The challenges of service evolution

Abstract

Services are subject to constant change and variation. Services can evolve typically due to changes in structure, e.g., attributes and operations; in behavior and policies, e.g., adding new business rules and regulations, in types of business-related events; and in business protocols. This paper introduces two types of service changes: shallow changes - where changes are confined to services or the clients - and deep changes - where cascading effects and side-effects occur. The paper introduces a theoretical approach for dealing with shallow service changes and a change-oriented service lifecycle methodology that addresses the effects of deep service changes. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.