A session is a set of instructions that tells the Integration Service how to move data from sources to targets. A session is a task, similar to other tasks available in the Workflow Manager. You create a session for each mapping that you want the Integration Service to run. The Integration Service uses the instructions configured in the session and mapping to move data from sources to targets.

A workflow is a set of instructions that tells the Integration Service how to execute tasks, such as sessions, email notifications, and shell commands. You create a workflow for sessions that you want the Integration Service to run. You can include multiple sessions in a workflow to run sessions in parallel or sequentially. The Integration Service uses the instructions configured in the workflow to run sessions and other tasks.

The following figure shows a workflow with multiple branches and tasks:

You create and maintain tasks and workflows in the Workflow Manager.

In this lesson, you create a session and a workflow to run the session. Before you create a session in the Workflow Manager, you need to configure database connections in the Workflow Manager.