What are web Services?

What are web Services?

Web services allow interoperable software components to be built over the web using standard protocols, which can perform business functions and processes.

Currently organisations have to choose a single product vendor to provide the software functionality to perform an business function or process i.e. if a company wishes to automate it's HR function then it would look at souring the software from a single ERP vendor rather then source the best bits from the best vendors at the right price. The main reason for this is interoperability of data definition and messaging standards between different vendors is not consistent. This means a-lot of work on integrating the different components would need to be carried out which is not feasible.

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Interoperability of data and messaging is the underlying foundation of web services. Organisations will be able to get the best components from the companies wish to perform their business functions e.g. within HR a software component to manage compensation and benefits can be bought from SAP, a software component to manage performance management can be bought from PeopleSoft and so on. All these components are interact under the web services framework to provide a seemless automated HR function. This single example simpler more cost effective integration will

The concepts that underpin Web Services are not new:

* The componentization of software and the encapsulation of discrete business functions as software components has a long history in object technologies.

* Distributed computing has been a major goal of successive waves of client/server development.

* Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is founded on the use of a common syntax and standard messages for business transactions.

* Enterprise application integration (EAI) is based on the need to optimize integration between systems by sharing data and business logic.

* The application service provider (ASP) model is about delivering software as a service rather than as a standalone application.

* The ideas of aggregating information from multiple sources, of organizing the information around the user who drives the data process.

* The distinction between client and server have started to blur with the evolution of portals, as well as in peer-to-peer (P2P) applications.

As a technical approach web services are not new:

What is significant about Web Services is a stable technical foundation based on a universally agreed base specification (XML -- eXtensible Markup Language) for structured data representation and a near-universally agreed base specification (SOAP -- Simple Object Access Protocol) for structured message exchange. Second, Web Services combine multiple technical development strands into a powerful vision for doing business online. Third, Web Services encompass the full spectrum of e-commerce in the broadest sense through an architectural viewpoint that seeks to address all the requirements and functions of online transactions -- within a domain, across domains, intra-organization, inter-organization, as well as parties involved in the transactions in their different roles and in different contexts (and therefore it could be argued that to consider developments as culminating in specific killer apps is missing the point). Fourth, all major IT vendors agree on the importance and primacy of Web Services and the overall vision if not the individual details. They are moreover backing such claims with enormous budgets.

Peer Reviews

Here's what a star student thought of this essay

danielbeal

19th of Feb 2012

Quality of writing

The report uses the term 'interoperable software components' quite early on, however I'm not too sure what is meant by this. The student will need to explain this term in-detail to ensure that people will be able to understand. When reading though the report, the student uses terms which aren't explained, which would make the report difficult to understand from an non-IT background. For example 'HR', I'm assuming is Human Resources, however this ins't mention within the report.

Level of analysis

The report states a number of key points, which are developed, and these are quite detailed. However these points are developed, but quite short. In a sense, the student has missed out some of the basic understanding which is useful to understand before using developed points, as this may be misunderstood without the basic understanding first. It's often best to state the basic understanding and build upon this. In order to receive high marks, the student would need to input some of their basic understanding before their developed points.

Response to question

The bullet points of concepts of website service,s are explained well, and this is of high quality. In terms of this section only, this would be awarded high marks.

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