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