Product Lines

A product line is a set of integrated Lawson applications and data. An application is a set of related programs and database files that performs a business process. Examples of applications are General Ledger, Human Resources, and Accounts Payable. An application is uniquely identified by a two-character system code, such as GL for General Ledger and HR for Human Resources. Each system code has data files or tables associated with it.

You can have multiple application product lines, as long as each is in a different Environment. For example, you can have one product line for production, one for testing, and one for development. Each product line has, by default, a data area with the same name as the product line. You can have multiple data areas for each product line and each data area can have multiple data IDs.

The following diagram shows a simplified view of an Environment with an application product line, GEN product line, and database. The components shown for the application product line include the source files for the programs, screens, libraries, and so on, as well as the metadata source for product line. The executables for the product line are created by compiling the source files. The GEN product line includes a metadata runtime repository that controls the product line at runtime and the organization of the application database.

If you have used development tools to create new or customized programs, then the product line program source and metadata source, as well as the GEN runtime metadata, should reflect those changes.

Illustration: Application product line in the context of an Environment