A mechanism is disclosed for operating local version-independent service program code for infrastructure services, wherein the mechanism is automatically and optionally linked to a central, remote service infrastructure, and wherein both an online and an offline processing mode is included and automatically supported, and wherein the mechanism is embedded in a generic runtime environment. In at least one embodiment, it contains service program code implemented in the runtime environment for calling by way of the application program code with standardized interfaces, wherein the service program code is intended for the provision of functionalities for predetermined services that an application program code can use.