A system and method for providing a reusable connection handle to managed connections within transactions, or other scoping mechanisms, preferably in a Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) software architecture on a computer platform. The system and method further allows for multiple connection handles to share the same managed connection within, but not outside of, the confines of the scoping mechanism. The connection handle is selectively disassociated from a managed connection whereby the connection handle enters a disassociated state, and then is selectively reassociated with a managed connection within the software architecture when desired.