Here, I am restricting myself to 'potential services'.
An action by itself is not a service; but it may be part of a service. The same action could be 'part' of multiple services.
It seems to me, that a large part of service is in the eye of the beholder (that is where the parallel with roles comes from): if I am a stakeholder, I get to say what the service is. So, there is a strong element of designation in the definition of service.
All services are contextualized by the community for whom the service is established. Service is actually a collective designation: the social structure 'agrees' that something is a service.
So, we have:
1. a something; an entity that has a name.
2. it is a social structure that gives context for what a service is
3. there are actions associated with the service
From the RM, we agreed that service is the 'means' by which a capability may be applied to address needs. Hence:
4. service involves accessing capabilities -- i.e., they are not necessarily the capabilities themselves.
I do not believe that a 'bottom up' definition of service can capture all of this. As far as functionality is concerned, it is one of those 'market-speak' words that have no meaning (IMO).
I agree with Boris on all points.
- Michael
-----Original Message-----
From: Lublinsky, Boris <
boris.lublinsky@navteq.com>o
To: Francis McCabe <
fmccabe@gmail.com>;
soa-rm-ra@lists.oasis-open.org RA <
soa-rm-ra@lists.oasis-open.org>
Sent: Wed, Oct 20, 2010 7:06 pm
Subject: RE: [soa-rm-ra] Definition of service
Frank,
I thought I knew what the service was, but now I do not.
Its not a relationship, but rather a functionality.
Its not just a functionality, but a specifically business related one
-----Original Message-----
From: Francis McCabe [mailto:fmccabe@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2010 12:24 PM
To: soa-rm-ra@lists.oasis-open.org RA
Subject: [soa-rm-ra] Definition of service
Somewhat reluctantly, I have come to the realization that we do need a
definition of service in the RA. It is a somewhat glaring omission especially
given the depth of other definitions and the pervasive role of service in a SOA.
It occurs to me that there is a parallel between service and role: if role is an
encapsulation/formalization/etc of the relationship between an actor and a
social structure, so a service is also an encapsulation/formalization of the
relationship between a set of actions.
The current definition of role is:
Role
A role is an identified relationship between a participant and a social
structure that defines the rights, responsibilities, qualifications, and
authorities of that participant within the context of the social structure.
In this spirit, I suggest the following for service:
Service
A service is an identified relationship between a set of actions and a social
structure that defines how an actor may access a capability.
Notes:
1. identified means that a service has a name
2. the relationship between the actions and the social structure contextualizes
the service to a community
3. capability is defined: A capability is an ability to achieve a real world
effect.
4. it is the actions - service actions - that define the service
5. the definition is not specific to electronically mediated services
6. although the service constrains the service consumer, the fact that it is
identified enables other relationships including ownership
7. this is the 'potential' version of service - rather than the 'actual' view of
service
Comments are always welcome...
Frank
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