D.McDonaldstrath.ac.ukInformation Strategy Directorate

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Web Services Technologies
Institutional Web Managers Workshop -
2003 Parallel Session C5

• Diane McDonald, Strathclyde University

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Proposed Structure
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Background

• e-commerce
• Enterprise Application Integration
• Object Orientated too complicated

• Key requirements
• Reuse of applications and resources
• Cost-effective to implement

New methodologies and tools required.
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What are Web Services ?

• framework of self contained modular applications
  that can be made available, discovered and
  executed over the network by remote programs
• publish, discover, interact

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Publish, Discover, Interact
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WST Core Standards

• SOAP
• WSDL
• UDDI

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WST Core Standards

• SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)

• Lightweight XML-based protocol for transfer of
  structured data and type info
• Features
• Message / Envelope
• Stateless, Utilises underlying network protocols
• RPC, Message Exchange Patterns (MEP)
• SOAP 1.1 (1.2 W3C working draft)

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SOAP Messaging Nodes
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SOAP Envelope
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WST Core Standards

• SOAP
• WSDL Web Service Definition Language

• describes how to interpret the messages, how to
  contact the WS and what protocols to use
• uses standard XML schema
• does not deal with business logic
• WSDL 1.2 W3C working draft

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WST Core Standards

• SOAP
• WSDL
• UDDIUniversal Data Description and Integration

• Information repository and query services
• UBR Universal Business Registry
• UDDI 3.0 OASIS/UDDI.org

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Simplified network of UDDI registries
(Adapted from The Evolution of UDDI, UDDI.org)
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WST Players

• Developers
• HP
• Microsoft, IBM, Sun, BEA Systems, Many other
  application developers
• Standards Organisations
• OASIS
• W3C (World Wide Web Consortium)
• WS-I (Web Services Interoperability Organisation)

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WST Protocol Stack
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The Issues

• Standards
• Business Logic
• Security and Trust Models
• Uptake of Web Services
• Business Models

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Potential Usage Scenarios - General

• Business
• Enterprise application integration
• E-commerce
• Application Integration
• Portals and Portlets

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Discussion 1 - All

• Aim Identify potential scenarios for use of WST
  within the HE/FE community

• MLEs?
• Portals and Portlets?
• Information Environments?
• Tools?

Community-wide infrastructure?
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Discussion 2 - Groups
Aim Analyse the factors that will effect use of
Web Services within HE/FE.

• Discuss What are the
• advantages?
• risks?
• barriers to implementation?
• technical, cultural, business, other?

2 Groups 1 technical, 1 strategic Agree on
raconteur
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Discussion 3 - All
Aim Identify the advice and guidelines required
by the community.
Technical
Strategic

• Summary
• What?
• By whom?
• Timescales?

Technical workshops, exemplars, CoP Example
Business Cases, implementation studies, CBA
JISC, UCISA, W3C etc?