text: referring now to fig1 there is illustrated a schematic diagram of the key steps and components of a method , apparatus and system in accordance with the invention . the method provides the various components for the use of a host system by a user to access and obtain data from other data systems , referred to as target systems , linked to the host system . the access and manner of access and operation when access is gained is achieved via the use of activators , which set the parameters of the access to the target systems . thus in fig1 the generation of the system follows the method of creating an activator and specifying a number of target system properties 6 to which that activator is linked 1 . the method then creates a wrapper which serves to define the interfaces between the target systems and host system and the characteristics and properties of the activator 2 . with the wrapper complete , the activator can be instantiated or defined for the host system and the target systems by adding values for the specification properties 3 as is the wrapper 4 . as a result , the target systems can be selectively accessed via the host system in a defined manner by the user of the host system for a specific request . this method can then be repeated to generate a number of activators and associated wrappers for possible different user requests so that in due course , upon a user request , the activator appropriate to that request is selected to access the target systems defined . it is possible for the use of the activators and target system components to be altered to provide specific system effects as is illustrated in fig2 and 3 . in fig2 the same four generation steps are followed as described with respect to fig1 however instead of only target systems 6 being specified being provided , an activator 8 representing a target system is provided so that the said activator operates on behalf of the host system on another activator that may or may not ( as defined by its wrapper ) have any direct interface to the host system , and may in turn operate on other target systems , including other activators . the network of activators that results allows target systems to be accessed in the host system via several levels of abstraction , through the provision of these additional layers of activators . in fig3 a target system 10 is utilized as a representation of another host system which allows the main host system to be used to access a further target system which in itself acts a host system , said second host system having the features as herein defined with respect to the first host system . thus an activator 12 can utilize an understanding of host system data and behavior in its own actions with regards to the host system or target systems . a first example of implementation of the invention is now described with reference to the accompanying fig4 . this first implementation concerns the development of process - driven systems , allowing meaningful access to diverse content and functionality in the context of a process - based user - interface . it shows the invention acting as the basic mechanism within a process - driven system for providing structured access to business data . process models are increasingly used to define best practice within a business and to communicate this to those associated with the business , with the potential benefit of enhanced business performance and the reduction in risk of failures of adherence to best practise , whether that best practice is defined within the organization or by a regulatory body . alongside process models describing best practice processes and the resources that these require in order to be delivered , businesses will evolve a body of documentation , guidelines , policies and rules concerning the delivery of said processes . this body constitutes the organization &# 39 ; s knowledge resource that distinguishes its delivery of a process from another organization &# 39 ; s delivery of the same process . the co - pending british patent application no . 0018839 . 1 describes a process for which the term knowledge activation ™ has been coined as a name for the linkage of resources as described within a process model , or knowledge map ™, to their counterparts within this body of organizational knowledge . the invention described in this application provides integration between a body of documentation already organized or described within a content management system within a web - generated process model system , using existing mechanisms such as xml as a basis in a tagged template specification style . the more specific method followed is then , with reference to fig4 : create a range of packages 16 containing xml specifications acting as an interface to files , databases and content management target systems 18 . the properties and values in the specifications are represented as xml tags 20 . where these systems are able to export xml , the specification can be generated directly . the packages are defined in a format that is interpretable by a software tool . for example , for a target system 18 that is a content management system providing reports on economic activity , a fragment of a specification might be as follows : define a wrapper 22 in the form of tagged hyper text markup language html ) templates 24 for each package , the tags corresponding to properties defined within the specification . the tags are defined in a format interpretable by a software tool . for example , a fragment of an html wrapper for the specification given above might be as follows : instantiate the specification within a modelling tool 26 , that creates a process - driven system . for each element of the process modelling tool , a specification can be instantiated indicating the data or functionality from the target system that is to be associated with this element . the user of the modelling tool can choose or supply the value or values to be used against each property in the specification and the modelling tool instantiates the tagged html template using information from the instantiated xml specification , so creating the representation of the target system within the host system the content from the content management target system 18 is then accessed by the user of the host system in a specified framework and contextual manner via the a specified context of , in this case , a knowledge map 30 . the components which are deployed in the operation of the method can now be set out in more detail . comprising an xml document (‘ specification ’) that specifies the elements of the target system to be represented : a collection of properties that define how data or functionality is to be taken from or written to the target system , with suggested or default values , and an html document (‘ wrapper ’) containing tags corresponding to properties in the specification . the tags are formatted in such a way as to be recognizable to the software tool such as the “ business activation ”™, software , and embedded within a template representation comprising html formatting to be used to create a representation of the specified elements of the target system within the host system an information system containing data or functionality , to be represented within the host system a process - driven system comprising web - enabled process models and definitional material containing representations of data or functionality from a range of diverse target systems , linked at appropriate points in the processes . the full host system results from an application of the method to link it to the target systems . a second implementation of the invention is now described with reference to the accompanying fig5 . the second implementation also concerns the development of process - driven systems , allowing meaningful access to diverse content and functionality in the context of a process - based user - interface , showing the invention acting as the basic mechanism within a process - driven system for providing structured access to business data . this second implementation also makes use of further features of the invention . the more specific method followed is illustrated , with reference to a simple , specific example as laid out in fig5 the aim of which is to achieve the obtaining of information for an end of year tax task . thus the steps followed are as follows ; create an activator ‘ end of year tax ’ 32 specifying target system requirements and properties . two target systems are used : microsoft excel 34 , and an extant activator 36 that integrates with the microsoft biztalk system a wrapper 38 is created to define the interfaces to the target systems and the users host system , comprising bpml 40 , html 42 , xml 44 and xml schema components 46 , and creating activator behavior in the form of web service behaviour 48 . the activator for the host system — in this case a financial management knowledge map is created using the salamander business transformation toolset ™, and made available on microsoft corporation &# 39 ; s iis ™ web server and target systems by adding values for the specification properties to create a sufficient representation of the target systems within the host system to allow the retrieved data to be displayed appropriately . the host system request by the user accesses the identified target system instance ( s ) in context via the activator instance ( s ), through the mediation of the collection of interacting activators 50 . thus , all communication between the financial management knowledge map , activators and target system instances is through web method calls ( simple object access protocol ( soap )/ xml ). activator behavior is initiated through an initial end user request made in the financial management knowledge map . the ‘ end of year tax ’ activator responds to this request and gathers financial data from ‘ excel ’ and from the biztalk activator , which is presented in html format within the financial management knowledge map . the biztalk activator in turn requests financial data from the biztalk adapter for service advertising protocol ( sap ), which in turn requests financial data from a sap financials system . the components which are deployed in the operation of the method of this implementation can now be set out in more detail . a set of web services containing xml specification of target systems and a variety of wrapper examples allowing communication with host and target systems microsoft &# 39 ; s excel system , and an extant activator that integrates with microsoft &# 39 ; s biztalk system a process - driven system comprising web - enabled process models and definitional material containing representations of data or functionality from a range of diverse target systems , linked at appropriate points in the processes . the full host system results from an application of the method to link it to the target systems . in comparison with technology that embeds systems within others the present invention is intended for use with common target systems within an organization , onto which a view is created , rather than for use with small applications for which it might be feasible to take an entire copy of a target system and install this within the host . current software interaction mechanisms do not provide the concept of host system as required , in particular wrappers for alternate interfaces and support for interface presentation consistent with a host system while the present invention provides access to data in context of the host system , rather than simply interaction protocols between diverse software systems , while mechanisms that provide presentation within a host system ( e . g . devices in a portal ) lack the persistence and interaction of these components . in comparison with workflow and process integration technology , the present invention addresses a different aim , concerned with the concept of a host system that provides the context for the usage of the target systems , which leads us to the concept of activators as potentially a community of interacting components , with no single point of control , giving flexibility and extensibility in deployment , and the concept of a host being a process - driven system , with a target being a model of this process - driven system . the presentation of the data from the system can be controlled through templates , allowing the look and feel of the published framework to be preserved , and allowing the data to be interwoven with information from the published framework and data from elsewhere and previously used formats . multiple packages may be developed for the same target system , giving alternative views onto the same content the packages that are available can be varied according to user privileges packages can contain active components for manipulating target systems within the host system the generic concept of package is used regardless of whether the link to be made comprises a simple search string , or an active component , giving a simple , unifying approach to a complex and diverse problem area — that of linking to diverse content while the invention has been described with a certain degree of particularly , it is manifest that many changes may be made in the details of construction and the arrangement of components without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure . it is understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments set forth herein for purposes of exemplification , but is to be limited only by the scope of the attached claim or claims , including the full range of equivalency to which each element thereof is entitled .