In this task, you define the Account concept, which holds basic information about an account: an ID, a balance, an average monthly balance, and an account status. You also learn some useful information about concepts and how they are used.
What is a concept? A concept type is a definition of a set of properties that represent the data fields of an entity. Concept types are like Java classes, and concept instances are like Java objects.
How are concept instances created? Concept instances are created by rules and rule functions. Information from event properties or payloads is often used to create concept instances, but other information can be used, for example, the results of a query or a calculation.
What is a database concept? A BusinessEvents add-on product, TIBCO BusinessEvents Data Modeling, provides a feature that enables you to create concepts by importing them from a database. A set of functions enables you to update the database record to account for changes made in BusinessEvents. Unlike regular concepts, database concept instances are not asserted to the Rete network automatically, and they don’t track history. (This add-on also provides a state modeler functionality.)
How can I persist concept instances? Instances of concepts (and events) are also known as "facts" and "entities." They can be persisted in various ways, generally using a cache and backing store, as determined by the business need. Later tutorials explain these features.
How is history tracked? When the History setting for a concept property is 0 (zero) the current value is stored without a date-time stamp. When the history setting is 1, the current value is stored, along with the date and time the value was added or changed. When the history value is greater than 1, BusinessEvents tracks changes to property values up to the specified number (using a ring buffer). The Policy setting additionally determines what values are recorded, all values or only changes to the prior value.
You’ll set the Debits property history, to track "All Values," that is, BusinessEvents records the value of the property every time an action sets the value, even if the new value is the same as the old value — a person can debit the account twice by the same amount. For a property such as "address" you might want to track only changes to the value.
You have defined a concept type to hold information about bank accounts. The last step in building the ontology of your project is to set up a scorecard to hold fraud detection criteria that are used in rules.