Integrating service-oriented technologies to support business processes

In this paper we present a case example of how heterogeneous services and technologies can be integrated. We show a service-oriented architecture based on Web services to perform specific operations, issued by distributed processes through different protocols (HTTP, POPS, RMI and SMS), on a particular ERP system, namely the SAP R/3 system. The architecture results from the integration of two different service-oriented technologies: Java message service and SAP Java connector, and uses business process execution language for Web services choreography. We describe a prototype of the proposed architecture and discuss how a sample business operation, consisting of a purchase order input to SAP R/3 from any of a variety of technological devices, can be performed.