1. A data management system, said system characterized as a composite system, the system comprising a plurality of processes; each process having an interface and implementing at least one respective service defined by that interface; a first invocation of the at least one respective service by a transaction resulting in the creation of a first transaction local to the process thereof, the first local transaction being a child of the invoking transaction and being parent of any transaction triggered by invocation of a service of another process; a second invocation of the at least one respective service by a transaction resulting in the creation of a second transaction local to the process thereof, the first local transaction being a child of the invoking transaction and being parent of any transaction triggered by invocation of a service of another process; each transaction comprising the local invocation of at least two resources, each such invocation leading to an internal participant instance for globalCommit; each such resource and server invocation also containing application-level comments regarding the nature of the invocation, such comments comprising a portion of any globalCommit message exchanges; each such comment being presented to a human administrator in the event of a global commitment failure; each process characterized in that if the first transaction and the second transaction conflict but are both children of a same invoking transaction, then the first transaction and the second transaction and ancestors, if any, of the first transaction and the second transaction are not executed concurrently; each process further characterized in that each transaction local thereto is independently handled at the process; each process making scheduling and recovery decisions independent of any centralized component.