In this chapter we talked about Content Server, the backbone of Documentum architecture, hosting Docbases. A Docbase can be thought of a logical repository, consisting of content files and their associated metadata. A DocApp, on the other hand is a packaging unit of a Docbase, consisting of objects from the Docbase.

We went on to discuss DocBrokers, which act as an intermediary allowing clients to make connections with Content Servers.

We saw how the Documentum system treats all entities in the form of objects. Objects can be treated as run-time instances of templates called object types in Documentum. Objects in Documentum have their own metadata, which is termed properties or attributes.

We saw an example of using DQL (Document Query Language) and Server API commands to query and manipulate objects in the Docbase.

We also touched upon the versioning capabilities of Content Server and had a brief introduction to lifecycles and workflows. While lifecycles represent the logical stages in the life of an object, workflows model a business process and define how the objects move into different lifecycle states, under what conditions, and who the participating entities are.