Platform, Implementation Project, and Production Instance
When working with Bloomreach Experience Manager, it's essential to understand the difference between the platform, an implementation project, and a production instance. They represent different aspects of the Bloomreach Experience Manager ecosystem and they differ from each other in two important ways:
- What each provides in terms of application code, application configuration, and application data.
- Who is responsible for the development, maintenance, and support of each.
Platform
The Bloomreach Experience Manager platform provides the CMS and Repository applications and the HST delivery framework.
The platform includes standard plugins which provide additional functionality.
In addition, the platform provides extension and integration points to facilitate the development of custom functionality and the integration with other systems.
The Bloomreach Experience Manager platform is a product of the company BloomReach and is developed, maintained, and supported by the company BloomReach.
Implementation Project
A Bloomreach Experience Manager implementation project is a software project built on top of the platform.
An implementation project provides:
- A content model, including document types, defined in the CMS and Repository application configuration.
- One or more custom-built 'site' web applications delivering content, based on the HST delivery framework, including core page templates and components.
- Custom integrations and/or extensions.
A Bloomreach Experience Manager implementation project is developed, maintained, and supported by a BloomReach customer or partner.
Production Instance
A Bloomreach Experience Manager production instance is an implementation project deployed in a production server environment.
A production instance provides:
- Content such as documents, images, and assets.
- User accounts, groups, security domains, and permissions.
- Channel configuration including page template configurations and component configurations.
- Visitor data collected by the Relevance Module.
A Bloomreach Experience Manager production instance is managed by end users (such as authors, editors, and administrators).
Support for a production instance depends on agreements between BloomReach, partner and/or customer, and on whether the instance runs on-premise or on Bloomreach Cloud.