Supporting variability dependencies for rule-based service compositions in prosumer environments

Prosumer service provision is characterised by the creation, composition and sharing of services by non-expert users. Among the various creation strategies, rule-based service composition offers many advantages for prosumers. Variability in service composition and its implications regarding creation flexibility and domain adaptation can be associated to service templates in the form of rules, and shared by prosumers in a cooperative way. In this work we define a variability model, integrable in composable and customisable service templates, which supports adaptability in the form of variations and their dependencies. We consider this model in the development of a rule-based service composition environment integrating a creation wizard, guiding the prosumer through the customisation process, and some solutions for dependency problems, detecting and correcting prosumer undesired behaviour in a fault-tolerant approach. Finally, we implement the variability model by using web service technologies and evaluate how these technologies improve the dynamic provision of these variations, enriching the service composition process in prosumer environments.