http://www.soamag.com The SOA Magazine is a monthly online publication provided by SOA Systems Inc. and Prentice Hall/PearsonPTR and is officially associated with the "Prentice Hall Service-Oriented Computing Series from Thomas Erl." SOA en-us Copyright 2006-2008, SOA Systems Inc. http://www.soamag.com/I14/0108-3.asp In this article intended primarily for business analysts, we introduce the "operational service", a conceptual service that represents a certain type of business activity that can be performed by a human or an automated system. We explore various additional types of related services, servicing channels, and recommended application processes that can all be used to support the adoption of operational services and to further position the tasks represented by operational services with the ultimate goal of establishing a role-based organization wherein roles correspond to the humans and systems responsible for carrying the operational service tasks. SOA http://www.soamag.com/I14/0108-3.asp#When:07.01.08 http://www.soamag.com/I8/0607-1.asp This is the first of two articles that document and explore guidelines and principles for defining "business services" to help clarify the confusion and arbitrariness surrounding "services" in general. Services encapsulating business logic in particular are explained as these tend to realize the greatest value when positioning a service-oriented IT enterprise in support of and in alignment with an organization's business. The overall purpose of this article is to confirm that when applied from a business perspective, SOA really can make a difference to the enterprise. We will demonstrate techniques involving the definition and positioning of business services in support of merging both business and technology plateaus to overcome the traditional, continental divide that has existed between business and IT. (First published in The SOA Magazine Issue VIII, June 2007.) SOA http://www.soamag.com/contributors/bio-rchen.asp#When:27.05.07