CSMA: Context-Based, Service-Oriented Modeling and Analysis Method for Modern Enterprise Applications

Introduction

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) paradigm has a major role to play in the development of modern enterprise application systems. Other design paradigms like object-oriented and component-based have tied up such systems to some architectural solutions. By doing so, the capacity of these systems to smoothly accommodate changes in business requirements and regulations has seriously been limited (Nuffel, 2007). SOA promotes system flexibility using independent, reusable automated business services. Each service can through the “possible’’ help of other peers implement complex business processes and system functions as well. Business services are, also, defined as units of work that are performed in response to some consumers’ needs satisfaction (Erl, 2005). This paradigm shift in enterprise architectural solutions from traditional single entity to service collaboration is fueling intense debates among IT practitioners. Despite the benefits of this shift such as business process reusability and spreadability cross organizational boundaries, enterprises are still reluctant to abandon the traditional ways of designing business processes in order to embrace an entirely new paradigm based on services. Several SOA-related limitations undermine these benefits. Industry definitions for service principles and standardized frameworks for modeling business services are still in progress and several proposals and thoughts are still unsettled (Arsanjani, 2004; Heuvel, Hasselbring, & Papazoglou, 2000; Erradi, Anand, & Kulkarni, 2006a). A comprehensive framework that would set guidelines for service-oriented modeling and analysis is required. Many enterprises in their early use of SOA simply thought of wrapping their existing components in compliance with services’ standards. Deploying large-scale, modern SOA-based applications goes beyond component wrapping. An effective approach for identifying, modeling, and analyzing services is crucial to achieve SOA benefits (Papazoglou & Heuvel, 2006). Our extensive literature review reveals that a few methods exist and lessons learnt from previous experiences along with best practices are almost inexistent. Works like (Arsanjani, 2004) and (Papazoglou & Heuvel, 2006) propose methods for designing and modeling services in enterprise. However, these methods are very aligned to the particular technology of Web services. In addition, critical issues (e.g., non-functional-requirements, context-aware, etc.) that concern delivering high-quality services are barely touched. A method that promotes the use of SOA at a high level of abstraction and specifically tackles the issue of service adaptability to context changes during the design stage is still missing.