Increasing Profitability by Exposing or Consuming XML Web Services Phil Wolfe Werner Enterprises pwolfe@wernervas.com MCSD.NET, MCDBA, MCAD, MCSD(VB6), MCT, MCP+SB

Agenda Discussion XML Web Services Overview Internal applications of XML Web Services External applications of XML Web Services Current XML Web Services in operation Next Steps Questions

XML Web Services Discussion What do you know? What have you heard? What are your experiences? What opportunities do you see? What concerns do you have? What will propel you to use XML web services?

Agenda Discussion XML Web Services Overview Internal applications of XML Web Services External applications of XML Web Services Current XML Web Services in operation Next Steps Questions

XML Web Services Overview What are XML Web Services XML Web Services History Standards Supporting XML Web Services Companies Enabling XML Web Services Organizations Using XML Web Services

What Are XML Web Services? Formal Definition Exposing data using web standards in a structured format Distributed computing using the web model Natural evolution of your web site Cutting through the Media hype and criticism Bottom Line

XML Web Services History In the beginning there were many vendors…and these vendors did not play well with each other…and the customers were very displeased XML + HTTP + SOAP + Great Idea = XML Web Services See W3C or WhatIs.com site for more information

XML Web Service Standards Sending a letter XML Web Service Language English Letter Envelope Address Book Address USPS ASCII Text XML SOAP UDDI WSDL HTTP Message Container Discovery Description Transport WS-Security, DIME (www.oasis-open.org) World Wide Web Consortium (www.w3.org) WS-I Group (www.ws-i.org)

XML Web Service Enablers

Current Adopters

Agenda Discussion XML Web Services Overview Internal applications of XML Web Services External applications of XML Web Services Current XML Web Services in operation Next Steps Questions

Internal Applications of Web Services Internal Application (App-to-App) Legacy Integration Database Interaction Business Rules Reuse Knowledge Worker Applications Internal Benefits

Internal Applications Home-grown LOB to new reporting software One vendor’s sales application to another’s Business Intelligence Use to ease migration ASP to ASP.NET, Cold Fusion to Java Use for technologies that don’t normally talk to each other

Legacy Integration Think of your old sales/inventory/tracking/ accounting system Most can read and write text files A service could watch a directory for a file and send/receive XML to/from a web service The web service could be the new system replacing the old one or any other system

Database Interaction Database makes the web service call Many databases now support calling web services: SQL, Oracle, DB2, Informix They can call web service enabled applications Calling the database as a web service Some databases can accept SOAP messages directly and return properly formatted XML

Business Rules Reuse Where do you store your business rules now? Stored Procedure, Objects, Code, Other Locked into that application or technology What if they were in an XML web service? Callable by any technology and platform that can call web services Now technology/database/platform doesn’t matter

Knowledge Worker Applications Ask yourself: Which applications do our employees use concurrently? What features of one app could be exposed to another app as an XML web service? Excel Demo: Basic Database Lookup

Internal Benefits Speedier migration and integration Use existing investment in older systems Databases can interact with non homogeneous technologies Simplified business rule management Applications make more sense to knowledge workers as they integrate better

Agenda Discussion XML Web Services Overview Internal applications of XML Web Services External applications of XML Web Services Current XML Web Services in operation Next Steps Questions

External applications of XML Web Services Exposing our ability Our Application, Our XML Web Service Their Application, Our XML Web Service External Benefits

Exposing our ability Think of your core business processes. Does it make sense to expose this to other organizations? Examples Transportation Insurance Can it be done through XML web services?

Our Application, Our Web Service So, you have decided to charge for your web service You could require that the users use your provided application to access the web service. As you update the web service the client can discover those changes and update itself as necessary.

Their Application, Our Web Service You still own the process inside the web service, this time the clients are responsible for exposing the web service to their users. As you change the web service logic the clients continue to work. Major changes have to be coordinated

External Benefits You are doing the work, why not generate more revenue for it The web service that may have been created for internal use can be modified for external customers in most cases You can choose to write or not write the client application

Agenda Discussion XML Web Services Overview Internal applications of XML Web Services External applications of XML Web Services Current XML Web Services in operation Next Steps Questions

Current XML Web Services www.UDDI.org / uddi.Microsoft.com Post Office – Address/Zip Lookup FedEx – Package Lookup Google.com - Searching MapPoint.NET Weather Others…

Agenda Discussion XML Web Services Overview Internal applications of XML Web Services External applications of XML Web Services Current XML Web Services in operation Next Steps Questions

Next Steps Research if our current technologies can consume or expose XML web services Experiment with some internal web services that will save time and money in the short term Examine what processes could be exposed to gain new customers as a long term goal

Questions / Thoughts / Discussion

Thank you for attending Phil Wolfe pwolfe@wernervas.com