# Understanding the Event, Master Data, and Data Exchange Services

# Introduction and Roadmap

The following sections describe the audience for and organization of this document:

- Document Scope and Audience
- Guide to This Document
- Related Documentation
- New and Changed Features

## Document Scope and Audience

This document provides an introduction to, and an architectural description of, three services that implement the EPC Information Services (EPCIS):

- Event Service (captures and stores event data)
- Master Data Service (associates business-context information with event data)
- Data Exchange Service (queries event data, can use master data to filter results)

A fourth service, the Reporting Service, is described briefly in this manual but covered fully in Generating WebLogic RFID Enterprise Server Reports.

The manual describes the BEA implementation of these services, and BEA extensions to these services.

The intended audience is system administrators who will administer these services and thus need to understand how they work, and for business users who will interact with them.

You can find procedures for configuring these services at installation time in Installing WebLogic RFID Enterprise Server. See Services: Data Flow, GUI, and Name Space Summary for information about the relevant administration consoles.

## Guide to This Document

This document is organized as follows:

- This chapter, Introduction and Roadmap, describes the scope of this document and related information.
- Services Overview, provides an overview figure showing the interaction among the services, and briefly introduces each service.
- Event Service, describes the types of events that are sent from the edge to the capture interface on the RFID Enterprise Server for storage in the event repository.
- Master Data Service, describes the relationship between events and master data; defines master data types, attributes, and children; and provides tables listing the default master data types and attributes that are available at installation time.
- Data Exchange Service, describes the set of query parameters available through the subscription interface.
- Capture and Query APIs, describes the methods for capturing event data from the edge, and for querying stored event and master data.

## Related Documentation

This manual is part of the WebLogic RFID Enterprise Server documentation set, which also includes the following documents and online help:

- WebLogic RFID Enterprise Server Product Overview provides an overview of the WebLogic RFID Enterprise Server components and architecture.
- Installing WebLogic RFID Enterprise Server describes how to install and configure WebLogic RFID Enterprise Server.
- Understanding the Event, Master Data, and Data Exchange Services (this manual) describes the services that implement the EPC Information Services (EPCIS).
- Query Subscription Administration Console Online Help describes how use the Query Subscription Administration Console to create and manage subscriptions: queries that run at designated times and send results to specific destinations. This console is the user interface to the Data Exchange Service.
- Master Data Administration Console Online Help describes how to use the Master Data Administration Console to create and work with master data types and master data entries.This console is the user interface to the Master Data Service.
- Generating WebLogic RFID Enterprise Server Reports describes how to use the RFID Enterprise Server Reporting Service to display predefined RFID reports in a Web browser. This console is the user interface to the Reporting Service.
- Edge Server Administration Console Online Help describes how to use the RFID Edge Server Administration Console to view and manage RFID Edge Servers in the enterprise.
- Using the Serial Number Assignment Service describes how to use the RFID Enterprise Server Serial Number Assignment service to provide pools of RFID serial numbers for assigning to EPC tags.
- Using the Telemetry Console Extension describes how to use the Telemetry Console Extension for graphically presenting real-time Edge Server and RFID device telemetry data. The Telemetry Console Extension is part of the RFID Edge Server Administration Console.
- Release Notes lists known problems and workarounds in this release of the RFID Enterprise Server.

## New and Changed Features

WebLogic RFID Enterprise Server 2.0 extends the EPCIS Query Interface provided by the WebLogic RFID Enterprise Server 1.0 and 1.1. The 2.0 release maintains backwards compatibility with the 1.0 and 1.1 versions.

The important new EPCIS-related features for 2.0 are:

- Support for subscription-based report generation
- Support for query extensions that specify master data name/value pairs
- Support for creation, lookup, and removal of query subscriptions

These features are part of the Data Exchange Service.