A methodology for agent oriented Web Service engineering

Web Service (WS) has been widely accepted in recent years. It is becoming the next paradigm to deploy business services on the Web. However, building WS is not an easy task due to the complexity of various business processes and different communication protocols. In this paper, we propose a methodology to efficiently develop Web Services by plugging in software agents. This agent oriented method uses software agents as building blocks of WS, and exploits the commonly available agent development tools to accelerate the whole development cycle. Software agents in this methodology not only implement the business processes, but also enrich the functions of WS. Our approach provides a solution for Web Service engineering. A case study in loan application service is presented to show the benefits and advantages of this agent oriented service engineering methodology.