1. A data processing system, comprising: an enterprise services framework interface adapted to receive a service request from a service consumer; a database for storing transactional data; repository means for storing data descriptive of business objects and for storing data descriptive of a buffer object; processor means for executing an application program; and a main memory for storing an instance of the buffer object, the instance of the buffer object containing at least one instance of one of the business objects, methods for accessing the database, and methods for calling the application program.