A Web Services Variability Description Language (WSVL) for Business Users Oriented Service Customization

To better facilitate business users in customizing Web services, customization options need to be described at a high level of abstraction. In contrast to related efforts that describe customization options at the technical level of service description, we propose a Web Services Variability description Language (WSVL) that facilitates the representation of such options at business level. The language has several advantages. Firstly, it does not require people, who perform customization, to have knowledge of Web service technologies. Thus, the language enables business users-friendly service customization. Secondly, the language captures not only what can be customized, but also how and where customization operations should happen in a service-oriented way. This self-described property removes the need for a separate procedure for governing service customization. Consequently, this property eases the adoption of the language. We elaborate the design of the language using a case study and describe its usages from both consumers and providers’ viewpoints.

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