Software Architect's Handbook

Service interface design

One of the main goals of service-oriented design is to derive the physical service interface definitions based on the service candidates that were determined during service-oriented analysis. Service interface design is significant because the design phase is the first time that real technology is identified.

If you recall the key principles for service orientation, they need to be applied to the design of the service interfaces. Service contracts need to be standardized with each other and within a service inventory. They should be loosely coupled from their implementations, with design decisions abstracted out so that the interfaces only contain what is essential for service consumers.

Service interface design identifies ...