There are several important terms and concepts to understand when working with Dell Boomi AtomSphere:
Atom
Atoms are the lightweight run-time engines that contain process configuration information and actually do the work.
Atoms can be downloaded and installed to a machine behind your firewall to access local resources such as on-premise applications or databases, or deployed to the Dell Boomi data center if only web accessible applications or data sources need to be integrated. You will typically deploy multiple integration processes to a single Atom.
Component
Components are the reusable configuration objects used in processes.
Components are reusable and include certificates, connections, connector operations, cross reference tables, document caches, maps, map functions, processes, process properties, profiles, queues, trading partners and web services.
Connector
Connectors get data into and send data out of processes.
Connectors abstract the technical details of communicating with various applications, data sources and communication protocols. They are actually comprised of two components: a connection and an operation. The connection represents the "endpoint" and contains the physical connection details, such as an FTP or database host, a web services URL and/or login credentials. The operation represents a specific action to perform against that connection, such as a database SELECT query, an FTP PUT or a specific web service call. You can think of the connection as the "where" and the operation as the "how". For example, when extracting customer records from Salesforce, the connection represents your Salesforce organization account user name and password and the operation represents the "query customer" action.
Execution
An execution is the result of running a process.
Map
Maps allow data to be transformed from one format to another — or specifically, from one profile to another.
Fields or elements are mapped by dragging and dropping a source element to a destination element. Map functions can be used to perform simple or complex field-level manipulations as values are mapped.
Process
Processes represent a single type of data to integrate between two or more systems. They are comprised of a series of steps (represented in the UI by shapes) that specify the business logic and transformation requirements.
Processes are the central components in AtomSphere. Process steps transform, route and otherwise manipulate data to attain the desired end result. Every process begins with a Start shape that gets data from some source and usually ends with one or more connectors to send the data to the destination(s).
Profile
Profiles define the structure or layout of the data to be processed. They are used when reading from or writing to a given format. Several types of profiles are available:
Database — When used for reading, the database profile represents the fields in the result set(s) of SELECT statements. When used for writing, the profile represents the values used in an UPDATE, INSERT or DELETE statement. Database profiles can also contain elements to be used as parameters in dynamic statements.
EDI — Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is defined as the exchange of business data from one computer to another computer using a public standard format. EDI replaces the traditional processes of preparing data in paper form and sending it by mail or by facsimile. Business communications with EDI is not restricted by software, equipment or computer. EDI profiles represent the structure of the various EDI documents sent through AtomSphere processes, including all the segments, data elements, looping and other configuration information. Similar to the XML profile, the EDI profile allows you to configure repeating data sets (loops). You can also organize segments in Header, Detail and Summary loop sections.
Flat File — Flat files are common, simple formats that typically contain one record per line, like a comma separated value (CSV) file. Each record contains a number of fields or elements that are either delimited or data positioned (fixed width). Flat file profiles can represent simple structures with a single record type (e.g., CSV file) to moderately complex structures with multiple record types to accommodate parent-child relationships or other repeating record types within the same file (e.g., header and detail records).
XML — XML is a common hierarchical format used in much of the Internet communication today characterized by the use of tags that describe data elements. Tags can be nested within one another to establish parent-child relationships. XML profiles are used by web services and the majority of AtomSphere application connectors.
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a text-based data interchange format. It is easy for humans to read and write and for machines to parse and generate. The JSON format is often used to transmit structured data over a network connection. It is similar to XML and is often used as an alternative to XML.
Shape
Process shapes are the steps linked together to form the business logic for a process.
Shapes can perform execution tasks like document splitting and data transformation, or logic tasks like decision and routing. Each shape has its own configuration settings. Shapes often reference components such as profiles, connections, operations, and maps.
to edit a step. Click the down arrow to open the contextual menu. For information about connecting steps with hop, see 
