Methods for Data exposure

Exposing data refers to making a data structure available for consumption by one or more parties. It can simply refer to making a data-set available to a single recipient, however it normally means that the data is available by some Web Service. Each Web Service becomes part of a system that has a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).

SOA refers to an operation that does not simply receive or provide data but is oriented towards a specific service or operation. This means that, once the data is received, the system automatically processes that data using an operation or Web Method, and responds with a message indicating success or failure, and optionally returns data in a specific data-set. Typically this is a Web Service but it can also use Web Feeds or a Data Service.

An example of a SOA is PEPPOL, which is an EU Initiative used to provide a registry of message specifications and locations of Web Service Endpoints. PEPPOL was funded by the EU as part of an e-procurement initiative. It has been extended to include both pre-award and post-award documents such as orders and invoices.