What is a "non-persistent method"? Create an instance of the pojo entity class without involving an entity manager - call all the methods you want and there is no persistence involved. Set fields - it won't get written to the database. The entity manager on gets involved when you specifically ask it to. Again - the entity IS the lightweight object to interact with at all tiers. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=3998370#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...