@baseclass (ultimate baseclass)

The ultimate (topmost) parent class in the class

hierarchy for any Pega application. All other classes are
derived from this class. The standard rules in this class
are available for every object in the Pega system.

abstract class
A class that is used to collect for re-use any rules that
can be shared by one or more case types and to support
the class structure hierarchy. Abstract class names
usually end with a hyphen (-), for example, WorkCover- . Whether a new class is abstract or concrete
depends upon a selection on the Class rule form. See
also concrete class.

access group
A collection of users, associated with an available
application, available portals, and their assigned roles.
System administrators define access groups for each
application and add them to operator IDs. Users can
belong to multiple access groups.

access role
A user role assigned to an access group that enables an
application developer to limit the access to rules based
on what the members do for their jobs or on a project
implementation team.

action section
The area in a harness where users select which action to
take on the current case. This section can display its
choices as a menu, or as a series of links or as a set of
buttons.

activity
An advanced rule type that defines a series of logical
instructions to be executed automatically by the system
during case processing.

actor
A user, external system, or agent that participates in an
application's processes.

ad hoc case
A case that is not instantiated from a case type in an
application, to track work that is not modeled by an
existing case type.

Adaptive Analytics Engine

In Decision Management, the main function of the

Adaptive Decision Manager, responsible for storing and
analyzing adaptive statistics and producing individual
scoring models that are used in Pega to perform
calculations used for predictions defined in decision
strategies.

Adaptive Data Store

In Decision Management, the database storing adaptive
statistics and adaptive models.

Adaptive Decision Manager (ADM)

In Decision Management, an integrated technology that
extends predictive analytics with an adaptive
mechanism to establish customer preferences with
customer responses in real time. Due to its adaptive
nature, no initial collection of data is necessary.

adaptive model
In Decision Management, a type of scoring model that
captures customer responses in real-time in order to
make and adapt predictions, typically in the absence of
historical records. An adaptive model is used in a
decision strategy to help identify the most appropriate
proposition, or next, best action.

adaptive statistics
In Decision Management, the persistent information that
results from running a strategy that contains adaptive
models.

agent
In Pega, a background process that executes activities
as necessary, either when one or more conditions are
met or on a specified schedule. Pega includes nine
standard agents.

aggregate property
A property that stores more than a single value, such as
a Value List, Page List, Value Group or Page Group, or a
page that can contain a Java object. These are similar to
arrays, repeating groups, unordered sets or collections
found in other development tools.

Alert log
A collection of text files that supplements the Pega
server logs. The Alert log typically contains only a small
fraction of the entries that appear in the full system log usually those that identify events with performance
implications.

application
A collection of rules and data developed o support one
or more specific business functions.

application (rule)
(In PRPC 7.1 and later versions, the Application Profiler
has been superseded by Application Express.)

Application Accelerator (AA)

A wizard that leverages data captured in an Application
Profile (or directly in the Application Accelerator) to
speed the creation of new applications or the extension
of existing applications. The AA automatically creates a
case, and ultimately a working baseline or starting point
application that includes organization and class
structure, draft processes and UI elements. This baseline
application can be modified to implement functionality
and create a functioning, production application. (In
Pega 7.1 and later versions, the Application Accelerator
has been superseded by Application Express.)

Application document
A form of application documentation that can be
produced as a result of running the Application
Document wizard. This document describes the
processes, user interfaces, decisions, and other rules
that provide the functionality of one or more case types
in an application. The user can control which rules and
sections appear in the document.

Application Explorer
A navigation feature in Designer Studio that provides
access to the rules that belong to an application. It is
organized by class, category and rule type.

Application Express
A wizard used to quickly create an application with a
minimum of technical expertise. The tool generates an
initial application structure, which can be elaborated
with flows, user interfaces, and other rules to complete
the application..

application menu
A menu in the Designer Studio, identified by the name
of the current application. This menu allows users to
switch applications, create a new application or switch
work pools.

Application Packaging wizard

A wizard used to create a product archive containing all

of the classes, rules and data that make up an
application. The result of the wizard can be exported to
a ZIP file and then imported or migrated to another
PRPC system.

application profile
A collection of business-related information that includes
the processes, case types, reports, specifications,
participants, collaborators, and actors associated with
the implementation of a project. In PRPC 6.3, an
application profile is produced by the Application Profiler
prior to starting application development, and used as
input for the Application Accelerator to speed the
creation of new applications and the extension of
existing applications. In PRPC 7.1, the application profile
is created after running Application Express, and
updated continuously as the application evolves,
through use of the Application Profile and Application
Overview landing pages.

Application Profile document

A high-level scoping document that can be produced
from content in an Application Profile. This document
contains application-specific user input that includes,
but is not limited to, case types, specifications,
requirements, objectives, interfaces, reports and
correspondence associated with the selected
application. The user can control which rules and
sections appear in the document.

Application Profiler
A wizard that allows a user to enter information about
the application or framework to be built or extended. It
creates an Application Profile and can also produce a
printable project document. The Application Profile
generated by this wizard can be imported by the
Application Accelerator to create or extend an
application or framework. See Application Profile.

application rulesets
Specifies an ordered set of multiple rulesets and ruleset
versions that together identify the components of a
PRPC application and are available to members of the
specified access groups. It also includes objectives,
actors, case types, specifications and requirements, and
allows supporting documentation (screenshots, etc.) to
be attached.

Assign-

A collection of rulesets that represents an application,

including the Application rulesets defined for the
Application rule, the Application rulesets defined for any
built-on application and the local customization ruleset.

assignment
The abstract parent class for classes that describe
assignments.

assignment (shape)
A task that must be completed by a user or external
system before an open case may continue through an
executing flow. An assignment indicates that the case is
temporarily paused until a user "acts on" the case. The
user selects the appropriate action to complete the
assignment, and provides any information required by
the application to support the action the user selects.

associated ruleset
Metadata for data records that link the data record to an
application ruleset, to simplify the migration of an
application with a product rule.

association
A rule type that defines a one-directional relationship
between two classes, used often in reporting to include
properties from another class in a report. The rule
predefines a JOIN-type relationship between instances of
two classes, such as Operators and Assignments, or
between cases and custom data classes, such as those
created by data tables or external database
connections. Unlike joins, association rules work
automatically when a manager or developer builds a
report.

Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX)

A coding technique used in interactive web applications
to exchange small amounts of data as needed, so that
the entire web page does not reload each time users
request a change. PRPC uses this technology when
processing server-side validation rules and for
calculated value expressions.

attachment
A document, image, or other file added to a case to
provide additional information.

attachment category (rule)

A rule type that identifies the business process or
purpose. Developers can use an attachment category to

restrict a user's ability to add, delete, view and edit

attachments based on privileges, when conditions or
attachment types.

audit trail
A feature that displays the history of a case, including
which operators have worked on it and when, which
automatic processes were performed by the application,
and other details. This information is added
automatically at runtime as a result of values entered in
the Audit Note field of each flow shape.

authentication
The process of determining the identity of a user or
requestor of services. In PRPC, authentication is
accomplished by matching the submitted user name
and password to those stored in the user's Operator ID.

auto-generated
Executable code automatically generated by PRPC,
rather than manually written by application developers,
most commonly when configuring UI rules (sections and
controls). When a rule form is saved, PRPC translates
some types of rules (such as control, section, flow action
and harness) to HTML, JSP tags and JavaScript. These
auto-generated rules eliminate hand-coding and usually
provide better performance, security, browser
independence and more consistent branding and styles
than hand-crafted rules.

auto-populating property
A page or page list property that automatically obtains
its data directly from a specified data page. The auto
populate can be in the form of a pointer or a copy and is
triggered whenever the parameter value for the given
data page changes.

Auto-processing
A feature that allows PRPC to perform an assignment
automatically under certain situations. To auto-process
an assignment, the assignment must be configured with
a set of when rules and corresponding flow actions. At
run-time, PRPC evaluates the when rules in top-down
order and performs the flow action that corresponds to
the first when rule that returns a true result.

Autocomplete
A user interface control that supports user selection of
one text value from a large list of candidate values. As
the user types in the field, a filtered list of qualifying text

values appears below the input field. Users can then

select a value from this list.

Automatic Call Distributor (ACD)

The equipment (or software) used to direct incoming
calls to service representatives in a call or contact
center.

Autonomic Event Services (AES)

An optional product that automatically monitors,
retrieves, organizes and displays PRPC system statistics
and warning conditions at the enterprise, cluster and
node levels. A dashboard displays real-time, critical
performance-related data, including the number of
requestors and agents running, memory usage, CPU
usage and so on, so that an operator can quickly
remediate and resolve issues. AES also provides reports,
charts and diagnostic information about the events that
triggered the alerts.

availability
The state or status of a rule, used to determine if a rule
is visible and can be executed when called during rule
resolution processing. Availability is determined by a
developer. PRPC provides five possible values: Yes,
No/Draft Mode, Blocked, Final and Withdrawn. The rule is
available if the availability is set to Yes or Final.

background process
An autonomous process that occurs with little or no user
intervention. Examples of a background process include
logging and system monitoring.

backward chaining
A method of declarative evaluation, in which a declare
expression is only calculated when the corresponding
property is referenced. With backward chaining, PRPC
determines a property value by by navigating backward
through the dependency network to obtain input values
for the declare expression. See also forward chaining.

base class
One of PRPC's standard abstract classes that inherit
directly from @baseclass, such as Data-, Assign-, Ruleand Work-. All other classes inherit either directly or
through pattern inheritance from base classes.

base rule
The original variant of a rule that has been
circumstanced or time-qualified. Rule resolution selects

the base rule when none of the criteria for the

circumstanced or time-qualified variants are met. A base
rule must exist for every circumstanced or time-qualified
rule.

behavioral profile
In Decision Management, a representation of a
univariate model that is based upon a single behavior
variable, like usage or loyalty.

best bet
In a selection control, a subset of options that are likely
to include the choice you are seeking. An Autocomplete
control can be configured to display the results that
users select most often under the heading "Best Bets".

binary file (rule)

A rule type in PRPC used to identify static content files
that contain information in a non-text format, such as
images and PRF documents. Binary file rules store data
in a Base64 format to support endian-independent,
character-set independent processing. When extracted
or downloaded, the file is reconverted to its original
format.

Binary Large Object (BLOB)

A collection of binary data stored as a single object in a
database. A BLOB can store any amount of digitized
information, and supports text, images, audio or video.
PRPC uses BLOB fields to store all of the data for a case
in a proprietary, compressed format that is highly
optimized for performance and flexibility. Also known
simply as a "large object".

blocked
A rule availability status that indicates to the rule
resolution algorithm that a rule (and all others of that
type with the same name or key, in any ruleset) is not
executable.

branch ruleset
A ruleset that is based off of, or "branched" from,
another ruleset. A branch ruleset contains rules that are
in active development, but are separated from the core
rules in the application. By using branches, rule
development can take place within an isolated space
(the branch) without affecting the functionality of the
core source rules.

Build for Change

Pegasystems' corporate slogan and application

development philosophy, which acknowledges the
continuous evolution of business processes through
Information Technology methodologies and tools that
embrace flexible procedures.

build order
The sequence in which rules and data instances are
created during application development. The build order
may differ in separate iterations of the implementation.

bulk processing
The performance of one action on multiple assignments
in an application. For example, a user could bulk process
either the approval or rejection of multiple purchase
orders as one action.

Business Analyst portal

An alternative portal to the full Designer Studio which
provides access to those PRPC facilities most useful to
Business Architects. (In PRPC 7.1, the Business Analyst
portal has been removed, and its functionality merged
into Designer Studio.)

Business Architect (BA)

An application developer who defines and maintains
business rules, service levels and flows (processes). Also
known as a business analyst or process architect.

business data
Provides context for a given task for a given participant.

Business Intelligence Exchange (BIX)

An optional PRPC add-on product that provides the
extract functions of an ETL (Extract, Transform and
Load) utility and can provide some portion of the
functions that transform data from a PRPC database into
formats suitable for export to a consolidated data
warehouse.

business metrics
Data used to describe a company's case performance,
such as the number of orders processed or how many
orders are canceled. Business metrics represent the
data that you have defined when you create properties.

Business objective
An expected business outcome or goal for an
application.

Business Process Management (BPM)

The organizational activity that defines how work gets
done and coordinates the presentation of the UI, the
logic and the data access for the application. It
incorporates management practices with information
technology to plan, design, build, operate, control,
monitor, analyze and maintain an organization's
business.

Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)

A specification promoted by the Business Process
Management Initiative of the Object Management
Group, that provides a graphical notation for expressing
business processes in a diagram. The BPMN
specification also defines the relationships between the
graphical elements and process execution languages
such as BPEL.

Business Rules Engine (BRE)

A powerful Java-based rules engine that separates
business logic from the mission-critical applications and
enables the enterprise to capture, manage and execute
business policies and practices as business rules. The
Business Rules Engine uses advanced software
techniques to compute and record the consequences
and results of rules in a non-procedural, nonprogramming form. The BRE supports declarative rules,
multithreaded execution and a large number of industry
interfacing standards.

Business Use Case

A type of use case (specification) that describes a
business process from beginning to end without regard
to process ownership. It can involve many different
actors and has a very low likelihood of being reused
within an enterprise.

Business Value Assessment (BVA)

The definition and establishment of the success factors
and expected return on investment of a project,
performed by a business architect in conjunction with
representatives from the business.

cache
A collection of data automatically maintained at an
intermediate point between the requestor and the
ultimate source of the data. Multiple types of caches,
representing various types of data, exist in PRPC,
enabling faster access to rules or data stored in the

PegaRULES database or on another system, especially

during rule resolution searches.

Calculation Builder
A display used to select an existing SQL function from a
list of available SQL functions to use as the basis for a
SQL expression. The form displays additional fields
where the user can select the data that the function is
to use.

call center
An office or location used by an organization to receive
large volumes of calls from its constituents.

case (step type)

A setting for a case step that configures the step to
generate another case of a specified type.

case (work item)

An interaction between two or more parties that is
initiated, processed, and resolved. A case consists of
defined behavior - represented by assignments,
processes, business policies, and potentially other cases
- and outcomes. In Pega, a case is a specific instance of
a case type. In Decision Management, a case can be any
person, company or event that exhibits some defined
behavior.

Case Designer
A landing page used to view and modify the stages,
processes, and behavior of a case type.

case ID (work item ID)

An ID associated with a case that uniquely and
permanently identifies the case within the work pool.
When you create your application, you define the
optional prefix and suffix, and the numbering format,
which together represent the unique key.

case management
The business practice that involves managing work
using a less rigid structure than classic BPM, so that a
case can nest within other cases to allow multi-level,
parent-child relationship management. It centralizes
flow processing among multiple case types in large
applications and provides more flexible task use and
ordering. It also enables centralized management of
various aspects of case processing, including service
levels, attachment categories and automatic
attachments; instantiation and management of

subcases and parent cases; and mapping roles to object

access for various case types, for more flexible
relationships with other work.

Case Management Gallery

A collection of examples of case types that use many of
PRPC's case management capabilities and represent
best practice implementations that comply with
Pegasystems' guardrails. These examples can be copied
into an application and extended as needed.

Case Manager portal

The standard end-user interface for creating, viewing,
and working on cases. It displays unresolved cases and
their subcases, and the case's open assignments. It also
displays associated content, users, roles, and subjects;
allows monitoring of work group status, goals, and
deadlines; and generates work management reports.

case type
A template for the execution of a business transaction,
represented as a concrete class derived from the Workbase class. A case type models a specific type of work,
such as a service request or account adjustment, and
contains the flows, UI, properties, decisions,
requirements, specifications, and other rules that
describe the process of creating, processing, and
resolving a case. To execute a business transaction,
PRPC creates a unique case, using the case type as a
template.

case type (rule)

A rule that establishes how to create a case, including
the relationship between the case and any parent or
child case.

case type dependency

A dependent relationship that controls automatic case
creation or completion of a workbasket assignment. This
type of relationship exists when a dependent case type
is automatically created, completed or reaches a
specified work status.

case worker (operator)

An individual responsible for creating, processing, and/or
resolving a case.

Case Worker portal

Provides case workers with a standard interface for
creating, viewing, and working on their own cases and

assignments. The user cannot monitor and manage

work among other operators or workbaskets, or view
work statistics. In PRPC 7.1 and later versions, the Case
Worker portal has been deprecated. All end-user
interactions with a PRPC application in Pega 7 use the
Case Manager portal.

Cases Explorer
A navigation feature in the Designer Studio that allows
users to view and modify case type relationships in an
application.

category
A systematic grouping of rule types and data types in
PRPC. Categories are used in the Application Explorer,
My Rules, Records Explorer Rules Explorer in versions of
PRPC prior to 7.1, attachments and reports to enhance
navigation.

category (rule)
A rule type used to define an organizational framework
for reports displayed in the Report Browser. Each
category consists of a label and an owner type, which
exposes the category to a specific audience, either an
individual user, a group of users, or all users.

channel
A mode of communication or interaction, such as
telephone, email, or fax.

Chart Editor
A tool used to add or edit a chart to any summary-type
report definition.

check in/check out

A rule management process that allows an application
developer to reserve a rule for editing, to avoid conflicts
arising from more than one developer simultaneously
editing the rule. Upon check out, a copy of the rule is
added to a ruleset reserved solely for the developer who
checks out the rule. When the rule is checked back in,
the rule is copied back to the original ruleset, overriding
the previous version, and the updated rule is available
to be checked out again.

circumstancing
The practice of creating additional variants of a rule
based on specific circumstances, such as property
values. PRPC automatically executes whichever version
of the rule - either the base rule or the qualified

circumstanced version of the base rule - for which the

circumstancing criteria are met.

class
The applicability - or scope - of a rule instance. A rule
instance defined for a class can reference any other rule
instance defined for that class or any inherited class. For
example, if the MYCO-HR-Application class inherits from
the Work- class, a flow defined in MYCO-HR-Application
can use the Approve flow action defined in Work-. The
class of a rule instance is determined when creating the
rule instance. Once set, this class cannot be changed,
except through a process known as refactoring.

class diagram
A diagram that provides an overview of an application
by showing its classes and the relationships among
them.

Class Explorer
A navigation feature in the Designer Studio that displays
portions of the class hierarchy differentiating between
abstract and concrete classes. In PRPC 7.1 and later, the
Class Explorer has been merged into the Application
Explorer.

class group
A grouping of similar or related Work- concrete cases
case types, whose instances are stored in the same
relational database table. Analogous to what users think
of as an application.

Client Event Editor

A tool used to define the runtime behavior of a control
when an OnChange, OnBlur or OnClick event occurs for
non-auto-generated controls, or for auto-generated
controls configured with client events in versions of
PRPC prior to 6.3.

clipboard
A temporary, secure, hierarchical memory structure that
is allocated on the PRPC server for each unique
requestor. The clipboard consists of pages that contain
information about the server, requestors, and inmemory processes that are specific to the requestor.
Each page represents an individual or aggregated
object, and consists of a set of name-value pairs that
describe various attributes of the object. Do not confuse
with the Windows operating system clipboard.

Clipboard tool
A debugging tool in PRPC that allows developers to
examine a static snapshot copy of the structure and
contents pages and properties of their own clipboard.
They can troubleshoot issues by viewing and directly
updating parts of their clipboard. The left panel displays
the pages organized as a tree structure. The right panel
lists the properties and values set on one selected page,
sorted by property name.

coaching tips
In CPM, coaching tips help improve employee
performance and reinforce best practices. Users with the
appropriate privilege can create coaching tips for any
screen that is available in a customer interaction.

coefficient
In Decision Management, a weight used for each
predictor in the logistic regression formula. The
coefficient indicates the importance of a predictor.
Negative coefficients imply the presence of predictors
with a very similar behavioral profile, and their presence
may lead to over fitting and unreliable models.

Coefficient of Concordance (CoC)

In Decision Management, a non-parametric coefficient
statistic that is used to measure and compare predictive
models. The CoC can measure how well the scores
generated by the predictive model separate positive
from negative outcome cases. These coefficients are
sensitive to the complete range of score bands
regardless of their distribution. The CoC can vary
between 50% a random distribution of positive and
negative cases by score band and 100% a perfect
separation. The minimum is 50% because the scores are
simply used in reverse if a set of scores orders negative
cases before positive cases. If the desired operational
circumstances volume or quality of business are
unknown, CoC generates powerful and generalized
models.

Column Population utility

An advanced utility for database and schema
maintenance that updates rows of PegaRULES database
tables after database schema changes. It can populate
values for a new column corresponding to a newly
exposed property, exposing values that are previously
stored only in the Storage Stream BLOB column.
Optionally, it can also rebuild database indexes and
Index- instances defined by Declare Index rules as part
of the same operation.

composite portal
A portal type defined by a set of harnesses and sections
that more easily supports customization, accessibility by
means of assistive technology tools, and localization.
Composite portals are more flexible than traditional
portals, which were defined with a fixed layout built from
HTML rules, and can be used with any modern browser.

Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)

A technology that enables computer applications to
interact with telephony systems - for example, a
desktop application may use CTI to control a user's
telephone and place calls. In call centers, CTI software
allows applications to monitor and act upon calls e.g.
transfer a call. Using PegaCALL, CPM supports CTI
capabilities such as screen pops and desktop telephony
control.

concrete class
A class that represents a case type, used to create
instantiate instances of that case type, or cases. Also
referred to as a work class, since it represents a type of
work. Compare with abstract class.

Condition Builder
An editing tool used to define conditions and ensure that
expressions are valid.

connector
An arrow between two shapes in a flow diagram, used to
denote a path of progress within a process.

Connector & Metadata wizard

A tool that imports information about an external
application or system and configures direct table access
without the need for SQL connector rules. This wizard
generates connector rules or data mapping rules and
creates a data class for each table in the database we
want to work with, creates properties in our data classes
for each column in the tables we want to interact with
and creates the activities that allow applications to
interact with the database in an external system i.e.
create, read, update, delete.

connector (rule)
A type of integration rule that allows an application,
acting as a client, to interact with an external system or
database.

connector flow action

A flow action configured on a connector within a flow,
allowing the flow execution to progress to another shape
on the diagram.

constraints
A rule used to define and enforce a declarative rather
than programmatic comparative relationship between
property values or between a property value and a
constant or expression that is expected to be true at all
times. Ensures that values entered by a user do not
deviate from the desired range for a single value or
embedded property when a specific condition is met,
providing an automatic form of property validation every
time a property value is touched.

Construction phase
If a user enters a value that deviates from the intended
range, a message is displayed, the page is invalidated,
the process is stopped and the user cannot proceed until
the entry is corrected. Contrast with validate rule.

contact
In Pega BPM, a software development phase in which
application features are configured, integrated into the
application, and thoroughly tested. The outcome of this
phase is a user-ready product running on the adequate
platforms, with user manuals and a description of the
current release. A large project may have parallel
construction activities to accelerate deployment.

contact center
In CPM, the person with whom the user is interacting. A
contact can be a customer, prospect or other interested
third party.

container
An office or location used by an organization to serve
customers over multiple channels such as telephone,
email and text chat.

continuous behavior
A structural element of a harness that corresponds to a
visually distinct rectangle on the form, marked by a
colorful border. Harnesses are made up of containers,
which contain sections, though not every harness
includes a container.

control

A range of values which is usually ordered, for example,

the purchase amount, or length of a relationship.

correspondence
A rule used to control how properties appear on user
forms, correspondence and other HTML forms, for both
display and accepting user input. PRPC provides many
standard controls, which are preferred over custom
controls.

Correspondence Output Server (COS)

A rule used to define an outgoing communication
produced by a PRPC application. Each correspondence
rule is defined for a specific channel of communication.

correspondence template
An optional Pegasystems application that supports
printing and faxing of correspondence. The COS can
convert correspondence into an attractive formatted
print image using Microsoft Word and send the result to
a hard copy printer. Also known as PegaDISTRIBUTION
Manager.

cover
A rule that is referenced in a flow to provide a template
to specify the format, content and type of
correspondence.

CPM Data Source

A case that can contain one or more subcases. A cover
is an instance of a case type that descends from the
abstract class Work-Cover-, rather than Work-. While
both Work- and Work-Cover- can be used as the parent
for a class that describes a case type, only case types
descended from Work-Cover- can contain subcases.

CSS 3
A type of rule used in the Customer Process Manager
CPM framework to access data from external systems.
The CPM data source rule "abstracts" the details of
integrating external data from the user of the data.

Customer Composite
The current version of the Cascading Style Sheet CSS
standard established by the World Wide Web Consortium
W3C. A CSS allows a web application to separate
formatting instructions from content.

Customer Process Manager (CPM)

In CPM, a UI area consisting of individual tabs or

sections that display information about the account,
contact and account owner. Information in the customer
composite areas may come from the CPM database or
from other third-party applications and databases within
an organization.

Customer Service Representative (CSR)

Pegasystems' flagship customer service application,
used to enable multi-channel, intent-driven processes
for customer relationship management CRM.

customization ruleset
An application ruleset used as the default ruleset when
copying an existing rule or creating a new rule.

data class
A concrete class used to represent a data object, such
as a person Customer, Vendor in a Pega application.
Each data class contains properties and other rules that
describe the behavior of the object represented.

Data Explorer
A navigation feature in Designer Studio that provides an
overview of selected data object types and their
associated data pages, and how often they are
referenced. Use the Data Explorer to view, understand
and manage your data object types and their associated
data pages.

data instance
A specific item of information that is stored by PRPC, for
example, an operator ID or a workbasket. A data
instance is constructed using a form and stored in XML
format in a PegaRULES database. Unlike rule instances,
however, data instances are not executable. Data
instances are not versioned, nor are they stored in
ruleset versions. As a result, changes to a data instance
affect all applications and application versions that rely
on that data instance. Each data instance is an instance
of a concrete class derived from the Data- abstract base
class.

data model
A collection of entities and attributes that describes the
objects modeled in an application, and their relationship
to each other.

data model (category)

A grouping of rule types in PRPC that store, manipulate,

and validate information about a case. The Data Model
category includes property, data page, data transform,
field value, and edit validate rules.

data page (declare page)

A rule used to cache data on demand to a clipboard
page for use by one or more applications. A data page
rule defines the source, scope, refresh strategy,
editability, and structure of the cached data. In versions
of PRPC prior to 7.1, a data page was referred to as a
declare page.

data propagation
The act of initializing a case or other item of work with
data from another case.

data source
A database, file or other storage of data, and the
mechanism for interacting with the data. In Decision
Management, data about customers and their previous
behavior that can be used for modeling and strategy
design. A source should contain one record per
customer with the same structure for each record.

data table
A simple data source that is usually used to store
reference data outside of the application, to allow the
information in the table to be updated as needed
without modifying the application. For example, a data
table might contain currency codes and currency
descriptions, such as USD for United States Dollar. Data
tables contain only scalar Single Value properties and
informally represent an internal "flat file" that contains
no repeating groups.

Data Table wizard

Accelerates the creation of properties in a concrete data
class by generating the class and supporting rules to
make the data table an interactive data entry tool. This
enables business users to use the Data Table Editor to
interactively enter, update and delete database table
items for classes that have a simple structure without
added privileges or programming support. The tool
creates a concrete data class and the properties in the
data class, list rules, editing rules, validation rules, and a
data transform rule to supply initial values for
properties. It also optionally creates a dedicated table in
the PegaRULES database and a corresponding database
table data instance.

data transform (model)

A rule used to set default values for properties on a
clipboard page, copy one clipboard page to another,
map properties from one page to another, append
properties from one Page List property to another, and
iterate over pages in a Page List property to map data
on each page. These rules define a sequence of steps,
and are executed in order, except when a conditional
action, such as a when condition or a transition action, is
encountered.

database table
A set of related data in a database, organized into rows
and columns. Each column contains a different attribute,
such as a property value, and each row corresponds to a
single record, such as a case.

DCO (Direct Capture of Objectives)

A set of application development tools and best
practices designed to capture and tie business and
project goals, objectives, processes, specifications and
requirements to implementations.

DCO session
A focused meeting of 4 hours or less that brings
together business architects, system architects, and
subject matter experts (SMEs) to elaborate on a set of
high-level application specifications to identify and
catalog the details necessary to implement a flow, user
interface, or other application specification.

deadline
The maximum time interval allowed for resolving a case,
configured in a service level rule. The system
determines the start time for that case and then adds
the deadline interval to calculate a specific deadline
time and date. See goal.

decision
In Decision Management, the result of running a
strategy in the interaction context. Several decisions
can be involved in a single interaction.

decision (category)
A grouping of types of records in PRPC that automate
decision-making to enforce business rules and
statements of policy. Decision rules describe a set of
comparisons, each one which consists of one or more
conditions and a return result. When evaluated, PRPC

identifies the most valid condition and returns the

corresponding outcome, such as "If an expense report
does not exceed $400, then additional approval is not
required." There are four types of decision rules in PRPC:
when, decision table, decision tree, and map value.

decision (shape)
A shape within a flow diagram used to call a decision
rule such as a decision tree, decision table or map
value.

Decision Management (DM)

The technology that implements Next Best Action
principles using Decision Strategy Manager DSM so your
application can determine which processes to run and
which products should be offered to customers.
Successful Decision Management results in increased
customer loyalty and the ability to address multiple
issues in the decision making process. Decision
Management functionality includes proposition
management, strategy development, using strategy,
scorecard and predictive model rules to drive process
flows, capturing interaction results using Interaction
Services IS, visualization and monitoring, and advanced
adaptive analytics using Adaptive Decision Manager
ADM.

Decision Strategy Manager (DSM)

A separate Pega product that delivers proposition
management, the use of strategy, scorecard, and
predictive model rules to drive process flows, strategy
development, capturing interaction results using
Interaction Services (IS), visualization and monitoring
using Visual Business Director (VBD), advanced adaptive
analytics using Adaptive Decision Manager (ADM), and
batch execution of strategies.

decision table
A type of decision rule that defines comparisons using a
table format similar to a spreadsheet, to specify a series
of tests on property values to be evaluated and returns
the result for each outcome.

decision tree
A type of decision rule that defines comparisons using a
tree structure format that contains nested if-then-else
conditions to evaluate and corresponding return results.

declarative network

An interactive display of the relationships among

properties computed by Declare Expression rules in the
selected application which depend on forward chaining
or backward chaining. See forward chaining and
backward chaining.

declarative rule
A type of rule that models relationships between
properties so the system can automatically use one or
more input values to determine the value of a property.
Pega provides six types of declarative records:
Constraints, Declare Expressions, Declare OnChange,
Declare Trigger, Declare Index and Data Pages (Declare
Pages in PRPC 6.3 and earlier versions). Unlike other
types of rules, declarative rules are not called explicitly.

declare page
A rule that creates a read-only page on the clipboard
that is available to multiple requestors in an application.
Typically used to store data that changes infrequently
and is needed by more than one user. For example, a
page may contain daily prices for a set of commodities
or currencies, an organization chart or inventory
quantity data extracted hourly from an external system.
These pages can be "globally" available to all requestors
on a node.

Define Properties wizard

A tool used to create multiple properties for the same
class by completing a single form.

delegated rule
A rule for which the responsibility of maintenance and
updating has been extended to business users.
Delegated rules can be updated by the business after an
application has been released, to allow the business to
keep an application current with business conditions.

dependency
A relationship where one object requires (or relies on)
the functionality that another object provides.

dependency network
An internal data structure that supports forward
chaining or automatic recalculation of certain property
values based on changes to other property values.
Required relationships among properties can be
established using a Declare Expression, Constraints or
Declare Index rule. Such rules are sometimes known as
declarations. A dependency is depicted in a declarative

network display diagram as a dotted arrow between two

objects.

dependent assignment
See case type dependency.

descendent class
A class derived from another class. Descendent classes
can use rules and/or data objects defined for a parent
class by means of either directed inheritance or pattern
inheritance.

Designer Studio
A web-based integrated development environment
(IDE), used to build applications. Provides a user
interface to users who create rules.

diagnostic process
A service process which leads CSRs through a series of
questions in order to provide a suggested result. For
example, diagnostic processes may be used to suggest
the best service plan or troubleshoot a billing issue.

dialog script
In customer service applications, it is the capability that
dynamically displays scripts (dialog) to users which are
personalized for the customer within the context of the
interaction. Displayed in the Interaction Thumbnail area.

dimensions
In Decision Management, a hierarchical context for the
facts and responses associated with an interaction.
Currently, the following dimensions are implemented:
customer, application, proposition, channel, behavior,
response context and time.

Direct Capture of Objectives (DCO)

A best practice of Pega application development by
which project objectives, requirements, and
specifications are captured, organized, and stored as
part of a Pega application. DCO consists of a set of tools
and behaviors used to facilitate a more cross-functional,
collaborative application development experience.

directed inheritance
An inheritance method that causes a class to inherit
characteristics directly from a specified parent class,
regardless of any defined pattern inheritance. Directed
inheritance allows developers to specify any class as the

parent of another class by name. See also pattern

inheritance.

Discovery Map
A graphical design tool used in the Application Profiler
and Application Accelerator to provide a high-level
presentation of the steps in an application's starting
business processes, including subprocesses and
alternate paths, and the sequence of the specifications
and requirements for each case type. The Discovery
Map captures the primary path in the flow - the
sequence of steps that users will most likely perform to
resolve a piece of work - in the top row. In PEGA 7.1 and
later versions, the Application Profiler and Application
Accelerator have been replaced by Application Express,
and process discovery occurs in the application itself.

division
The middle level of the standard three-level
organizational hierarchy. See organization and unit.

Document wizard (Application Document wizard)

A wizard that supports the generation of Microsoft Word
documents that describe the application, including
specifications, requirements and actors. Because this
documentation can be generated directly from the rules
at any time, it can be up-to-date and "in sync" with the
actual implementation.

draft mode
A flow-editor setting that allows users to create and
model flows that reference rules and flow actions that
are not yet defined.

Dynamic Layout
One of the layout types available in section rules.
Dynamic layouts allow users to create responsive user
interfaces that adapt to changes in display size.

Dynamic Select
A control that displays a drop-down list of text value
choices for an input field - returned from an activity, a
list view, report definition, or clipboard page - instead of
a static list of values.

edit validate
A rule that defines a Java routine to test the validity of
an input value and/or format data; listed in the Data
Model rule category.

Elaboration phase
The phase of the Pega BPM implementation
methodology in which a business analyst works with the
customer to analyze the problem domain, establish a
sound architectural foundation, develop the project plan
and eliminate the highest risk elements of the project.
These activities ensure that the architecture,
requirements and plans are stable enough, and the risks
are sufficiently mitigated, to predictably determine the
cost and schedule for the completion of the
development. The output from this phase includes a
use-case model (80% complete), software architectural
description, executable prototype, a development plan
and a revised risk list and business case. At the end of
this phase, the hard "engineering" is considered
complete and the decision is made whether or not to
commit to the Construction and Transition phases.

EmbedAn abstract class used as the parent for all embedded

classes that, by design, are never to be used as toplevel structures. By definition, a class derived from the
Embed- base class is used only for embedded pages,
rather than top-level, clipboard pages. Accordingly, no
saved instances of concrete Embed- classes ever exist.

embedded page
A clipboard page that is the child of another page. Any
page that is not a top-level page.

escalation
The act of causing high-priority assignments to become
visible to users and managers, to be processed sooner
rather than later.

exception path
A less-likely path that a process may take to complete a
unit of work. Also called an alternate scenario.

Export gadget
A form in the Application Packaging wizard that
identifies rules to be exported. Rules to be exported are
copied to a specific ruleset and version. You can copy all
rules in a full ruleset, or all rules and data instances
defined in a specific product rule or patch rule.

exposed property
A Single Value property that is stored as a column in a
database table, in addition to the BLOB, to enhance
record selection operations in reporting. Aggregate

properties, properties within an embedded page, and

Single Value properties that are not exposed are
contained in a specially formatted Storage Stream or
BLOB column. Also referred to as an optimized property.

Express History
A link created in the CPM composite to track important
information that is shared with a customer regardless of
whether a service process has been executed.

Expression Builder
An interface used to construct sound Java expressions
by guiding the user's selection, locating functions,
completing parameters to functions in a natural
language format and validating the format of an
expression.

Federated Case Management (FCM)

FCM enables users to connect enterprise-wide case
management applications and share their processes.

field value inspector

A tool that supports testing, evaluation and fine-tuning
of localized applications, by allowing updates to field
value rules through a pop-up window that contains
translations while viewing the application. Displays
visual indicators that link text elements on a form to the
associated field value rules and identifies missing field
value rules, for text labels, error messages, Tool Tips and
so on. In PEGA 7.1 and later versions, the Field Value
Inspector is part of the UI Inspector.

final rule
A rule that has the Available field set to Final and
displays a green stopped arrow on a rule form
meaning that no one can create a second rule with the
same visible key in any ruleset other than the ruleset to
which the first rule belongs; but this rule can be
overridden through a higher version in the same ruleset.
Most standard rules that are necessary to ensure the
integrity and security of the system are set to final.

flow (rule)
The fundamental rule that represents all or part of a
business process, governing how cases are created,
processed, and ultimately resolved. A flow rule consists
of a network of shapes and connectors or lines, each
with associated parameters and values.

flow action

A rule that provides a user with an option for performing

an assignment. Flow actions correspond to user actions
available on an assignment, and reference sections to
generate the user interface displayed in the Take Action
area of a case form. These choices are available as
interim or final dispositions of the assignment they are
processing.

flow data
Information needed by an application to determine what
action to perform and who should perform it.

flow drafting
The process of iteratively testing and refining a flow rule
before creating the UI, data model and decision rules.
Flow drafting is an integral part of the DCO process.

flow shape
A configurable element of a flow rule that represents a
processing action in the workflow of a case.

folder
A case for which a many-to-many relationship can be
established with other cases. A folder is an instance of a
case type that descends from the abstract class WorkFolder-, rather than Work-Cover-. While both Work-Coverand Work-Folder- can be used as the parent for a class
that describes a case type, only case types descended
from Work-Folder- can establish a many-to-many
relationship with subcases, so that one subcase can
belong to multiple folders.

fork
An optional configuration for a decision shape, in which
decision logic is configured using when rules associated
with the connectors emanating from the decision shape,
rather than a decision table, decision tree, or map value
rule configured on the decision shape itself. Pega selects
the appropriate outcome for the decision by evaluating
the when rule on each connector, in order of likelihood
from high to low, until one returns a true result.

form
A collection of fields and other controls presented to the
user during an assignment. Each form is defined by a
flow action that describes the processing action, which
references a section that contains the property
references and controls that comprise the contents of
the form.

forward chaining
A method of declarative evaluation in which a change to
a property value automatically triggers the re-evaluation
of a dependent property. With forward chaining, Pega
pushes a change to a property value forward through
the system's internal dependency network and
recalculates any dependent property. See also backward
chaining.

framework application
An application designed and created for use in a
framework layer.

framework class
A class that belongs to the framework layer of an
application. See also implementation class.

framework layer
A portion of a Pega solution that contains reusable
application elements. Provides an application that can
be used as the basis for many production applications.
The classes associated with the framework business
application started through the Application
Accelerator and defined through an application rule and
one or more rulesets that provides an almost
complete solution for a business. Classes associated
with the framework are sometimes called the framework
layer.

Fully Qualified Name (FQN)

An unambiguous reference that includes the name of
the item being referenced and any contextual
information necessary to differentiate the item from
another item with the same name. Fully qualified names
are most commonly used with Pega properties to
identify the property the embedded page that contains
it, such as .PurchaseRequest.GrandTotal, though they
can be used to identify any rule.

function
A rule type used to define a Java function and make the
function callable from activities and expressions.

function alias
A user-friendly label for a SQL or Java function rule,
designed to help non-developers when creating or
updating a decision table or when rule, or when creating
a report.

gadget

A rule type such as the worklist display. Provides

information or tools that assist a system architect or
system administrator in building and maintaining
applications and determines the appearance, labeling
and location of sections on the home page (portal) and
which parts of the portal are visible to different groups
of users.

geofence
A rule type used to define the latitude and longitude of a
location and a radius surrounding the location, known as
the fence. Geofence rules are in the Marketing category
that is enabled in a Next-Best-Action Marketing (NBAM)
application.

geolocation
The detection of the physical location of an Internetconnected computing device. More generally, a set of
services related to mapping and directions on a mobile
device.

gesture
A movement or touch-based user interaction with an
application on a mobile device, such as tapping or
swiping the screen, or shaking or tipping the device.
This contrasts with traditional desktop interactions
based on keyboard and mouse.

goal
The amount of time a user is expected to take to resolve
a case or to complete an assignment. It is the smallest
time interval configured in a service level. See also
deadline.

governance
The processes that help to guide projects to a successful
completion.

grid layout
A type of repeating layout that allows users to view the
embedded pages of a Page List or the entries in a Value
List property as a spreadsheet-like arrangement of
columns and rows. Sometimes referred to as a repeating
grid.

guardrail
A best practice for Pega application development that
helps to assure good performance, attractive user
interfaces and ease of maintenance. When a rule

definition varies from one or more guardrails, a warning

message appears on the rule form.

guest
An unauthenticated user. See authentication.

handle
A permanent, unique identifier for the class, which
includes certain key parts and (for rules and some other
classes) the creation date and time of a single instance.
The handle uses an external character string format that
differs from the normal presentation. Internally, the
pzInsKey property holds the handle value for the object.
The pzInsKey property for a new rule has no value until
the rule instance is saved. See internal key.

harness
A UI rule that organizes and presents content to a user.
A harness is a top-level UI container used to define the
appearance and processing of user forms used in an
application to create cases and process assignments.

HistoryThe abstract parent class for tracking changes to rules.

See History- classes.

History- classes
Subclasses of the History- class, created automatically
as a byproduct of the creation of other classes, to track
changes to rules.

HTML 5
The 5th iteration of the HTML standard set by the World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which includes standards
to enforce cross-browser compatibility.

HTML fragment
A rule that defines reusable HTML not associated with a
specific class, often used for frequently used HTML text,
JavaScript or CSS text. HTML fragment rules are listed in
the Technical rule category.

Implementation application
An application developed for a specific business
audience or need, and not intended to be reused for
other audiences or needs. See also framework
application.

implementation class

A class that belongs to the implementation layer of an

application. See also framework class.

implementation layer
A portion of a Pega solution that contains application
elements specialized for a specific business audience or
need. The contents of the implementation layer extend
the elements of the framework to create a composite
application that targets a specific organization or
division. See also framework layer.

implementation methodology
A type of software development methodology that,
ideally, focuses on project management, return on
investment, conformance to best practices and
compliance requirements, communication with
stakeholders and the creation of physical artifacts that
help ensure project success.

Inception phase
The phase of the Pega BPM implementation
methodology in which the business case and success
factors (expected revenue, market recognition, etc.) are
identified. To complement the business case, a basic
specification model, project plan, initial risk assessment
and project description (the core project requirements,
constraints and key features) are generated. After these
are completed, the project is checked against the
following criteria: Stakeholder concurrence on scope
definition and cost/schedule estimates. Requirements
understanding as evidenced by the primary
specifications. Credibility of the cost/schedule estimates,
priorities, risks and development process. Depth and
breadth of any architectural prototype that was
developed. Actual expenditures versus planned
expenditures. If the project does not pass these criteria,
it can either be cancelled or this phase can be repeated
after the project is redesigned to better meet the
criteria.

inheritance
The mechanism by which a child class can use all of the
rules defined for a parent class. Pega supports two types
of inheritance: pattern inheritance and directed
inheritance.

instance
A single, durable, potentially permanent representation
of a concrete class, created using the New operation;
the term Save As is used to make a copy of an instance

and Delete is used to eliminate it. Each instance is

stored as a row or record in the PegaRULES database. A
page in the clipboard corresponds to a locked open
instance. An instance consists of property values, some
of which form a unique key to the instance.

instantiate
To create a new case, whether automatically through
operation of a case type rule or manually.

Integration Services category

The category of rules used to support service interfaces
between Pega and external systems.

intent-driven processing
The practice of incorporating rule names, shape names,
and UI elements such as labels and instructions that
clearly communicate the intent of elements and actions
to developers and users. With intent-driven processing,
a Decision shape in a flow might be named "Require
Additional Authorization", rather than the more general
"AuthCheck".

interaction
Contact, either in real-time or offline, between the
individual or organization responsible for processing a
case and one or more parties to facilitate case
processing. See Live Interaction and Non-live
Interaction.

Interaction Driver
In CPM, a UI component that dynamically presents the
user with a variety of service process options, based on
rules that are constantly evaluating customer context. It
consists of Suggested Tasks, a "To Do" list (queued
Service Processes for the user) and different categories
of Service Processes that the user can choose from
(such as Account, General, Contact).

Interaction Goal
In CPM, a goal that reflects an organization's business
rules and can be based on prior customer interactions,
customer profile or other information. CPM may use this
goal to present different dialog scripts to the user or
may use it to present suggested processes.

Interaction Result
In Decision Management, the reaction of a customer to a
proposition. Recorded in the IS database tables and

propagated to Adaptive Decision Manager (ADM) and

Visual Business Director (VBD).

Interaction Services (IS)

In Decision Management, provides the interaction
management services that persists the interaction
result. An interaction service also provides routing to
Adaptive Decision Manager (ADM) and Visual Business
Director (VBD) in the service layer, including updating
the state of adaptive models, and saving interaction
results for monitoring and reporting purposes.

Interaction Thumbnail
In CPM, an area of the user interface that provides
pertinent information for the current interaction (such as
customer name, Duration Timer, Interaction Goal, and
Call Back Number.)

Interaction Timer
A timer gadget on each Interaction in CPM that indicates
how the interaction is proceeding in relation to a defined
service level agreement or (SLA.) The color of the timer
icon changes as the SLA goals and deadlines are
reached (for example, green to yellow to red.) Also
known as the Duration Timer.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

The equipment (or software) used to provide automated
service to customers over the telephone. Customers
often interact with an IVR before being transferred to a
service representative in a call or contact center. Also
known as Voice Response Unit (VRU).

interested party
An organization or person who may receive information
about a case, but who is not an active participant with
responsibilities or influence; parties are defined by their
role name, such as originator, customer, merchant bank,
paying bank, or broker.

internal key
The text value of a reserved property named
@baseclass.pzInsKey, defined in the ultimate base class
and available in every class. This value is also known as
the handle. For rule instances, the date and time that
the rule was first saved becomes a portion of the
internal key.

Internet Application Composer (IAC)

A tool that enables a Pega application to be accessed

from the pages of a Web application located on your
intranet, extranet, or internet site.

interval
In Decision Management, a mechanism typically used to
group the values of numeric predictors. Each interval
provides a useful building block for understanding
behavior.

iteration
A complete development loop resulting in a release
(internal or external) of an executable product or a
subset of the final product under development. An
application may grow incrementally from iteration to
iteration to become the final system.

Java Archive (JAR)

A file format that aggregates many files into one ZIP
compressed-file.

key performance indicator (KPI)

An indicator that identifies, monitors and measures the
organizational performance of a business operation that
is considered important by management.

Knowledge Topics
In CPM, the feature that allows agents to create,
maintain and leverage relevant knowledge content
during the processing of work.

landing page
A set of one or more displays or tools (also known as
gadgets) in the Designer Studio, reached from the Pega
button menu. Each page presents one or more gadgets.

layout
A portion of a section rule, used to organize the labels,
fields, and other controls that comprise the user
interface. Pega provides several types of layouts that
dictate how controls are arrayed.

Lead System Architect (LSA)

A project team member who provides technical
leadership in design and project management tasks. An
LSA typically oversees the technical aspects of
application development, such as the establishment of
the enterprise class structure.

Level-1 specification
High-level specification created during the Inception
phase. Level-1 specifications contain sufficient
information to facilitate project sizing, but may be
missing key implementation details. These application
specification rules are later iterated upon in DCO
sessions and become level-2 specifications.

Level-2 specification
A more-detailed specification (when compared to a
level-1 specification) that is the result of a DCO session.
Level-1 specifications are iterated upon in DCO sessions
to identify and address gaps in the content of the
specification. The result of this iteration is a moredetailed level-2 specification. Unlike level-1
specifications, level-2 specifications contain enough
information for business and system architects to create
the process and/or UI described by the specification, and
for QA to create test scripts to test the implementation.

library (rule)
A container for a set of related function rules.

likelihood
The estimated probability that a user - or Pega itself will select a particular connector in a flow, expressed as
an integer between 1 and 100. Likelihood values
determine the order of presentation of connector flow
action choices to the user on the Perform harness the
highest likelihood choice appears first.

linked property
A Single Value text property that has a value that is
expected to exactly match the key of an instance of a
concrete class. Used to link objects together.

listener
A background thread that monitors a TCP/IP port,
mailbox, messaging facility or directory for arriving
messages or files.

live interaction
An interaction that occurs over a synchronous channel,
such as a telephone call, chat session, or in-person visit.

local flow action

A flow action configured to update, rather than resolve,
an assignment.

Localization wizard

A tool that assists developers and translators with the

localization of an application to multiple languages. It
provides the ability to extend and build on Pegasystemsprovided language packs for French, German, Japanese,
Spanish, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese. It
can also import translations into the language-specific
ruleset.

Lock and Roll

The ability to review and lock a ruleset version, advance
it to a new, higher version and optionally update the
application with a new ruleset version or create a new
version of the application.

locking
The act of rendering a rule or case not editable to
prevent unauthorized changes. A ruleset can be locked
to forbid users from editing the rules that it contains. A
case is locked upon opening to disallow multiple users
from updating the case at the same time, which
prevents one user's changes from being overwritten by
other users.

logging
The process of keeping records of server activity, called
logs or log files, for the use of system administrators.
Pega automatically maintains several log files to track
server activity, and application warnings and errors.

major version
The first two digits of a ruleset version number. For
ruleset version 01-02-03, the major version would be 01.

map value
A rule that uses a table of numbers, text or date ranges
to convert one or two input values into a calculated
result value. At runtime, Pega evaluates the rows
starting at the top and then evaluates columns from left
to right.

measurement
In Decision Management, numeric information
associated with interactions, which can be used for Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs). In the context of the
simulation process there are two types of
measurements: strategy-driven and customer datadriven. Decision Management supports up to 20
measurements.

method

A programmed action available for use in an activity

step or Parse Structured rule. Pega provides a set of
about seventy standard methods for use by application
developers. A method cannot be modified or created by
an application developer.

methodology
A set or system of methods, principles, and rules for
accomplishing a goal.

minor version
The middle two digits of a ruleset version number. For
ruleset version 01-02-03, the minor version would be 02.

mobile compliance
The use of harnesses, controls and behaviors that
support usage of an application on a mobile device. A
mobile-compliant application does not require any user
interface enhancements to be enabled for mobile users.

mobile ruleset
A special ruleset that is included automatically in the
ruleset stack for users connecting through a mobile
device. The name of a mobile ruleset matches a base
ruleset with "_mobile" appended. For instance, if an
application includes a ruleset called MyRuleset, and if a
ruleset called MyRuleset_mobile exists, it will be
automatically added to the ruleset stack for any user
who logs in on a mobile device.

mobile specialization
The practice of creating a specialized version of a rule
that is resolved only for users on mobile devices. Rules
may be specialized using circumstancing, or by
including them in a mobile ruleset. Mobile specialization
is typically used when a user interface element such as
a harness or section does not work well for mobile users,
but is optimal for desktop users. See mobile compliance.

modal dialog
A pop-up dialog box that displays in front of all other
forms. A user cannot continue to use the application
until submitting the form or dismissing the modal dialog.

model attributes
In Decision Management, the various descriptions and
settings created during model development that can be
made available to the decision making system at
decision time.

modeling
The process of generating a conceptual representation
of an operational element of an application, such as a
process, interface, or data.

Multi Step Process

A setting in the Case Designer that implements a step
as a multi-shape flow rule. When previewing a Multi Step
Process in the Process Outline, the system displays the
flow diagram for the process.

multi-channel
In CPM, the ability to access and use a process over
multiple channels or modes of communication. For
example, a service process may be used regardless of
whether the customer communicated with the
organization using a phone call, letter, email or a text
chat request. Also, the same process may be used by a
service representative in a contact center, a specialist at
a retail location or the customer directly over a web selfservice portal.

Multitenancy
A Pega Multitenant system is a single system that is
logically partitioned into multiple heterogeneous
business processing environments, such that each
environment operates as if on a dedicated, standalone
system. In Pega's Multitenancy, a tenant is a flexible
concept and can be a person, an organizational unit
(e.g. a division), or an entire company.

Multitenant Administrator
A user authorized with these credentials can perform
any operation on the system. This user performs product
installs and upgrades, applies patches, or more
generally performs any function that requires or involves
changes to shared software, the behavior of which
potentially impacts all tenants on the system.

My Rules
The list of rules delegated to a user personally or
delegated to everyone sharing an access group. Each
delegated rule is identified by a shortcut link (a
favorite).

Net Promoter Score or Net Promoter System (NPS)

In Decision Management, practices designed to measure
and improve customer loyalty and build lasting
relationships. A net promoter score is a measure of
customer loyalty and whether they would be willing to

recommend a company, product, or service to others.

Also referred to as a Net Promoter System, because NPS
implies that a system is in place to track the score.

New Application wizard

See Application Express.

Next Best Action (NBA)

In Decision Management, a strategy that allows
applications to make the best decision in a
multidimensional context (retention, recruitment, risk,
recommendation, etc.)

non-live interaction
An interaction that occurs over an asynchronous
channel, such as email, fax, or mail.

notify
A class of activity referenced that sends
correspondence, such as an email message, when a flow
execution creates an assignment. Typically, the system
addresses correspondence to a work party who is
identified in the case and reports progress to that party.

Omega XML Language (OXL)

The XML file format generated by Predictive Analytics
Director (PAD) when exporting a predictive model.

operator ID
Defines an operator's username, password, access
group organizational setting, calendar and other values.

operator profile
The profile of a requestor session, consisting of a
collection of values about the operator and the
requestor. Many of these values are derived from the
Operator ID instance and other data instances.

optimized property
A Single Value property that has been configured to
write data to a separate column in a database table, in
addition to the BLOB enhancing record selection
operations in reporting. Also referred to as an exposed
property.

organization (category)
A grouping of data classes in used to describe operators,
organizational structure, work groups and workbaskets.

Organization (record)
The top level of the standard three-level organizational
hierarchy available in every Pega application. The
organizational structure affects management reports,
statistics and the rulesets visible to users in that
organization when they log in. See division and unit.

overfitting
In Decision Management, a statistical term describing
the fact that a predictive model is more accurate in
fitting known data, but less accurate in predicting new
data.

override
During rule resolution, the ability to mask other
available rule instances with the same name but
different rulesets or the same ruleset but different
version numbers.

Owner
The party who directly caused a case to exist. This may
be a customer, an employee, a vendor representative or
another party.

ownership
A condition that defines the owner of a case. Cases are
owned by organizational entities, not people. The initial
owner is usually the organizational unit of the user who
entered the case. The ownership can change during
processing updating the owner and organization
property values. Business managers can access reports
that summarize cases by ownership.

page
A memory instance on the clipboard which holds namevalue pairs. See clipboard.

Page (property mode)

A data construct used to contain single-value or other
scalar properties. See also property mode.

Page Group
An embedded unordered array of pages. See also
property mode.

Page List
A property mode that allows an embedded ordered
array of pages. See also property mode.

parameter page
The location where parameter names and values are
stored when an activity is called.

parent class
A class from which a descendent class inherits rules
and/or objects, through either directed inheritance or
pattern inheritance. The term "parent" class is often
applied in the context of the relationship between two
classes, as a class can be both a parent to one class and
a descendent of another class.

parent flow
A flow rule that contains the call, branch, spinoff or
shape that started the current subprocess flow
execution. This is not a permanent or static relationship.

parse XML
A rule that contains parsing instructions to interpret
XML. Used with services and connectors to map data
from an incoming XML document or text message into
clipboard property values. The message may be a
request for a service or a reply from a connector.

party
See work party.

patch version
The final two digits in the ruleset version number. For
ruleset version 01-02-03, the patch version would be 03.

pattern inheritance
An optional type of inheritance that causes a class to
inherit characteristics from other classes by parsing
class names and inheriting from classes it resembles in
name, while moving up the visible class hierarchy. If
enabled, rule resolution searches through additional
classes when looking for a rule with a specific name, The
dashes or hyphens in the class name are used as the
delimiter for pattern matching. To determine the parent
of a particular class, the characters to the left of the
right-most hyphen are the class from which this class
inherits rules. For example, for a class named ABC-DEFGHI, pattern inheritance searches exactly the following
classes in the following order, stopping when it finds
what it seeks: ABC-DEF-GHI, ABC-DEF- (or ABC-DEF),
ABC- (or ABC), consequently, it would never find classes
named JKL, JKL-MNO-, or JKL-MNO-PQR. See directed
inheritance.

PDN
An online knowledge base of the latest information and
examples available to Pegasystems customers and
partners. The PDN provides short articles, identified by a
knowledge base number. This content includes videos,
forums, books and other resources.

Pega Mobile
An optional product that enables users on mobile
devices such as smart phones and tablets to access a
Pega application.

Pega Pulse
A rich social platform built into Pega that supports
collaboration, discussion, and sharing documents in
Pega applications.

PegaRULES database
The relational database that houses and structures data.
At initial installation, the PegaRULES database includes
about 70 tables in a single database instance. Each
table stores the persistent objects from one or more
concrete classes. Columns for the table correspond to
Single Value properties in the object. Some aggregate
property values are stored in a single special column
named pzPVStream, known as the Storage Stream.

Perform (harness)
A standard Pega user interface rule used to display an
assignment for processing by an end user.

Performance tool
A tool used to identify, measure, and record resource
usage and inefficiencies in a Pega application such as
resource bottlenecks; the tool tracks the number of
times an event occurs and how long each event took to
complete.

Personal Edition
A limited-distribution, limited-capacity edition of Pega
that is distributed for training and experimental use. It
contains a small application that can be tested and
enhanced. All features are present, but performance is
typically constrained by the laptop or workstation's
memory and disk capabilities.

personal ruleset
A ruleset created automatically for users who have
enabled rule checkout. It provides a place where copies
of rule instances can be held when an application

developer checks out a rule (using either the standard

check out or private check out.) This ruleset is always
topmost in a user's ruleset list and is named for their
Operator ID.

population
The group of cases with known behavior which is
consistent with another group of cases whose behavior
is to be predicted. In predictive analytics, samples are
extracted for modeling and validation from the
population.

portal
The workspace presented to a user to support their
interaction with the system. Each portal is designed to
meet the needs of a specific user audience, such as
developers (Designer Studio) or end users (Case
Manager).

Pre-inception
Project processes that occur prior to the Inception phase
in Pega BPM. These usually include pre-sales activities
and are primarily performed by Sales Executives, Sales
Consultants and/or Practice Leaders.

precondition
A true-false test evaluated during activity execution to
determine whether to execute or skip the method
referenced in the step.

prediction
In Decision Management, the outcome to be predicted.
It is specific to a form of behavior at a given point in
time.

Predictive Analytics Director (PAD)

In Decision Management, a separate Pegasystems
desktop application used to develop and create
predictive models. These models are used to create and
define predictive model rules, which can then be used
directly in flows, or combined with other components in
a strategy. These models provide the means to
differentiate between cases based on likely future
behavior, insights into opportunities and risks, and the
foundation for personalized strategies.

predictive model
In Decision Management, an algorithm that delivers
predicted behavior and values for one or more
segments, given the input of the required data about a

case. Predictive models are developed in the Predictive

Analytics Director (PAD).

Predictive Model Markup Language (PMML)

An XML-based language that provides compatibility
methods to define statistical and data mining models,
and further, shares these models between PMMLcompliant applications.

predictive performance
In Decision Management, one measure of the scores or
segments generated by models. Performance can be
measured in terms of predictive power, value or rate
achieved under selected conditions.

predictive power
In Decision Management, a measure of the ability of a
scoring model to separate cases with a positive outcome
from those with a negative outcome using behavior
defined in terms of two opposite types of outcome:
either a symbol to indicate the type of behavior or the
probability of being one of the types.

predictor
This tool adds an exposed column or a declarative
index, changes the database schema, and populates the
new column or table with values for existing class
instances.

predictor grouping
In Decision Management, the grouping of predictors
whose relationship with behavior is correlated at (or
above) a selected level.

preview
A run-time view of a rule, used to unit-test the
appearance or execution of the rule. Using the Preview
function for a harness, section, flow action, activity or
HTML rule, creates a clipboard page and initializes
properties on that page.

primary page
The clipboard page that the currently executing rule is
most likely to use as a source of property values and
target for changed property values. Used at runtime to
access a location in memory (clipboard page) to display
or manipulate data.

primary path

The most likely course of action a process follows to

complete a unit of work. Also called the normal course
of events.

privilege
An access control element associated with a class and
an access role. Privileges offer finer tuning of access
control than access roles alone. To have access to a
privilege, a user must have at least one of the access
roles that grant access to the privilege in an access role
list.

prlogging.xml
A configuration file for the logging facility that specifies
which message severities will be logged and where the
messages should go (into a file, the console, another
program, etc.)

process
The path, or paths, a case follows as it is completed
(resolved.)

process (category)
A grouping of rule types. It includes rule types that
support business processes such as collection,
correspondence, service level and flows.

process analyst
A business analyst who focuses on the data needed for
reporting, metrics, and analysis.

Process API
An API called by external Service Oriented Architecture
(SOA) applications to access Pega services. It includes a
collection of standard activities, flows and flow actions
that are used to create cases, advance cases through a
flow, perform assignments, and so on, without using
user forms.

Process Architect
See Business Architect.

process metrics
Process metrics - or statistics - are tracked by Pega and
include how long it takes to complete an assignment,
the percentage of flow down a given pathway or how
often SLAs are violated.

Process Modeler

The visual editing tool used to create and edit process

flow diagrams..

process participant
The process participant has a task level view of the data
in the application as they are responsible for entering
data into the application.

production ruleset
A ruleset in a production environment that has at least
one open (unlocked) ruleset version. It contains rules
that may need to be modified after the application has
been deployed, for example, reports created by users.
To be a production ruleset the Ruleset Type field must be
set to Standard (on the Category tab of the ruleset
form.)

Project Explorer
A tool that lists the Task Groups (Scrum Stories)
containing tasks and bug fixes assigned to the Operator
ID when Project Management Framework (PMF) is
enabled by the Project Management interface.

Project Management Framework (PMF)

A Pega application that links application development
work to project assignments and implements best
practices for the management, tracking and real-time
reporting on projects across multiple development and
QA environments.

propensity
In Decision Management, the probability of positive
behavior or membership.

property
An element of an application that acts as a container for
data. It defines and labels a value that may be
associated with a class. Applications capture, store,
process and display data that is saved as property
values. Properties can capture a single value or
aggregate other properties and their values. Each field
used to collect new data or display existing data
references a property. A property must have a type to
identify the type of data this property holds. Properties
are associated with controls that allow developers to
format how the property is displayed or entered; for
example, associating a calendar control with a property
displays a calendar popup from which the user can
select a value for that property.

property mode (mode)

The classification for a property that determines the
type of data that a property may store. Property modes
are variations of either single, array or list, and group.

Property Optimizer tool

A Designer Studio tool used to allow a property to be
retrieved efficiently from the PegaRULES database so
that it can be used in reporting. Normally property
values are stored as part of a BLOB in a database rather
than in a separate column. This tool adds an exposed
column or a declarative index, changes the database
schema, and populates the new column or table with
values for existing class instances.

property type
A description of the data that can be stored by a valuemode property, such as text, encrypted text, integer,
date, or true/false.

proposition
In Decision Management, an offer extended to a
customer, often to resolve a case. The offer can be
either tangible, such as a handset or a subscription, or
intangible offer, such as benefits, compensation or
services.

proposition bundling
In Decision Management, a method of combining and
presenting a number of propositions as a coherent and
justifiable set in terms of cross-product eligibility,
propensity and likelihood of interest linked to the call
reason.

PVS
Personal Virtual Server (PVS) is a virtual machine (VM)
that lets system and business architects learn Pega
without the hassles of software installation and
configuration. The PVS is downloaded and run on your
local machine.

pyWorkPage
The name of the clipboard page that represents the
current case being processed. This name is reserved by
Pega, and cannot be reused for another property or
embedded page.

Quick Create

An option for creating a rule, whereby a rule is

configured when created, avoiding the need to open the
rule form to provide the configuration information.

Quick Launch
A portion of the main Designer Studio toolbar in PRPC 6
that provides access to various developer tools,
including the Run menu, the Clipboard tool, Tracer tool,
Help menu, Designer Studio, Search, My Recent Rules
and Checked Out Rules.

quiesce
To temporarily disable or remove an application server
from service, usually for the purpose of system
maintenance. It allows a system administrator to
quiesce a server by gracefully transferring activity to
other servers in the cluster without any impact to users.

Rational Unified Process (RUP)

An iterative software development process framework
created by the Rational Software Corporation (now a
division of IBM.) RUP is an adaptable process framework,
tailored by development organizations and software
project teams according to their needs.

record
Information that is stored by Pega. A record can describe
either a rule or a data instance.

Records Explorer (Rules Explorer)

A navigation feature in the Designer Studio that allows
users to quickly access rules and data objects; displays
all rules regardless of application. In versions of PRPC
prior to 7.1, the Records Explorer is referred to as the
Rules Explorer.

refactoring
The act of moving rules with a specific Applies To class
from one ruleset into another ruleset or another Applies
To class, removing them from the current ruleset or
Applies To class.

referencing rules
A facility that provides two lists that aid in learning and
debugging applications. It is available for several rule
types in which the left column lists other rules that
reference the current rule, while the right column lists
rules that the current rule references.

Related Rules

A button on the Designer Studio toolbar used to access

a list of other rules that are alternatives or otherwise
related to this rule.

rendezvous
Occurs when multiple flows must come together at the
end of the process.

repeating layout
A way of presenting information on a form from sources
such as a Page List or Page Group property, a report
definition, or a data (declare) page. There are six
repeating layouts that are available: Row Repeat,
Column Repeat, Tabbed Repeat, Grid, Tree Grid, and
Tree.

Report Browser
A tool used to provide a searchable catalog of reports
available for users, organize reports within report
categories, run reports, and create new reports.

report category
An organizational structure for reports, created using a
category rule.

report definition
A rule type used to query for and return case or process
data. It generates a SQL query and displays the query
results in a wide variety of formats. Report definitions
can be used to define sets of data used by other Pega
components, such as data transforms, data pages, and
UI layouts.

Report Editor
A tool that displays an existing or newly-created report
and provides an array of tools and resources for editing.

report shortcut
A named link in the Report Browser that allows
managers to retrieve and run a report. Allows
developers and managers to organize reports into one
or more categories.

Report Viewer
A tool that displays the results from running a report
using the Report Browser. The Report Viewer provides
options for manipulating the displayed report, including
formatting, filtering, saving, printing and exporting the
report to Excel.

requestor
An entity - either a person or a system - that interacts
with a Pega application.

requirements
An inventory of the events, conditions or functions that
need to be satisfied by an application.

resolution
The act of closing a case, identifying in the properties
that work is complete, through user input and automatic
processing. After a case has been resolved, it generally
cannot be worked on (modified) until it is reopened,
although some changes are possible.

reusability
A characteristic of a software component that supports
its use in any process or application beyond its original
usage. Pega offers multiple facilities to promote
reusability, such as class inheritance and library of
standard rules.

robustness
In Decision Management, a statistical term that
measures consistency and reliability for a predictive
model based on many data samples. It is used for model
comparison.

role
A concise description of a party and their part in a
process.

router activity
A system action used to determine the recipient of an
assignment.

rule
An instruction used to describe system behavior in a
Pega application, constructed using an HTML-based form
and stored in XML format in a PegaRULES database.
Pega provides business-friendly and easy-to-use forms
to define and configure application rules such as user
interfaces, data elements, business logic, and
processes. Rules are converted to Java for execution in a
process known as rules assembly. A rule may consist of
multiple instances, differentiated by scope, version, or
circumstance.

rule availability
A setting that governs the usability of a rule at runtime.
There are five options for rule availability. Rules with an
availability of Yes or Final are available for use during
processing, while rules with the availability of Not
Available or No/ Draft, Blocked, or Withdrawn are not.
Rule availability is one of the factors considered by
Pega's rule resolution algorithm when determining which
rule to use at runtime.

rule cache
An internal cache of compiled rules where the Java
classes compiled during rules assembly reside. Also
called the instance cache.

rule form
An HTML form used to describe rule behavior.
Developers enter information about a rule on a rule
form, which Pega then uses to generate and compile
executable Java code during rules assembly.

rule instance
A unique occurrence of a rule type, which may be
differentiated by scope (class), version, or circumstance.

rule resolution
The algorithm used to find the best or most appropriate
rule instance to apply in a situation. Rule resolution
applies to most, but not all, classes derived from the
Rule- base class.

rule resolution cache

The internal cache of rules evaluated during the rule
resolution process. Pega maintains a specific rule
resolution cache for each user.

rule type
The class to which a rule belongs or is an instance of,
which must be a concrete class derived from the Rulebase class. Each rule in an application is an instance of a
specific rule type.

rules assembly
The process of generating and compiling Java code to
execute a rule.

ruleset
A group of related object classes, workflows and
business rules.

ruleset hierarchy
The ordered list of rulesets in applications. The most
general rulesets that provide basic functions are at the
bottom, rulesets specific to your application are in the
middle and rulesets customized for your organization
are at the top.

ruleset list
An internal data structure, assembled automatically
from several sources when users log in, to determine
which rule instances a requestor can execute - rule
resolution processing. Also known as a ruleset stack.

ruleset prerequisite
A ruleset that is required by one of the rulesets that
comprise an application.

ruleset version
A three-level version number for a ruleset. Every
instance of every rule type references a ruleset version.

sample
A subset of historical data extracted by applying a
selection and/or sampling method on a data source. To
be meaningful and reliable, the sample must include
sufficient records and the distribution of values and
patterns of behavior must be representative of those in
the population.

scheduled task
A case automatically created to support the execution of
reports on a scheduled basis.

schema
The structure and layout for a database. See PegaRULES
database schema.

score
In Decision Management, the value calculated by a
model. Score intervals are aggregated under a score
band.

score band
In Decision Management, a set of score intervals.

scorecard

In Decision Management, a decision rule that combines

a number of properties to calculate segments. The
resulting segmentation is translated into a score.

scoring model
In Decision Management, a model that calculates a
score value for a case on a numeric scale. High scores
are associated with good performance and low scores
are associated with bad performance. Typically, the
range of scores is broken in intervals of increasing
likelihood of one of the two types of behavior (positive
or negative), based on the behavior of the cases in the
development sample.

screen flow
A type of flow rule performed by a single operator that
acts as one large assignment. It presents a series of
forms and allows the operator to change or review
previous input. A screen flow cannot be used to create a
case.

section (rule)
A rule that defines the content and behavior of a user
interface, including property references, controls, and
layout types, referred to by flow action rules and
harness rules.

segment
In Decision Management, a group of customers defined
by predicted behavior, score and characteristics.
Segmentation components in a strategy drive the
decision flow by placing a customer in a given segment
for which actions and/or results are defined.

Senior System Architect (SSA)

A system architect who has taken additional training,
and understands advanced technical concepts such as
class structure, inheritance, and rule resolution.

sequence diagram
An interaction diagram that is organized according to
time and details how operations are carried out,
including which messages are sent and when.

service
A programmatic component that defines and
implements an interface between an external
application, acting as a client and a Pega system, acting
as a server. Implemented through an appropriate Rule-

Service rule, and in some cases, appropriate code in the

initiating application or system. See connector.

Service Accelerator
A wizard that creates service rules and data objects for
13 service types, including SOAP, JSR94, .Net, JMS,
HTTP, MQ, EJB, File and Java. The Service Accelerator is
also known as the Service wizard.

service level
An expectation of performance for completion of a task
or case. Service levels establish two time intervals - a
goal and a deadline - that define when a task or case
should be completed, the goal and when the task or
case must be completed, the deadline. A service level
for a case is defined as part of the case. A service level
for an assignment is defined with a service level rule.

service level (rule)

A rule type used to define the time interval required to
complete an assignment. It includes one or two time
intervals, known as goals and deadlines, which indicate
the expected or targeted turnaround time for the
assignment or time to resolution for the case. See
deadline and goal.

Service Level Agreement (SLA)

An agreement between two parties to a specific
expectation for the performance of work. For example,
an SLA may guarantee that a service outage be resolved
within 2 hours. Often used to refer to a service level
rule.

service process
In CPM, a work flow that starts within an interaction,
creates a case, and then guides the user through a
process to address the case. The case can be completed
during the interaction or can continue processing after
the Interaction is completed. Also known as an Intent
Task.

Service Process Accelerator

A CPM wizard that automates the creation of service
processes.

service request
In CPM, a case or request to perform a task, usually on
behalf of a customer. A service request is processed
using a service process.

Setup wizard
Prepares the environment for application development
by configuring the prerequisite elements for logging on
to Pega and building applications. This tool creates a
starter set of operators, access groups and rules.
Formerly called the Initial Setup wizard and the External
Setup wizard.

shortcut (rule)
A rule type used to present a report in a specific report
category. Shortcuts are typically created and managed
automatically by Pega in response to user actions,
though they can be created manually by application
developers.

sibling rule
A rule instance that has the same rule type, name and
Applies To class, the visible key, as another rule
instance. Sibling rules are differentiated by ruleset
version and/or class, and Pega selects the mostappropriate sibling during the rule resolution process.

Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)

An XML-based protocol used to exchange information in
a decentralized, distributed environment. See SOAP
Services.

simulation
The representation of the behavior or characteristics of
a system, through use of another system. Simulation
allows an application developer to model the interaction
of an outside party such as a server or even a person
without initiating contact with the party.

Single Step Assignment

A setting in the Stage Designer that implements a step
as a flow rule that contains a single assignment. When
previewing a Single Step Assignment in the Process
Outline, Pega displays the properties panel for the
assignment shape.

single value
A property mode that has built-in data types for lowerlevel elements such as an integer, decimal or true/false.

situational layer cake

A metaphor to describe how Pega interacts with
customers the right way at the right time. Each layer
specializes on a different dynamic variable, such as

customer attributes; country or region; product or line of

business.

Sizing tool
An Excel spreadsheet used to estimate the duration and
size of an implementation project.

skin
A type of rule that defines formatting information such
as the colors, fonts, images, layout, and responsive
behavior of portals, cases, rule forms and reports,
similar to a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) for a web site.

Smart Layout
A formatting option for a layout in a section, in which
the layout is presented as a grid of paired cells that has
columns of uniform width, uniform styles and uniform
characteristics. Each pair of cells holds one label and
one property value or other form control.

Smart Shape
A standard flow shape pre-configured to perform a
specific task, such as sending an email.

SmartInfo
A feature that presents a pop-up window when users
hold the mouse pointer over specific elements in a
report or form. The contents of the pop-up display are
determined by a section rule, and are presented in readonly mode. SmartInfo uses Asynchronous Java and XML
(AJAX) technology.

SmartPrompt
A text box used on many forms that dynamically creates
a list of valid selections. Provides faster and moreaccurate data entry. On desktop systems, usually
identified by a small blue triangle in the lower right
corner.

smoke test
A type of software testing in which an application is
tested to ensure a minimum level of functionality, to
qualify the application for more-advanced forms of
testing.

SnapStart
A data import facility used to generate and pre-populate
cases from an external application without a user log-in
process. SnapStart sends a user ID and password within
the URL and uses Pega's authentication.

Social Intercept
A social CRM application bundle that is installed as an
extension to our Customer Service applications to
enable monitoring of conversations occurring in social
communities; provides the ability to proactively engage
in those conversations.

solution framework
An industry-specific starter application that provides a
head start to application development for specific
industries or lines of business. The applications are
limited in scope, built on top of Pega, and designed for
use in the framework layer to facilitate further
development and customization.

specification
Defines a small, but meaningful processing unit
performed by actors for a given case type that details
the steps taken in each part of the interaction with a
system. A specification corresponds to a flow action,
flow, screen flow, harness or activity. It includes a
description of the interaction, actors, triggers, and data
outputs or updates for a specific system or user task.
Pega specifications are initially collected as level-1
specifications. During DCO sessions, these level-1
specifications are iteratively updated to become moredetailed level-2 specifications.

Specification document
A high-level scoping document that can be produced for
an application, using the Document wizard. A
Specification document consists of a set of related
specifications - sometimes referred to as a specification
set - produced in advance of a DCO session for review
by an implementation team.

Spin-off
A shape in a flow diagram that executes another flow
asynchronously and independently from the current flow
execution to improve end-to-end resolution times. This
flow may operate on the same case as the first flow or
on a different one.

Split for Each

A flow shape in a flow diagram that synchronous
operations use to send a case through another flow
based on information in the pages of a Page List or Page
Group property. When these subflows complete, the

original flow continues. In some programming

environments, this is called enumeration or iteration.

Split Join
A shape in a flow diagram that causes processing of a
case to split into two or more independent subprocesses
to rejoin and be completed before the current flow
continues execution. This allows subprocesses to
execute asynchronously, in parallel.

Split-Schema
A database configuration where rules are in a separate
schema from work and data.

SQL function alias

A special form of function alias rule that can be
referenced in a report definition rule. It may be needed
to simplify the creation of complex SQL requests when
querying the database, such as creating a trend report.
For example, pxFind can be used to find the location of
the first instance in a string of a character or substring.
In report definition rules, SQL function alias rules appear
in expressions following the symbols @@.

SQL Function Builder

A tool that provides a guided interface to help users
construct SQL functions for use in Report Definition
rules.

Stage
A specific interval of a business transaction, typically
defined by the status or ownership of the case at a
particular time. A stage is a collection of correlated
assignments, processes, and/or cases that represents a
portion or phase of an overall business transaction. A
stage establishes a sequence of events, which allows an
application designer to easily define when, and under
which circumstances, those events may occur.

standard rules
Initially installed with Pega and available for use as-is.
They can also be copied into a custom application and
modified. Standard rules are also sometimes called outof-the-box or "OOTB" rules.

Starting workflow activity

An activity used by Customer Service applications to
start a service process.

statistical significance

In Decision Management, the degree to which a value is

greater or smaller than it would be expected to be by
chance.

step
The primary processing unit of either an activity or case
stage.

step page
The clipboard page on which an activity step is to act.

straight-through processing (STP)

Automatic processing that occurs without operator
intervention.

strategy
In Decision Management, the reasoning built up by a set
of components that enables business strategy definition
and provides the decision support to manage an
interaction in the context of a decision hierarchy. A
strategy can import data and propositions and reference
other decision rules (scorecards, predictive models,
decision tables, decision trees, adaptive models and
strategies.)

sub-report
A report called by another report to provide data. A subreport cannot have its own sub-reports.

Subflow (subprocess)
A flow rule called from another flow, often created to
make reuse easier or to reduce flow complexity. Once
the steps or tasks in a subflow have completed, control
returns to the calling flow. A subflow can only be called
from another flow. Also called a subprocess.

Swimlane (shape)
A flow shape used to graphically illustrate case routing
as a series of parallel pathways. Each pathway
corresponds to a specific routing instruction, so that
assignments are automatically routed according to the
pathway they fall under. Shown either vertically or
horizontally, the swimlane only affects routing, not
processing.

System Administrator
Person responsible for system installation, setup,
security and other operational functions.

System Architect (SA)

An application developer who creates the technical
aspects of an application, such as properties and
interfaces with external systems.

SystemAn abstract base class used as the parent for all

concrete classes that hold real-time status information
about the server software as it runs.

target property
The property for which a value is to be set, either by
programmatic or declarative means.

task
Informally, the work that an operator performs to
complete an assignment. Sometimes used to refer to
any shape in a flow diagram.

Technical (category)
A grouping of rule types and data classes for items that
require advanced skills including familiarity with Java,
HTML, XML, and JavaScript. Includes 14 rule types, one
data class, and one System- class.

Tenant Administrator
A user authorized with these credentials performs basic
tenant administration tasks, primarily the creation and
maintenance of Operator accounts required to use or
access the applications and/or services exposed by the
tenant.

Tenant Proxy Administrator

A user authorized with these credentials can do
anything on behalf of the tenant. This is the user that
performs application deployments on behalf of the
tenant, or more generally, performs any function that
requires or involves elevated privileges and tenantqualified changes. This operator can also be used to
customize tenant content directly on the Multitenant
System.

text file (rule)

A rule type used to store static HTML, XML, Cascading
Style Sheet, DHTML and JavaScript script files used in an
application, to provide the security, inheritance
versioning and deployment benefits of rule resolution for
a file.

Theme

Allows users to change the appearance of their

Customer Service display on PRPC 6. Several standard
themes are provided or users can create and save their
own. Themes are selected and saved in a user's
Customer Service Desktop Preferences.

thread
The named context of clipboard pages. Most processing
for a requestor is single-threaded. A thread does not
correspond to a UNIX or Windows operating system
thread or Java Virtual Machine (JVM) thread.

ticket
Identifier used to mark the starting point for business
exceptions that may arise at any point in the flow.
Tickets can be set, or raised, by using either an activity
or a flow action (such as Work-.ActionSetTicket). When
set, flow processing automatically skips ahead to the
flow shape for which the ticket has been configured.

Tracer tool
A tool that provides full debugging facilities including
step-by-step execution, breakpoints and watch
variables. Used to debug flows, activities, services,
parse rules and declarative rules.

transition
A post-processing event for an activity step. As part of
the transition, a true-false condition is evaluated. If the
condition is true, the corresponding transition action
occurs, such as exiting the activity, skipping to a later
step, or continuing to the next step.

Transition phase
In this phase of the Pega BPM methodology, the
application is mature enough to be deployed and
transitioned to the user community. Once this occurs,
issues usually arise that require the development of new
releases to correct problems or complete features that
were postponed.

treatment of predictors
In Decision Management, a statistical term that
indicates the way a property, used as a predictor
variable, is interpreted by a predictive model.

Tree Grid layout

A type of repeating layout that combines elements of
both the grid and tree layouts, allowing a user to
navigate a multi-level tree structure.

Tree layout
A type of repeating layout that allows users to view the
embedded pages of a Page List or the entries in a Value
List property as a tree. Users can click branches to
display or hide the tree's leaves. The developer specifies
which page property to display as the name of each
branch; each branch corresponds to a single embedded
page or property.

trend detection
In Decision Management, the ability to identify patterns
by comparing the performance of multiple models that
are triggered by the same proposition and configured
with different performance window sizes. The ability to
calculate performance for a number of cases during the
specified timeframe using a combination of strategy
design patterns and compatible adaptive model rules
with different memory settings.

trend report
Presents counts of events, objects or actors at a series
of points along a continuum on the X-axis, which is
normally a time line representing weeks, months, or
quarters in a year, or some other meaningful increment.
One column of the data displays one or more Single
Value properties of a DateTime type.

UI Gallery
A collection of examples of effective and dynamic forms
and layouts that use many of Pega's design capabilities,
represent best practice implementations and comply
with Pegasystems' guardrails. These examples can be
copied into an application and extended as needed.

UI Inspector (Rules Inspector)

A Designer Studio tool that provides an easy way to
locate rules present in the user interface. The UI
inspector can be configured to indicate UI rules,
properties, declaratively set property values, and field
values. In versions of PRPC prior to 7.1, the UI Inspector
was known as the Rules Inspector.

unit
The bottom level of the standard three-level
organizational hierarchy available in every Pega
application. The organizational structure affects
management reports and statistics, and the ruleset
visible to users in that organization when they log in.
See division and organization.

unit test
A form of testing performed on an individual rule during
testing. Unit testing verifies that the rule works as
intended, without involving other rules in the testing.

univariate model
In Decision Management, the result of a quantitative
analysis of just one variable.

unoptimized property
A Single Value property that has not been configured to
write data to a separate column in a database table.
Unoptimized properties are only stored as part of the
BLOB for a case, and their use in reports may impact
performance.

urgency
A numeric value between 0 and 100 that defines the
importance and timing to complete and resolve an
assignment or case. Urgency defines the order in which
cases appear on a user's worklist, and can affect the
automatic assignment of work using Pega's Get Next
Work feature. Higher values translate to greater
importance. Urgency can be changed by users,
managers or the system based on service level,
currency amount, special customer treatment, backlog
or other conditions.

use case
See specification.

use case diagram

A diagram that describes what a system does from the
standpoint of an external observer (with emphasis on
what a system does rather than how.)

user acceptance testing (UAT)

A type of software testing in which an application is
provided to end users who provide feedback on the
usability of the application. UAT is focused on using an
application in realistic scenarios to ensure that the
application behaves in accordance with its
requirements.

user agent string

A text string that a user agent (such as a web browser)
uses to identify itself to the application it is connecting
to (such as a Pega application.) Pega Mobile uses a

browser's user agent string to identify whether a user is

on a mobile or desktop platform.

user interface (category)

A grouping of rule types that generate user-visible
forms, through which end users interact with an
application. The User Interface category includes
control, flow action, harness, paragraph, portal, section,
and skin rules.

user interface (UI)

The portion of an application responsible for the
presentation of information and functionality to an end
user, to facilitate the effective control of the application
by the end user.

utility (shape)
A shape in a flow diagram which calls an activity rule. It
specifies the automated processing to be performed
which updates a case, without any user interaction or
input.

validate
To check a property values against one or more
expected values, and return an error message if the
property value does not match the expected value.

validate (rule)
A rule type used to test property values, typically
immediately after they are submitted on a browser form.

Value Group
A single property type that has an unordered set of
values of any type. Pega does not limit the number of
entries in a Value Group.

Value List
A single property that has an ordered list of text values.
Pega does not limit the number of entries in a Value List.

verification
A task performed by a person who is double-checking
prior work to catch possible mistakes or variances from
a policy before the work becomes final. Verification is
common in financial processes involving large sums,
sensitive legal commitments or correspondence.

Visual Business Director (VBD)

A Pegasystems product that allows users to rapidly

model, execute, and modify customer strategies by
analyzing the impact of strategy changes on key
business goals such as customer experience,
productivity, revenue generation and risk.

Web service
A service using the SOAP protocol to transmit XMLformatted messages.

Web Services Description Language (WSDL)

An XML format defined by the World Wide Web
Consortium also known as the W3C. Each WSDL file
describes network services as a set of endpoints
operating on messages containing either documentoriented or procedure-oriented information. Pega uses
WSDL files when integrating with web services.

when (rule)
A decision rule that defines a true-false test based on
comparing one or more property values with constant
values or with other property values. For example, a
when rule can test whether an amount is greater than
zero or a date is in the future. Also known as when
condition rule.

Where-Am-I?
A feature that allows an end user to view the flow
diagram for the current process and identify the active
assignment, available as an icon on a worklist or a
button on a form. When clicked, the system displays the
flow diagram in a separate window, with a larger arrow
marking the current assignment.

wireframe
A schematic or mockup of a user interface that specifies
the key elements required in the final user interface.

wizards
A series of prompts to help accomplish a task with
minimal effort. Pega wizards.

work group
A collection of users who report to a common supervisor
and should pull assignments from a common
workbasket. A user's operator ID data instance (DataAdmin-Operator-ID) identifies the work groups to which
the user belongs.

work item

See case - work item

work item ID
See case ID - work item ID.

work party
A person, organization or other actor identified in a case
that needs to be notified about the progress or status of
work and can be the recipient of e-mail or other forms of
correspondence. The work party role associated with
each work party identifies why a party is present and
may determine which properties are defined for that
party. Each work party is configured by role to define
who can participate in the case.

work pool
A collection of all related case types that controls how
work is presented to users. Users can enter data and
select cases for processing from one or more designated
work pools. Determined from a list of class groups
specified in an access group associated with that user.

work status
A property value that defines whether the case is open
or resolved and the primary indicator of the progress of
the case towards resolution.

work type
See case type.

WorkThe abstract parent class for any case type. Used as the
starting point for the work-related classes in a class
structure. Every application requires at least one
concrete class derived from the Work- base class.

workbasket
A centralized, queue or pool of assignments that more
than one person has access to, and from which users
from the same workgroup can select work.

workers
A role that defines the behavior and responsibilities of
an individual or a group of individuals working together
as a team. The responsibilities we assign to a worker
include both performing a certain set of activities as well
as being the owner of a set of artifacts.

workflow

A standard set of steps that resolve a case; a sequence

of activities that produces a result of observable value.

worklist
A list of open and resolved items in one application
assigned to a specific user that they can enter.
Essentially, it is a work inbox of a specific user, ordered
by urgency.

WorkManager
A traditional (compared to Composite) portal used by
managers and supervisors who can use the Monitor
Activity workspace.

workstream
A collection of specifications that describe a process or
subprocess, and the steps that comprise the process.
During a DCO session, DCO team members review the
contents of the workstream, iterating the specifications
and requirements as needed and producing draft flows
and draft UI for review. Also referred to as a specification
set.

Z-ratio
In Decision Management, a measure of the reliability of
expected behavior (the predicted percentage versus
actual behavior) that takes into account error by
allowing for statistical significance. The Z-ratio is
positive when expected behavior is above the average
behavior and negative when below.