Managing non-functional properties of inter-enterprise business service delivery

Abstract

In inter-enterprise business service collaborations management of non-functional properties has become a fundamental issue as business management and computing infrastructures are expected to align more closely. Already, service-oriented computing emphasizes dynamic binding between the functional elements participating in service collaborations and late encapsulation of properties on them. In such environments, the non-functional service properties are used a) as selection criteria during service discovery and b) as parts of collaboration contracts and service-level agreements in particular. This paper contributes to the conceptualisation of non-functional properties in the context of service-oriented computing. The nature of non-functional properties is elaborated by metamodels that formalize the concepts and provide facilities for the management of non-functional properties during design time and run time. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.