Method and apparatus for providing custom configurable business applications from a standardized set of components

摘要

At least one method and apparatus for providing custom configurable business applications from a standardized set of components. A server device is configured to include best-of-breed components which comprise the server device. Best-of-breed server applications are also included which provide server functionalities. A modular set of components are used to construct a business service application according to user requirements. The components might include business steps which are operations with a defined set of input and output ports, with each port having a defined set of parameters, and business rules which are used to capture customer specific business practices. The business rules can also be used to produce different results depending on conditional triggers that are associated with the underlying business objects. Data representations between the server device and systems external to the device, as well as data representations between the users and the business service applications are utilized as business objects. A data repository is used for storing and retrieve data associated with the various business service applications and server functionalities. A community enablement feature allows data from many different sources to be aggregated, viewed and/or shared so that a user might conveniently analyze information relating to a particular product, wherein the retrieved information might be context sensitive.