Using Process Models for the Design of Service-Oriented Architectures: Methodology and E-Commerce Case Study

This article explains the importance of business process management for service orientation and illustrates how process models can be used for the design and realization of service-oriented architectures. We will introduce a multi-level concept consisting of a design, a configuration and an execution level. The approach presented here, illustrated along the standards of EPC, BPMN, BPEL and WSDL, bridges the existing research gap between conceptual modeling and service-oriented IT support. The requirements analysis from an online-mail order company in the consumer electronics sector serves as a use case. Results show that up to now, organizational aspects have been neglected in the SOA discussion.