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IBM developerWorks : Web services : Web services articles
Business Process Execution Language for Web Services, Version
1.0
31 July 2002
This version:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/ws-bpel/ (available in PDF)
Authors:
Francisco Curbera, IBM <curbera@us.ibm.com>
Yaron Goland, BEA Systems <ygoland@bea.com>
Johannes Klein, Microsoft <joklein@microsoft.com>
Frank Leymann, IBM <LEY1@de.ibm.com>
Dieter Roller, IBM <ROL@de.ibm.com>
Sanjiva Weerawarana, IBM <sanjiva@us.ibm.com>
Editor:
Satish Thatte, Microsoft <satisht@microsoft.com>
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Abstract
This document defines a notation for specifying business process behavior based on Web Services. This notation is
called Business Process Execution Language for Web Services (abbreviated to BPEL4WS in the rest of this document).
Processes in BPEL4WS export and import functionality by using Web Service interfaces exclusively.
Business processes can be described in two ways. Executable business processes model actual behavior of a
participant in a business interaction. Business protocols, in contrast, use process descriptions that specify the mutually
visible message exchange behavior of each of the parties involved in the protocol, without revealing their internal
behavior. The process descriptions for business protocols are called abstract processes. BPEL4WS is meant to be used
to model the behavior of both executable and abstract processes.