasks to run.

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timedWorkflowTask
timedWorkflowTask
Timer Task

An Timer Task is generated when a Timer Transition is triggered.

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timedTransition
timedTransition
Timer Transition Node

A Timer Transition generates a timer task to be processed. The details of how the timer task will be generated are configured in the Timer Transition.

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token
token
Token

Tokens store the state of the workflow.

A transition of a workflow may fire whenever there is a token at the start of all input arcs; when it fires, it consumes these tokens, and places tokens at the end of all output arcs.

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user
user
User

Users represent the individuals working in the organisation that will be logging onto PhixFlow and performing tasks. Users are assigned to User Groups.

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userGroup
userGroup
User Group

Users belong to User Groups that represent the area of the business they work in (e.g. Customer Service, Finance, Billing Support etc.) User Groups are assigned to Roles (or vice versa).

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userNotificationRule
userNotificationRule
User Notification Rule

Specifies the User that will be notified of generated alarms or workflow tasks based on a set of rules.

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userWorkflowTask
userWorkflowTask
User Task

A User Task is generated when a User Transition is triggered, sending a task to a specific user for manual processing.

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userTransition
userTransition
User Transition Node

A User Transition generates a user task to be processed. The details of how the user taks will be generated are configured in the User Transition.

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alarmWorkflowModelAssignmentRule
alarmWorkflowModelAssignmentRule
Workflow Assignment Rule

When configuring an Alarm Generator, the user can specify the Workflow Model that generated alarms will be passed to using a set of rules.

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workflowModel
workflowModel
Workflow Model

Workflow Models are the graphical representation of manual and automated tasks that should be completed to resolve an alarm.

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workflowNode
workflowNode
Workflow Node

Any node on a workflow model, i.e. a place or a transition

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workflowTaskStatus
workflowTaskStatus
Workflow Status

When an Workflow Task is generated, a status can be assigned to it. This allows for the task to be tracked through the task management lifecycle as and when it`s status changes.

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xmlNamespace
xmlNamespace
XML Namespace

When parsing an XML response, the XPath on an HTTP Collector determines the node in the XML response that will cause an output record to be generated. In general, XML node names are relative to namespaces, and are referred to by namespace aliases. An XPath can use any XML Namespace alias defined by the HTTP Datasource linked to the HTTP Collector .

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xPath
xPath
XPath

An XPath expression on an HTTP Collector determines the node in the XML response that will cause an output record to be generated.

An XPath is a '/'-separated list of node names.

If any of the node names in the XPath use non-default namespaces, these may be defined in XML Namespaces