The IBM(R) Branch Transformation Toolkit for WebSphere(R) Studio product is a component-based framework for developing enterprise e-business applications. It offers software components that package a coherent set of functions. Each component package explicitly specifies the interface for the services it provides and also for the services it requires from other components. Component implementation details are encapsulated and kept separate from the interface specifications. The components can be independently developed, delivered, and installed in a way that allows you to build larger components and complete solutions.
Component-based application development is more cost-efficient and competitive than traditional methods. These benefits are realized through reduced requirements for software development skills and reduced development time. The value of these benefits continues to increase as the market demands increasingly sophisticated software applications at the same time that competitive pressures demand reduced time to market.
The Branch Transformation Toolkit is well suited for building Web-based financial services applications such as bank branch systems as well as building solutions for a wide variety of retail delivery channels, including Internet banking, call centers, stand-alone kiosks, automated teller machines (ATMs), and mobile access terminals such as wireless access protocol (WAP) capable cellular phones. The toolkit's multichannel support and dynamic component composition provide the foundation used to simultaneously meet the requirements of each of these retail delivery channels.
The toolkit is built on Java™, an open industry standard and the object-oriented programming language of choice. Because the WebSphere software platform for e-business adheres to open industry and Internet standards, your investment is well protected. These standards include TCP/IP, HTML, HTTP, J2EE (Java, Java Server Pages, JCA, JDBC, EJB, and so on), Struts and Web Services. The toolkit components promote highly productive application development by supporting code reuse and the use of parameterization techniques to define business operations and their related objects. The toolkit preserves investment in existing enterprise systems by providing specially designed components that can communicate with these systems.
The Branch Transformation Toolkit is used to build applications with a multichannel architecture that extends the reach of a financial institution's information system services to all of its delivery channels. Financial institution services are most often supported by applications whose core logic and data reside on large-scale host systems. These enterprise systems run online transaction processing (OLTP) products such as CICS(R) or IMS™. Financial service delivery channels, such as a bank teller application or an Internet banking application, must access transaction functions on these systems (for example, to transfer funds between accounts). The toolkit uses JCA connectors to integrate delivery channels with large-scale OLTP system. It includes components designed to handle all aspects of transaction processing for every channel: managing the user interface, providing navigation dialogs, gathering operation data, building host messages, processing host responses, logging transaction information, accessing financial devices, and more.
The Branch Transformation Toolkit is highly customizable and its application is not limited to the financial services industry. Consider the toolkit a potential solution to your transaction processing requirements no matter what your industry.
The toolkit runtime provides National Language Support (NLS) for the following languages in group 1: Brazil Portuguese, French, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Spanish. The toolkit also provides NLS for the following languages in group 2: Arabic. It also provides Bi-directional Languages Support (BIDI). The toolkit externalizes any end user text or messages from runtime components in resource bundles.
The Branch Transformation Toolkit provides pre-tested, user-configurable application components that can be quickly assembled into a complete financial services application. The development of these applications is based on the Branch Transformation Toolkit Graphical Builder plug-in for WebSphere Studio Application Developer. The Graphical Builder and its companion CHA Editor, Formatter Editor, Struts Tools BTT Extension, and Business Process BTT Wizard plug-ins enable users to define application screen flows, core business processes (using Integration Edition's Process Editor), and their associated data structures. The toolkit entity definitions are managed with wizards designed to simplify this task. This approach to application development is a key benefit of the toolkit, as it minimizes the need for raw code development and promotes code reuse.