Defining a system

Using the IFD, you can define a system as a set of distributed subsystems, a set of maps, or a combination of maps and subsystems. You can create these definitions because a system is an isolated set of components whose interfaces are as explicit as the interfaces for an atomic map.

For example, this isolation enables the Launcher to manage a system as easily as it manages a map.

To complete successfully, a map needs the proper resources to be in place. For example:

• Every data source must be accessible.
• Every output must be routable to its assigned target.
• The server-required resources to perform the transformation (work files and audit logs, for example) must not be in use by any other process during the transformation process.

To accomplish this reliably, the transformation must be able to succeed or fail as a whole. That is, when a map does not complete successfully, the original data must persist in a form that is recoverable and partial results can be rolled back and made inaccessible to other maps or applications.

You can use a single map to simplify logical connections between multiple heterogeneous applications; direct links using application adapters; and indirect links using file, messaging, and database adapters.