Ah ekben, I think it's a fine question. We all have to start somewhere.
I'll do my best to put this stuff in simple terms. CNC concepts are not easily understood at first glance--even if you DO read the book or attend the class. Hopefully the seasoned technicians browsing this topic will spare us both from confusing nitpicking and ceaseless correction for what I'm about to write. I'm open to anyone who can constructively augment my feeble attempt at putting this into words someone fresh can process.
(1) A "Data Source" is a database or a collection of tables for a certain purpose. There are data source pointers in OneWorld--pointing to software objects or business-related databases--and in Windows. In my case, Business Data points to the PRODDTA library on my AS400. OneWorld looks for certain data sources throughout your session, from when you first log on, when you run your applications, when you submit reports, and when you log out.
(2)
- Object Librarian contains information about all the software objects used and modified in OneWorld.
- Control Tables contain, among other details, technical records and "next numbers" (sales order numbers, purchase order numbers, etc.)
- Business Data contains all the "live" production data: customer & vendor information, sales orders, purchase orders, ledger, inventory, EVERYthing
- Central Objects tables contain the actual software objects in OneWorld--including binary code calls "specs."
- Test Data: You didn't mention this, but it serves as a good example of a data source. The "Test Data" source tells OneWorld that you want to look at pretend data rather than live production data. You would likely use Test Data while signed into the Prototype environment.
(3) When you sign into OneWorld, you identify yourself, give a password, and specify which environment you will use during this session. Think of an environment as a place. The Production environment is the place where do your real work. The Development environment is where you change and test programs on test data. JDEdwards/PeopleSoft implementations usually have four: Pristine (JD733x), Development (DV733x), Prototype (PY733x), and Production (PD733x). How many you have and what they are used for is completely up to you--and there is quite a bit of setup needed to create your own.
Snapshot is for something completely different--for when you're upgrading the software and might need to switch back to the old version temporarily. It renames the main program folder and archives a couple registry keys and essential OneWorld configuration files.
(4) In simplest terms, a pathcode is a folder in Windows with all its subfolders and files. Each environment has a corresponding pathcode that contains folders and files that environment needs for you to use it. For example, the PD7333 pathcode on a developer machine contains these subfolders:
-Bin32
-BusObj
-data
-include
-lib32
-log
-obj
-res
-source
-spec
-work
(5) OCM--Object Configuration Manager--is a fancy name for a program you use to tell OneWorld what computers in your environment will be used to do certain things. It's designed to allow complex organizations to spread the processing load around onto other machines when possible. For example, you might have one server that processes Sales and Purchase Orders but another server that handles financial reports exclusively. In a simple environment, all OCM records will point to the same machine.
Hope that helps! Bring on those newbie questions!