Modeling business processes with BPEL4WS

Business Process Execution Language for Web Services (BPEL4WS) allows defining both, business processes that make use of Web services, and business processes that externalize their functionality as Web services. This short paper introduces the basic language elements of BPEL4WS using a simple example. The concepts underlying the language are briefly explained: establishing bilateral partnerships, correlating messages and processes, defining the order of the activities of a business process, event handling, handling exceptions via long-running transactions, and the usage of BPEL4WS in pure B2B scenarios. The paper finishes off by presenting the resulting application structure and the resulting economical implications. © Springer-Verlag 2006.