As discussed in Part 1-The Promise of Web Services, Web services are an integration technology that enables the publication and consumption of software services using standard protocols for:

Describing the information itself
    (eXtensible Markup Language or XML)

Transmitting the information
    (Simple Object Access Protocol or SOAP)

Describing the service interface
    (Web services Description Language or WSDL), and

Publishing the service in a directory
    (Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration or UDDI).

To date, application integration has been implemented using a variety of non-standard integration tools, protocols, and formats. Web services provide a mechanism, through open standards, for organizations to rapidly deploy and consume business services. Previously, such services would have required large investments in proprietary integration tools or Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) networks. Although there is a tremendous amount of hype surrounding Web services, they are already being deployed in some progressive organizations, and are expected by Gartner, Inc. research to be widely adopted by companies large and small over the next 2-3 years. Why investigate Web services now? Forward-thinking companies will gain internal efficiencies through information sharing, and be well positioned when they are ready to begin sharing processes with their external trading partners. Less progressive organizations will be technically challenged when requested by their trading partners to consume and publish mutually beneficial services. Web services have the ability to impact both the top and bottom lines of companies. Automating a purchasing process with Web services has the potential to drop more revenue to the bottom line by eliminating manual order processing steps and reducing excess inventory. A distributor of information (weather, sports scores, stocks, etc.) could attract new customer sales by publishing information in a standard format via Web services.

As discussed in Part 1, on the two ends of the complexity and potential for return spectrum are Procedure-Oriented and Document-Oriented services. Procedure-Oriented services are frequently simple SOAP "wrappers" of component methods, used to transmit data, and are the most likely type provided by Web Service "enablers," such as IBM's WebSphere. Document-Oriented Web services provide the facility for exchanging large amounts of organized information through complex processes, e.g., a Purchase Order system.

The amount and complexity of information that can be submitted and extracted from Procedure-Oriented services is limited to arguments in the component method. Basic data types (e.g., numbers, strings) are simple and efficient to transfer via SOAP. Most vendors of integrated development environments, application servers, and Enterprise Application Integration software are supplying tools for developers to expose component methods and messaging interfaces as Web services.

Document-Oriented services are appropriate for those processes that employ a document context for organizing process information, such as Purchase Orders in a purchasing process. Complex, custom, object data types require more time and energy for (albeit automated) packaging prior to sending ("marshalling") and un-packaging upon receipt ("un-marshalling").

Web services provide a common integration methodology for both large and small companies to integrate their internal business processes across locations, divisions, and business units. To date, the promise of the intranet has not been met. Many companies are using an intranet as an information dissemination medium only. Simple Web services can be developed to share fine-grained information, such as the current company stock price, or to increase the efficiency of more complex, Document-Oriented processes such as purchasing.

To read more about how to integrate B2B processes with trading partners and how to adopt Web services in your organization,
click here.