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Subject: Re: [soa-rm] Definition: Services


In this context, it is the abstract concept of the service.  It does not 
infer anything concrete. 

Duane


George Ntinolazos wrote:

>Duane, Matt
>
>What is the 'thing' that you refer to as a 'service'? Is the service a
>'thing' in the 'real' world, the WSDL file in the hard drive, or the binary
>loaded in the VM or ...? Can you give an example?
>
>What I am trying to say is that we need to either qualify the term service
>or use alternative terms to distinguish the different forms/views of a
>service thought its lifecycle.
>
>George
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Duane Nickull [mailto:dnickull@adobe.com] 
>Sent: 12 April 2005 17:13
>To: George Ntinolazos
>Cc: 'Don Flinn'; soa-rm@lists.oasis-open.org
>Subject: Re: [soa-rm] Definition: Services
>
>George:
>
>Going back to the W3C Technical Note, one of the core principles of 
>services is that they are autonomous.  They do not care whether they are 
>part of a business process or any other process.  They are self 
>sufficient atoms.  The concepts of BPM really belong in a POA reference 
>model (which no one has done to my knowledge) or a process oriented view 
>of a specific architecture, not in a reference model for service 
>oriented architecture.
>
>Perhaps we should ask the editors to consider this sentence as a 
>placeholder:
>=> There is no need to make architectural distinctions between a service 
>that is consumed as part of a process vs. one that is not.
>
>I would also assert that a specific architecture can concurrently be 
>both SOA and POA.
>
>Furthermore, another key concept of the W3C WSA is that services are 
>independent from underlying implementation technology.  If we start 
>looking at the specific function()'s , including one service that 
>functionally calls 2 others, we are violating this principle.
>
>I would like to ask the editors to keep this sentence as a placeholder too:
>=> Services are opaque and independent from underlying technology.
>
>Both of these concepts need to be completely abstract to be included in 
>the RM.
>
>Duane
>
>George Ntinolazos wrote:
>
>  
>
>>I think, in our attempt to define what a service is, we will need to
>>distinguish between the world of business processes and the software world
>>which automates some aspects of those processes. (Here by business, I mean
>>the domain of interest or problem domain)
>>
>>This distinction will allow for qualified terms such as business service,
>>software service, and functional service:
>>
>>A business service represents a step or set of steps within a business
>>process that is atomic and potentially fully automatable. For example, an
>>openAccount business process may contain an atomic step such as
>>identifyCustomer which is a business service.
>>
>>A functional service is a software service which automates all, or part, of
>>a business service. A functional service is an abstraction which defines
>>    
>>
>the
>  
>
>>contractual aspects of a service independently of the implementation
>>technology choices. By definition, is always 'business' focused.
>>
>>A technology service is the realization of all, or part, of a functional
>>service in a given implementation technology. For example, a Java operation
>>invoked using RMI, or a Web Service could both be elements of technology
>>services. 
>>
>>
>>A second important distinction is between design-time and runtime. At
>>runtime, objects that offer services may be associated with state. Consider
>>the indetifyCustomer software service. At runtime this software may be
>>associated with more than one set of customers, that is, it might be
>>deployed multiple times pointing to different data. Is this one service or
>>many?  
>>
>>Yet another aspect we need to take into account is the service granularity.
>>A service specification can be represented at a number of candidate levels
>>ranging from a typed set of operations (usually referred to as an
>>interface), to the more abstract notion of a set of such interfaces.
>>Further, some existing definitions of service refer to the set of
>>    
>>
>interfaces
>  
>
>>which constitute a particular interaction between parties (for example a
>>CORBA service or a WSDL composition), whereas some focus on the
>>responsibilities of a particular party (or role) within that interaction
>>(Design by Contract approach).
>>
>>George
>>______________________________________
>>George Ntinolazos BSc(Hons), MSc, MBCS
>>
>>Product Director
>>Strata Software Ltd.
>>Office: +44 (0)1483 422515
>>Mobile: +44 (0)7966 652063
>>www.stratasoftware.com
>>Best Practice for Service-Oriented Architectures
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Duane Nickull [mailto:dnickull@adobe.com] 
>>Sent: 11 April 2005 20:31
>>To: Don Flinn
>>Cc: soa-rm@lists.oasis-open.org
>>Subject: Re: [soa-rm] Definition: Services
>>
>>I do not like this definition since it assumes that all services are 
>>used for business processes, which is simply not true.
>>
>>I liked Matt's definition from this morning or some variation of it.  We 
>>had one from the SOA Q&A we did and referenced it form the charter.  Not 
>>sure if this one still works or if it rubs folks the wrong way.
>>
>>Q: What is a service?
>>
>>A: A service is a contractually defined behavior provided by a component 
>>for use by other component(s) based on the contract.
>>
>>Google had too many definitions ranging from Church services to 
>>implementation specific definitions.  Didn't find anything there that 
>>was abstract.
>>
>>I tried to write another one:
>>
>>Service: an externally visible behavior of a component offered for 
>>consumption by other components.  not happy with that.
>>
>>The W3C technical note had a pretty interesting definition, albeit once 
>>more implementation specific to WS*:
>>
>>
>>         2.3.2.10 Service
>>
>>
>>           2.3.2.10.1 Definition
>>
>>A service is an abstract resource that represents a capability of 
>>performing tasks that represents a coherent functionality from the point 
>>of view of provider entities 
>><http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/NOTE-ws-arch-20040211/#provider_entity> and 
>>requester entities 
>><http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/NOTE-ws-arch-20040211/#requester_entity>. To 
>>be used, a service must be realized by a concrete provider agent 
>><http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/NOTE-ws-arch-20040211/#provider_agent>.
>>
>>
>>           2.3.2.10.2 Relationships to other elements
>>
>>a service is a <http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/NOTE-ws-arch-20040211/#isa>
>>
>>   resource <http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/NOTE-ws-arch-20040211/#resource>
>>
>>a service performs
>>
>>   one or more tasks
>>   <http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/NOTE-ws-arch-20040211/#service_task>
>>
>>a service has <http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/NOTE-ws-arch-20040211/#hasa>
>>
>>   a service description
>>   <http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/NOTE-ws-arch-20040211/#service_description>
>>
>>a service has a <http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/NOTE-ws-arch-20040211/#hasa>
>>
>>   service interface
>>   <http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/NOTE-ws-arch-20040211/#service_interface>
>>
>>a service has <http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/NOTE-ws-arch-20040211/#hasa>
>>
>>   service semantics
>>   <http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/NOTE-ws-arch-20040211/#service_semantics>
>>
>>a service has <http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/NOTE-ws-arch-20040211/#hasa>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Duane
>>
>>Services:
>>
>>Don Flinn wrote:
>>
>> 
>>
>>    
>>
>>>I just ran across a definition of a service in the paper "Composition
>>>Contracts for Service Interaction" Andrade, L. and Fiadeiro, J., which
>>>looks good.
>>>
>>>Slightly modified -
>>>Services are granular software components that can be used as building
>>>blocks for the assembly of business processes.
>>>
>>>Original -
>>>Services can be seen as granular software components that can be used as
>>>building blocks for distributed applications or for the assembly of
>>>business processes.
>>>
>>>Don
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>   
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>> 
>>
>>    
>>
>
>  
>

-- 
***********
Senior Standards Strategist - Adobe Systems, Inc. - http://www.adobe.com
Vice Chair - UN/CEFACT Bureau Plenary - http://www.unece.org/cefact/
Adobe Enterprise Developer Resources  - http://www.adobe.com/enterprise/developer/main.html
***********



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