Pervasive Service Creation using a Model Driven Petri Net Based Approach

Service creation is a complex process that involves service analysis design, implementation and testing. Traditionally, the service is validated at the late stage of testing. This increases development costs since any necessary amendments would require an iterative improving cycle on service design and implementation; until the desired result is eventually reached. This paper proposes a service creation methodology and tooling with a twofold contribution: (i) based on its design, a service is validated early on and prior to implementation, (ii) the service code is automatically generated out of the validated service designs. To achieve this, our approach integrates model-driven architecture (MDA) with Petri Nets (PN). MDA is used to define the (i) Information, (ii) Service Oriented Petri Net (SOPN) and (iii) User Interface modelling languages, which support the service design and implementation phases. Petri Nets facilitate the service validation phase through the use of the SOPN language. By merging the two techniques we obtain a systematic and cost-effective approach for the creation of pervasive services. Concluding the methodology is applied in practice for the creation of a Flight Itinerary booking service.