You use transactions to access data from multiple sources and execute processes, which are triggered synchronously or asynchronously.
You can use transactions to do the following:
Perform complex calculations
Manipulate data for reporting and system synchronization
Create reports, charts, and dashboard images
For example, you can configure a transaction to do the following:
Query data from different plant systems
Merge data into an XML document
Send data to an ERP interface
Send alerts based on thresholds
You can define multiple inputs and outputs. The transaction process steps consist of actions. Each action could have its own output, such as data written to a database. You could include the output from a transaction as an input to another transaction. Each transaction can be called as a Web service and has its own WSDL definition.