A formal model for service-oriented interactions

Abstract

In this paper, we provide a mathematical semantics for a fragment of a language–SRML–that we have defined in the IST-FET-GC2 Integrated Project SENSORIA for modelling service-oriented systems. The main goal of this research is to make available a foundational basis for the development of practical modelling languages and tools that designers can use to model complex services at a level of abstraction that captures business functionality independently of the languages in which services are implemented and the platforms in which they execute. The basic artefact of the language is the service module, which provides a model for a complex service in terms of a number of components that jointly orchestrate a business function and may dynamically discover and bind to external parties that can deliver required functionalities. We define a mathematical model of computation and an associated logic for service-oriented systems based on the typical business conversations that occur between the parties that deliver a service. We then define the semantics of SRML service modules over this model and logic, and formulate a property of correctness that guarantees that services programmed and assembled as specified in a module provide the business functionality advertised by that module. Finally, we define an algebraic operation of composition of service modules that preserves correctness. To the best of our knowledge, there is no other formal approach that has been defined from first principles with the aim of capturing the business nature of service conversations and support service assembly based on the business logic that is required, not as it is programmed.