A unified framework for managing Web-based services

The emergence of Web technologies enables a variety of Web-based service applications, which can be examined from business process integration, supply chain management, and knowledge management perspectives. To categorize existing Web-based services while foreseeing potential new types, a unified view is needed to represent the structures and processes of Web-based services. This paper proposes a general framework to identify essential structures and operations of Web-based services, and then models these components. We articulate the framework with Web technologies, such as Web service and semantic Web, multi-agent and peer-to-peer, and Web information retrieval and mining. Two comprehensive examples in insurance and knowledge services are used to elaborate the use of Web-based service framework in fulfilling business processes. This study synthesizes essential structures and processes of Web-based services to build a framework for researchers and practitioners to develop Web-based services and techniques.