The following terms are defined in Petals ESB context and must be used in all technical and functional documents.

|| Terms \\ || Definition || Variable names in source code \\ ||
| Process | Set of steps assembled to define a processing. \\ | |
| Process identifier | Identifier associated to a process. \\ | * processId |
| Process instance | When a process is invoked, a process instance is created representing the process execution. \\ | |
| Process instance identifier | It is a GUUID (Global Universal Unique Identifier) identifying *one and only one process instance*. \\
It can be initialized from outside client when entering in Petals ESB (the outside client is responsible of the identifier uniqueness) and transmitted to application resources to retrieve all steps of a global business process. Inside Petals ESB, this identifier is automatically transmitted step by step. \\ | * processInstanceId
* -correlationId-
* -processExecutionId-
* -processRequestId-
* -globalMessageId-
* -contextUuid- |
| Process step identifier | It is a GUUID (Global Universal Unique Identifier) identifying the current step in the current process instance. Inside Petals ESB, this identifier is automatically generated. | * processStepId
* -flowStepId- |
| Process previous step identifier | It is a GUUID (Global Universal Unique Identifier) identifying the previous step of current step in the current process instance. Inside Petals ESB, this identifier is automatically transmitted step by step from the process step id of the previous step. \\
*Used in combination with the process previous step*, it permits to rebuild the whole execution of process instance including loop and branch.| * processPreviousStepId
* -flowPreviousStepId- |
| Component name | A *component name* is an unique name assigned to the component instance at installation time. \\ | * componentName
* -loggerName- |

* Petals node (= \[glossary:JBI\] container),
* Petals network (= Petals topology instance),
* Petals domain,
* Petals sub-domain
* Distribution peer-to-peer
* Static topology,
* Dynamic topology
* Self discovery{petalslink}

\\
{info:title=Global terms utilization}
This previous terms are not only used for BPEL
{info}