Enterprise SOA

What is the difference between a frontend and a backend application?

Frontend applications are geared toward user interaction, and backend applications focus on the high-volume automation of complicated processes. Each kind has its own set of features and limitations. Frontend applications are conversational in nature, and they tend to be equipped with collaborative tools and highly customized interfaces. Backend applications are created to handle a number of service calls several orders of magnitude larger than frontend ones experience. Later chapters in this book will discuss tools built for each environment, such as guided procedures—an interface designed to walk end users step by step through a business process—or the SAP NetWeaver Exchange Infrastructure (SAP NetWeaver XI) component capable of automating processes that run for days, weeks, or months without human input.

The distinction between frontend and backend applications is ultimately fuzzy, however, as it's not uncommon for a frontend application to call a service provided by a backend-oriented application. The difference ultimately lies in the tools designed for each.