Glossary
Architecture - A set of principles, concepts, and standards that guide development of an application.
Tier - A functional module with a clearly defined responsibility and specific documented interface.
Resource - A data object or mechanism for transporting data between tiers. A resource holds data and context from a single table.
Resource Manager - A business tier class that contains logic to act on data from a single table.
Cluster - A data object or mechanism for transporting a collection of resources designed to hold a complete transaction. Clusters, like resources, are the means of tranporting data between tiers.
Cluster Manager or Controller - A business tier class that contains logic that interacts between database tables. Cluster managers are generally developed to execute a complete transaction.