Assessing the potential impact of web services on business processes

Though web services offer unique opportunities for the design of new business processes, the assessment of the potential impact of Web services on existing business information systems is often reduced to technical aspects. This paper proposes a four-phase methodology which facilitates the evaluation of the potential use of Web services on business information systems both from a technical and from a strategic viewpoint. It is based on business process models, which are used to frame the adoption and deployment of Web services and to assess their impact on existing business processes. The application of this methodology is described using a procurement scenario.