The Six Operation Kinds

Part of Process Knowledge. Every service is one of six kinds – inquiry, creation, derivation, replacement, edit, transition – along two axes: what is transmitted and what changes.

All operations of the standard can be classified along two axes: what is transmitted – the whole business object, as in OMDS 3 with Create and Update, or only a delta of business case, target node and change – and what changes – nothing, a new object, the content of an object or its business state. This yields six kinds:

whole business object transmitted (as OMDS 3: Create, Update) delta transmitted (business case, target node, change)

	whole business object transmitted (as OMDS 3: Create, Update)	delta transmitted (business case, target node, change)
without business object	Inquiry (Auskunft): tariff inquiry, product knowledge, available products, process knowledge – nothing remains with the insurer
new business object	Creation (Erzeugung): Create with the whole object, without reference to a predecessor – keep a calculation, set up an offer or application directly, report a claim	Derivation (Ableitung): new object from a predecessor – offer from calculation, application from offer, contract from application. The derivation names the predecessor and transmits either only the changes against it (delta derivation) or the whole new object with a reference to the predecessor (OMDS 3 style: business case number plus whole object)
content of a business object	Replacement (Ersetzung): Update with the whole object; the server assesses the business state anew afterwards	Edit (Bearbeitung): delta operations such as `addComponent`, `removeComponent`, `setAttributeValue`, add a document; the server likewise assesses the business state anew
business state of a business object	Transition (Übergang): syntax of its own, optionally parameterised (e.g. confirmation token of the approval gate), but without the content of the object – that is already in the object. Submit an application, accept an offer, close a query; only permitted in the matching state

without business object

Inquiry (Auskunft): tariff inquiry, product knowledge, available products, process knowledge – nothing remains with the insurer

new business object

Creation (Erzeugung): Create with the whole object, without reference to a predecessor – keep a calculation, set up an offer or application directly, report a claim

Derivation (Ableitung): new object from a predecessor – offer from calculation, application from offer, contract from application. The derivation names the predecessor and transmits either only the changes against it (delta derivation) or the whole new object with a reference to the predecessor (OMDS 3 style: business case number plus whole object)

content of a business object

Replacement (Ersetzung): Update with the whole object; the server assesses the business state anew afterwards

Edit (Bearbeitung): delta operations such as addComponent, removeComponent, setAttributeValue, add a document; the server likewise assesses the business state anew

business state of a business object

Transition (Übergang): syntax of its own, optionally parameterised (e.g. confirmation token of the approval gate), but without the content of the object – that is already in the object. Submit an application, accept an offer, close a query; only permitted in the matching state

The kinds in detail:

Inquiry: Reads or calculates, keeps nothing and needs no business object: tariff inquiry for a configuration, product knowledge for a product, the products available at the reference date, the process knowledge of an insurer. An inquiry can be repeated as often as desired and has no side effect.
Creation: Sets up a new business object without a predecessor; the client transmits the whole object. If the client has no business case yet, it comes into being with the creation.
Derivation: Sets up a new business object from a predecessor whose IRI is recorded as origin at the new object. The predecessor remains unchanged. The derivation is the step to the next object of the chain; it does not change the state of the predecessor.
Replacement: Replaces the content of a business object with a whole newly transmitted object (Update in OMDS 3 style). The server checks the new content and assesses the business state anew afterwards.
Edit: Changes the content of a business object in one step without sending the whole object: include or exclude a component, set an attribute value, set up or assign a risk object, add a document. These are the former delta operations; they require that the insurer holds the object as a draft. The response is always the complete object, and the server assesses the business state anew.
Transition: Changes the business state of the same business object: submit an application, accept an offer, close a query. The transition has a syntax of its own and transmits no content – the content is already in the object – but may carry parameters, such as the confirmation token of the approval gate or a consent of the customer. It is only permitted in the matching state. After the transition the object is in the hands of the insurer and immutable for the client. A transition does not lead to the next object; the derivation does that, usually by the insurer after its check.