RE: [soa-rm] Definition of "Service Consumer"

["Christopher Bashioum" <cbashioum@mitre.org>]

 When we talk about service consumer vs. provider in this sense, I think we
need to separate the "static" entity from the dynamic role that said entity
plays.  A given entity can be both service provider (in which case it
publishes it's service description) and service consumer (in which case it
binds to another service provider in order to accomplish its own service).

So...to re-word your statement a little: An entity that binds with a service
is playing the role of service consumer. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Vikas Deolaliker [mailto:vikas@sonoasystems.com] 
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 12:21 PM
To: 'Frank McCabe'; soa-rm@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: RE: [soa-rm] Definition of "Service Consumer"


Using the publish/find/bind framework of SOA... 

The entity that publishes is certainly not the consumer. The entity that
finds may or may not be the consumer but the entity that binds is certainly
the consumer. 

So an entity that "binds" with a service would be the closest to a service
consumer. 

Vikas

-----Original Message-----
From: Frank McCabe [mailto:frank.mccabe@us.fujitsu.com] 
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 9:00 AM
To: soa-rm@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: Re: [soa-rm] Definition of "Service Consumer"

There is a distinction between the software *entity* 
(agent/component/J2EE bean/.../) that interacts with a service in order 
to achieve some goal, and the person or persons for whom that 
interaction is taking place.

The reason that this distinction is important is similar to the 
distinction between a service interface and the service itself: 
accessing your bank account from an ATM or on-line will use different 
interfaces but ultimately all use the same service.

Here is an example of why its important: the appropriate business logic 
to apply to a service request will depend on many factors: the means by 
which the request was delivered, the request itself and the person (or 
persons) for whom the request was made. This last aspect is completely 
independent of mode of requesting and is purely business/application 
specific.

Incidentally, the above definition: "an agent that interacts with a 
service in order to achieve a goal" seems to be a reasonable definition 
of a service requester.


On Apr 7, 2005, at 7:23 AM, Gregory A. Kohring wrote:

> Matthew,
>
> OK, here a fewer other choices which might be deemed more
> "respectful"...
>
> Service Consumer:
>
> 1) End-user of a service.
>
> 2) An agent which, acting on behalf of its owner, uses a service.
>
> 3) An entity which utilizes a service
>
> 4) An entity which consumes the product or information produced by a
>    service.
>
>
> Note all of these definitions depend upon the definition of the
> term "service".  Have we agreed on this already? Perhaps we should
> start there first...
>
>
> -- Greg
>
>
>
> Matthew MacKenzie wrote:
>> I think services deserve respect, lets try not to exploit them :-)
>> Gregory A. Kohring wrote:
>>> Thomas,
>>>
>>> Perhaps one should use a somewhat broader definition which captures
>>> the human user as well:
>>>
>>> Service Consumer: An entity which exploits a service.
>>>
>>>
>>> -- Greg
>>>
>>>
>>> Thomas Erl wrote:
>>>
>>>> Now that we've decided on the term "service consumer" it may be 
>>>> useful to formally define it. The term "consumer" is used by the 
>>>> WS-I Basic Profile wherein it is simply defined as "Software that 
>>>> invokes an instance."
>>>>
>>>> Thomas
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>
> -- 
> ======================================================================
> G.A. Kohring
> C&C Research Laboratories, NEC Europe Ltd.
> ======================================================================
>