See Service Genre or Service Expression

A core e-Framework term referring to a deployed ICT software system or program designed to carry out tasks or solve problems specific to a given use or requirement. In the e-Framework, an application can be either an Application System or an Application Service.

Customization of a standard(s) (de facto or de jure) or specification(s) for a community. The customization may be through the specification of constraints on how features are used (or not used), through the definition of extensions, or through definitions of how elements of the standard(s) are interpreted and used within the community. Note that a standard or specification can be used as a generic term for any de facto standard, de jure standard, or specification.

A core e-Framework term referring to an application that is a Service Implementation. A machine-to-machine interface to the implementation of a service genre or service expression, possibly composed with infrastructure service implementations.

A core e-Framework term referring to an Application deployed for end-users.

A named, defined function or capability provided by a service via its interface. Behaviour is implemented through operations on data models.

A process, workflow, or set of operations used in support of the (business) requirements of a domain, delivering results for the user. Note that 'business' does not imply commerce.

See Service Classification.

See also the e-Framework Service Classification Scheme.

An Application or Service Implementation (or its Service Instances) that uses other service implementations (or their service instances). See also Requestor.

A restriction on behaviour or interaction. Constraints may be imposed for technical, policy, or other reasons, e.g., accessibility, scope, ease of evolution, efficiency, extensibility.

A Commonly Recurring SUM. A core e-Framework term referring to a description of the key aspects of a common design for an operation, behaviour or communication used in creating a reusable service-oriented design. CORE SUMs are identified from examples, not created.

A core e-Framework term referring to something that has a representation, is owned, controlled (by policy) and is uniquely identified

[Note: as of April 2007 this term replaces "resources" as a core term when documenting services]

See Service Definition.

See Service Description.

A description (typically represented in a collection of documents in different forms) used by developers as the basis to convert a concept into an artifact.

An arbitrary selection from equivalent alternatives.

A design pattern formally identifies key aspects of a common design useful in creating reusable object-oriented designs to be coded in software applications.

For more information, see the CORE SUMs page.

Data represented in a defined, known format.

A core e-Framework term referring to a problem area, business specialty area, or supporting area. The domains for the e-Framework include: learning and teaching, academic administration, research, libraries and information management and IT-services.

Facilitates technical interoperability within and across education and research through improved strategic planning and implementation processes.

For more information, see the e-Framework page.

See Service Expression.

A core eFramework term referring to the overall technical description of the e-Framework elements, the overall process used to build and document these elements and the processes used to translate these elements into designs and deployed applications within the domains of the e-Framework.

For more information, see the Models page.

A collection of cooperating Service Genres within a Domain. A vocabulary of components (e.g., service genre, service expression and reference model) used to model concepts and behaviours within a domain or to create a particular type of infrastructure (system or environment). Associated with the vocabulary is the grammar or language used to describe how the elements are combined or constrained to create systems and environments. Note that the grammars and languages are used to describe the reference models and service descriptions.

See Service Genre.

An unambiguous name for a digital Resource.

See Service Implementation.

See Service Instance.

A Service Expression with associated semantics, policies, monitoring and management controls accessible via service interfaces.

A unit of data sent from one Service Implementation or Service Instance to another.

Transmission of messages through a network via protocols.

A standard (de jure or de facto) or specification, developed collaboratively through an open, consensus-building process, that is platform independent, vendor neutral, extensible, reusable, publicly accessible, and not encumbered by royalties, licenses or constraints on use and implementation.

For more information, see the Open Standards page.

See CORE SUM.

A constraint on the Behaviour of an Service Implementation (and its service instance).

A fundamental rule that applies to a large number of situations.

A set of formal rules describing how to transmit data, especially across a network.

See Provider (Service Implementation).

A Service Implementation (or its service instances) used by other service implementations that provides the functionality and behaviour of the provider.

A service-oriented description of a collection of processes and workflows supporting at least one application, domain or business process.

An application or service implementation (or its service instances) that interacts with other (provider) service implementations (or their service instances) requesting that the providers perform some function for the requestor.

[Note - as of April 2007, this term is no longer a core term. It has been replaced by "data sources"].

A resource is a term that can have many meanings depending upon context. Often, but not always, it can be a synonym for "data sources". More generally, it can refer to anything that can be uniquely identified.

A general operational capability (e.g., a JISC production service); not a formal element of the e-Framework.

As used in the e-Framework, a resource characterised by the functionality (performance of tasks) it provides. To be used, a service must be implemented. A definition of function and scope is specified through statements of behaviour and data representation. A service is a type of Resource.

For more information, see Services page.

A core e-Framework term referring to set faceted classification schemes applied to any elements of the e-Framework.

A core e-Framework term referring to an informal narrative and graphical description of a Service Genre or a Service Expression presented in a normative format. It documents all aspects and characteristics of the service genre or service expression. For clarity, the e-Framework uses the qualified terms: service genre description, service expression description, reference model description, service pattern description.

For more information, see the Service Usage Model page

A core e-Framework term referring to a specific set of functionality and behaviours described in terms on interfaces, messages, standards and technologies; a specialisation of a single service genre by specification of exact interfaces and standards used.

For more information, see the Service Expressions page.

A core e-Framework term referring to a machine-processible definition or specification of the interface to a Service Expression and the semantics of the service expression. It defines the message formats, datatypes, transport protocols, and transport serialisation formats that should be used between the Requestor Service Implementation and the Provider Service Implementation. Formats, datatypes, protocols, etc., should be based on defined standards and specifications. The service expression definition represents an agreement governing the mechanics of interacting with the service expression.

For more information, see the Service Expressions page.

A core e-Framework term referring to a generic or abstract capability expressed in terms of behaviours; the overall concept of a service without regard to how it is converted into an operational capability. A service genre is independent of specific interfaces, technologies and standards.

For more information, see the Service Genres page.

Operational code providing the complete functionality specified in a Service Expression Definition; a component of the computational infrastructure that implements the functionality defined by a Service Expression; a computational resource.

Software specification used to guide development and programming of a Service Implementation, derived from a Service Expression Definition. The design is created by selecting and specialising elements from the service expression description, combined with design choices and the addition of constraints imposed by a particular community or by the technologies that will be used to implement and develop the service implementation.

A deployed Service Implementation; code bound to an identified network end point (e.g., a network address). The service implementation may also be bound to specific Resources.

A software design methodology using networks of loosely-coupled, communicating services.

For more information, see Services page.

Software architecture for a Service Oriented Approach (soa) implemented using a particular technology, e.g., CORBA, Web Services. SOAs enable domain-oriented operations through message exchange within a network of services. Services and messages have platform-independent formal definitions, based on open standards. They define standard interfaces and protocols to encapsulate information tools as services that clients can access without knowledge or control of their inner workings. Note that soa is a generic concept. SOA is that concept implemented using a particular technology, typically Web Services.

For more information, see Services page.

A core e-Framework term referring to a reusable collection of service implementations designed to be used in any application or with any reference model.

A core e-Framework term referring to description of the needs, requirements, workflows, management policies and processes within a domain and the mapping of these to a design of a structured collection of service genres and service expressions, resources, associated standards, specifications, data formats, protocols, bindings, etc., that can be used to implement software applications within the domain.

For more information, see Service Usage Models (SUM) page.

The representation of a resource (attributes, values, properties) at some point in time.

An idealised model of the real world represented through resources, each of which has state.

See Service Toolkit.

As defined by the W3C, "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network. It has an interface described in a machine-processible format (specifically WSDL). Other systems interact with the web service in a manner prescribed by its description using SOAP messages, typically conveyed using HTTP with an XML serialisation in conjunction with other Web-related standards."

For more information, see the Services page.

A service definition for a web service; a WSDL document.

The paths through a networked structure of tasks and activities; the steps in a Business Process