What is “Web Service” anyway?  by Peter Wallace

Those of you that have been involved with enterprise software systems for any length of time know that eventually, the data between the various systems needs to be shared and integrated.  This is where the web service comes in handy.

There are several ways to exchange data between systems.  From a manual perspective, one could export data from one system via a tool and import the same data into the destination system using an import tool.  Typically, such tools are provided by the software package.  This method can be quite effective but it places the responsibility of data transfer into the hands of the users.  Plus, security of the data can be compromised since the data sits in the hands of the user between the source and destination systems.

A web service provides a systematic way to exchange data between systems.  A web service provides a secure method of data exchange between systems even over the public internet.  The interface of a web service is published in the public domain such that any system developer can write to the specification and be assured that, provided the other system adheres to the same specification, the interface will work well.

You can think of a web service as a web page, only the page is not displayed to a person for interpretation.  Instead, the page is revealed behind the scenes to an external system which consumes its data and runs its methods.

Thus, there are 2 parties engaged in a secure web service communication.  There is the publisher of the service and a consumer.  The publisher sets forth the types of data and methods it wishes to expose.  The consumer can then extract the data and run the methods.  A method is nothing more than a process or transaction against the web service that results in some sort of action, such as creating a work order or creating a vendor.

Of course, to be secure the consumer must provide login credentials to the web service.  The web service would then authenticate the credentials and allow the consumer to process its data and methods.  The data and methods available from the web service are documented in a technical manual.

In summary, a web service interface is a secured, efficient method for 2 systems to share information and processes.  The interface is an industry standard which bodes well for its acceptance within IT organizations. 

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