Abstract:
The present invention provides service processing used in a computer system comprising a plurality of computers, each of which receives a message and executes a Web service on the basis of the message and then outputs a message generated from the result of the execution. The computer system realizes a Web service by transmitting and receiving the message among the computers. A message including first information about the execution of the service, and second information about notification of progress information in the service, is received. The service is executed according to the first information, and then the second information is analyzed. After that, on the basis of the execution result of the service, a message is generated according to the second information, and the message is then transmitted to the computer that is identified by a destination of progress information notification included in the second information.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    The present application is a continuation application to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/807,151, filed Mar. 24, 2004, which claims priority from the Japanese patent applications JP2003-084085 filed on Mar. 26, 2003 and JP2004-015117 filed on Jan. 23, 2004, the contents of those are hereby incorporated by reference into this application. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to a technique for managing progress information and history information, which makes it possible to provide progress information and history information according to a service request. 
         [0003]    In the conventional Web service (an apparatus, a system, or a program, which provides services by use of one Web as an I/F), information is exchanged between systems by use of an interface that has been determined in advance between two specific services. Even when handling notification of progress and history information, a specific interface is defined in advance between the services. 
         [0004]    The technique including Web services is disclosed in “Java WebServices” by David A. Cbappell and others (publishing company: O&#39;Reilly &amp; Associates, Inc., 2002.3, pp. 3-9). 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    Heretofore, if a plurality of Web services are interfaced with one another to realize a series of functions, how to handle progress and history information to be exchanged among the Web services needs to be determined as an interface among specific Web services. Therefore, the following problem arises: in the event of a system in which a plurality of Web services are interfaced with one another, in order to manage progress and history information, a requester of progress and history information is required to issue a request in consideration of interfaces of all related Web services; accordingly, if the number of related Web services increases, processing becomes complicated in response to the number of combinations of the related Web services. 
         [0006]    In addition, if Web services are interfaced with one another in multiple stages, i.e., if a Web service which directly receives a request sends a request to an unspecific Web service, interfaces of all related Web services cannot be taken into consideration, and there is also a case in which a progress request cannot be issued from a Web service other than a direct requester. In this case, progress and history information which can be obtained is limited to information which can be returned by the Web service that directly receives the request. 
         [0007]    In object of the present invention is to provide a service processing method capable of dynamically controlling the obtaining of history information and progress information, and an apparatus thereof. 
         [0008]    According to the present invention, the above-mentioned problems are solved by the following steps: without individually determining an interface of progress and history information among specific systems, prescribing an information format used to exchange progress and history information among a plurality of systems; then issuing a request for progress and history information together with an individual API request; and when a state changes in each Web service, transmitting required information in the common format. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         [0009]      FIG. 1A  is a diagram illustrating an example of a service request adopted when an online order system is built by combining a plurality of Web services together; 
           [0010]      FIG. 1B  is a diagram illustrating an example of service progress notification adopted when an online order system is built by combining a plurality of Web services together; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a diagram detailing a configuration of request data transmitted from each Web service; 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating how systems of an A Company, a B Company, and a C Company are configured; 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is a diagram detailing order specification data transmitted from an A Company Web service to a B Company Web service; 
           [0014]      FIG. 5  is a diagram detailing data of an order of basic configuration equipment, which is transmitted from the B Company Web service to a C Company Web service; 
           [0015]      FIG. 6  is a diagram detailing data of an order of basic configuration equipment, which is transmitted from the B Company Web service to the C Company Web service; 
           [0016]      FIG. 7  is a diagram illustrating a process flow of the B Company Web service; 
           [0017]      FIG. 8  is a diagram detailing contents of progress information notification data of the B Company Web service; 
           [0018]      FIG. 9  is a diagram illustrating how a format of progress information request data is defined; 
           [0019]      FIG. 10  is a diagram illustrating how a format of progress information notification data is defined; 
           [0020]      FIG. 11  is a table for managing progress information request data that is transmitted to the B Company Web service; 
           [0021]      FIG. 12  is a table used for managing progress notification information of the B Company Web service; and 
           [0022]      FIG. 13  is a table used for managing progress notification information of the A Company Web service. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0023]      FIGS. 1A and 1B  are diagrams each illustrating an example in which a plurality of Web services are combined to build an online order system. 
         [0024]    Reference numeral  101  in  FIG. 1A  denotes an A Company Web service used for an order system which places an order of custom-ordered system equipment from an A Company. Reference numeral  102  in  FIG. 1A  denotes a B Company Web service. With respect to the custom ordered system, the order of which is received from the A Company, the B Company Web service transmits an order of the basic configuration equipment to a C Company Web service  103  shown in  FIG. 1A , and also transmits an order of an optional device to a D Company Web service  104  shown in  FIG. 1A . 
         [0025]    Moreover, the Company D Web service  104  transmits an order of a component of the optional device to an E Company Web service  105  shown in  FIG. 1A , and transmits an order of another component of the optional device to a F Company Web service  106  shown in  FIG. 1A . 
         [0026]    Reference numeral  107  in  FIG. 1A  denotes transmit data of the order of the custom-ordered system equipment, which is transmitted from the A Company Web service  101  to the B Company Web service  102 . Reference numeral  108  in  FIG. 1A  denotes transmit data of the order of the basic configuration equipment, which is transmitted from the B Company Web service to the C Company Web service. Reference numeral  109  in  FIG. 1A  denotes transmit data of the order of the optional device, which is transmitted from the B Company Web service to the D Company Web service. Reference numeral  110  in  FIG. 1A  denotes transmit data of the order of the optional device, which is transmitted from the D Company Web service to the E Company Web service. Reference numeral  111  in  FIG. 1A  denotes transmit data of the order of the optional device, which is transmitted from the D Company Web service to the F Company Web service. 
         [0027]    As for a request for the order of the custom-ordered system equipment  107  coming from the A Company Web service, a message  801  in  FIG. 1B  includes progress information notification data of the B Company Web service which is transmitted from the B Company Web service to the A Company Web service. 
         [0028]    Messages  901  and  902  are progress information notification data of the C Company Web service. When a state of the C Company Web service changes, the messages  901  and  902  are transmitted as data having a format similar to that of the progress information notification data  901  of the B Company Web service. 
         [0029]    The progress information notification data  901  of the C Company Web service is progress information notification data corresponding to progress information request data (for the A Company Web service)  502  transmitted through the B Company Web service. The progress information notification data  902  of the C Company Web service is progress information notification data corresponding to progress information request data (for the B Company Web service)  503 . 
         [0030]    In a similar manner, messages  903  and  904  are progress information notification data of the D Company Web service. When a state of the D Company Web service changes, the messages  903  and  904  are transmitted as data having a format similar to that of the progress information notification data  801  of the B Company Web service. 
         [0031]    The progress information notification data  903  of the D Company Web service is progress information notification data corresponding to progress information request data (for the A Company Web service)  502  transmitted through the B Company Web service. The progress information notification data  904  of the D Company Web service is progress data corresponding to progress information request data (for the B Company Web service)  503 . 
         [0032]      FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating a part of the processing shown in  FIGS. 1A and 1B , in which the C Company Web service  103  and the D Company Web service  104  are called from the A Company Web service  101  through the B Company Web service  102 . In addition to it,  FIG. 2  illustrates details of the request data. 
         [0033]    The order of custom-ordered system equipment  107  is order data transmitted from the A Company Web service  101  to the B Company Web service. The order of custom-ordered system equipment  107  includes order specification data of the custom-ordered system equipment shown in a message  401  in  FIG. 4 , and progress information request data  402  used in a Web service history and progress management method. In this embodiment, information included in both of the messages  401  and  402  is described on the basis of the XML format as an example. The present invention is not limited to the XML. 
         [0034]    In a similar manner, the order of basic configuration equipment  108  shown in  FIG. 2  is order data from the B Company Web service to the C Company Web service. The order of basic configuration equipment  108  includes order specification data  501  of the basic configuration equipment in  FIG. 5 , progress information request data (for the A Company Web service)  502 , and progress information request data (for the B Company Web service)  503 . The order of optional device  109  shown in  FIG. 2  is order data from the B Company Web service to the D Company Web service. The order of optional device  109  includes order specification data  601  of the optional device in  FIG. 6 , progress information request data (for the A Company Web service)  502 , and progress information request data (for the B Company Web service)  503 . 
         [0035]      FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating how systems of an A Company, a B Company, and a C Company, which are shown in  FIG. 1 , are configured. 
         [0036]    To be more specific,  FIG. 3  illustrates in detail how the A Company Web service  101 , the B Company Web service  102 , and the C Company Web service  103  are configured. The A Company Web service  101  has an order specification input unit  201  for inputting specifications of the custom-ordered system, an order and request transmission unit  202 , and an order information storing area  203  for storing transmitted order data. In addition, the A Company Web service  101  also has a progress and history notification receiving unit  204  for receiving progress and history information from the other systems, a progress and history information storing area  205  for storing the information, and a progress and history display unit  206  for displaying a stored history. 
         [0037]    The B Company Web service  102  has the following: an order and request receiving unit  207  for receiving order data transmitted from the A Company, and the like; a component order transmission unit  208  for transmitting an order request for a component to the C Company Web service and the D Company Web service; and an order information storing area  209  for storing order data. In addition, the B Company Web service  102  has a progress and history notification receiving unit  210  for receiving progress and history information; a progress and history notification storing area  211  for storing the received progress and history information; a progress and history notification transmission unit  212  for transmitting progress and history information; and a progress and history display unit  213  for displaying progress and history information. 
         [0038]    The C Company Web service  103  has an order and request receiving unit  214  for receiving order data transmitted from the B Company, and the like, and an order information storing area  215  for storing order data. In addition, the C Company Web service  103  has the following: a progress and history information transmission unit  216  for transmitting progress and history information; a progress and history information storing area  217  for storing the progress and history information; and a progress and history display unit  218  for displaying progress and history information. These Web services  101  through  103  are realized by use of information processing devices. The processing units  201  through  206 ,  207 ,  208 ,  210  through  213 ,  214 ,  216 ,  218  are functions achieved by the execution of programs. The information  203 ,  205 ,  209 ,  211 ,  215 ,  217  are stored in storage devices including a memory and a magnetic disk. 
         [0039]    The order specification data  401  shown in  FIG. 4  is order specification data used to specify the order for the custom-ordered system equipment, which is transmitted from the A Company Web service to the B Company Web service. The order specification data  401  is specified when using each function of the Web services. Contents of the order specification data  401  correspond to contents of each Web service. The order specification data of the custom-ordered system equipment includes a system type, the number of orders, the delivery date, an additional optional device, and another additional optional device which are specified to be “general-purpose system 2 type”, “3”, “May 21, 2002”, “memory expansion”, and “NIC expansion” respectively. This data is required for each service to perform services. A format for specifying the data is determined on the basis of contents of each service. The order specification data  401  shown in  FIG. 4  is one example of how the format is determined. 
         [0040]    The progress information request data  402  is information that is used to pass history request information many times among the plurality of Web services, and thereby to manage history and progress information of the plurality of systems. Reference numeral  1001  in  FIG. 9  shows definitions of a format of the progress information request data  402 . Information  403  through  407  in  FIG. 4  corresponds to progress information request data, a destination of progress information notification, a requester ID, a degree of details of return information, a hierarchical level respectively, all of which are defined in the definition of progress information request data  1001 . Each of the above-mentioned items will be described in detail by use of an example as below. 
         [0041]    The progress information request data  402  shows details of the progress information request data. With the object of indicating that the progress information request data  402  is an information group used to notify the A Company Web service of progress information, information  403  specifies “progress information request”. The information  403  defines a progress information request that includes information  404  through  407  used to notify the progress information. 
         [0042]    Information  404  is a destination of progress information notification. Information indicating a destination which is notified of progress information is set. In this embodiment, information used to receive progress information of the A Company Web service is set by use of an URL. 
         [0043]    In this embodiment, the A Company Web service sets the data as the progress information request in the progress information request data  402 . However, the following method can also be used: apart from the A Company Web service, providing another Web service that manages progress information and history information; and as a destination of progress information notification of the information  404 , instead of specifying information used to receive progress information of the A Company Web service, specifying a progress-information use URL of the Web service for managing progress information and history information, which has been provided apart from the A Company Web service. 
         [0044]    Information  405  is a requester ID. What is specified is data obtained by numbering a requester with the object of managing order data of the A Company Web service. If this requester ID is specified in the progress information notification data when transmitting the progress information notification data from the B Company Web service to the A Company Web service, the A Company Web service can identify an order corresponding to this progress information notification. In this embodiment, “000A012” is specified as the requester ID. However, if a requester ID can be used to identify order data which is a request from the A Company Web service and to identify progress information notification data which is transmitted from each of the other Web services in association with the order data, other formats may also be used as a character string and a numerical value. 
         [0045]    Information  406  is data indicating a degree of details of return information. This is information that indicates a unit of transmission of progress information management, of which the A Company is notified. In this embodiment, “maximum” is specified. This indicates that as progress information of business logic in the B Company Web service that has received this new request data, progress information is returned in the maximum resolvable unit. When the degree of details of return information is “maximum”, progress information is requested as detailed as possible; for example, if a business process of each service includes a plurality of operation steps, progress information of each operation step is requested. 
         [0046]    For example, the business process includes operation steps of “receive processing”, “inspection”, “confirmation of delivery date”, and “ordering”, progress information is notified on an operation step basis. As the degree of details of return information, “debug”, “maximum”, “input/output”, “minimum”, “error”, and the like, including the above-mentioned example, can also be specified as a unit of progress information to be notified. In this example, in the event of the “debug”, the amount of progress information notification data is largest; and in the event of the “error”, the amount of progress information notification data is smallest. 
         [0047]    The degree of details of return information is a value indicating a unit expected by the A Company Web service that requests the progress information notification data. On the basis of the degree of details of return information, each service returns the progress information notification data in a unit that can be achieved by the service at the time of returning the progress information notification data. The “debug” is specified with the object of notifying further detailed progress information at a stage of handling each operation step to be notified in the event of “maximum”. The “debug” is used for a test, or the like. In this case, detailed progress information required for the test is defined beforehand. The “input/output” indicates that progress notification information about input/output from/to a service other than this service is required; for example, a case where a request is received from another service, a case where a request is further issued to another service, or the like. Moreover, the “minimum” indicates that progress notification information is required at a minimum level which is considered by each service as a required minimum level. The “error” indicates that progress notification information is requested only when a problem which does not occur in usual operation occurs. 
         [0048]    The degree of details of return information indicates a target unit of progress information. However, it is also possible to specify a classification, and a filter condition, of requested progress information so that only progress information relating to a specific classification is obtained; for example, only “start” and “completed” for a processing step such as a request to another Web system are obtained. 
         [0049]    The hierarchical level, which is the information  407  in  FIG. 4 , is used to specify a notification range of progress information if a series of processing involves a plurality of Web services. The hierarchical level is specified as a numerical value equivalent to the number of stages that is counted from a first Web service. For example, when counting from a Web service that requests a service, a first destination Web service is a first stage. If the first destination Web service calls another Web service, said another Web service is a second stage. In other words, if progress up to two stages from the A Company Web service needs to be kept track of, for example, a hierarchical level of “2” is transmitted to the B Company Web service. The B Company Web service transmits a hierarchical level of “1” to the C Company Web service. Because the C Company Web service receives “1” as the hierarchical level, the C Company Web service judges that it is not necessary to transmit a progress information request to a Web service, a level of which is lower than the C Company Web service. 
         [0050]    In the example of the information  407  shown in  FIG. 4 , “2” is specified. This shows that a range within which the A Company Web service is notified of progress information is two stages. With reference to  FIG. 2 , the B Company Web service  102 , which is the first stage, and the C Company Web service  103  and the D Company Web service  104 , which are the second stage, are requested to transmit progress information to the A Company Web service. 
         [0051]    By setting the progress information request data  402  shown in  FIG. 4 , and then by issuing a request from the A Company Web service to the B Company Web service together with the order specification data  401 , it is possible to notify progress information by use of data format, which is common to a plurality of Web services, without individually creating an interface of progress information among individual Web services to create processing that is specific to the individual Web services. 
         [0052]      FIG. 5  illustrates contents of data to be transmitted as the order of basic configuration equipment  108  from the B Company Web service to the C Company Web service. The data includes the following: order specification data  501  of the basic configuration equipment, which shows contents of the order for basic configuration equipment; progress information request data (for the A Company Web service) used to request notification of progress information to the A Company Web service  502 ; and progress information request data (for the B Company Web service)  503  used to request notification of progress information to the B Company Web service. 
         [0053]    The order specification data  501  in  FIG. 5  is data relating to the order for basic configuration equipment. In this embodiment, a system type, the number of orders, the delivery date are specified to be “general-purpose system 2 type”, “3”, “Apr. 4, 2002” respectively. The system type and the number of orders have the same values as those in the order specification data  401  of the custom-ordered system equipment in  FIG. 4 . As for the delivery date, after the basic configuration equipment and the optional device are delivered, on the basis of the values of the order specification data  401  of the custom-ordered system equipment in  FIG. 4 , a value obtained by subtracting a period of time required for assembling is specified. 
         [0054]    The progress information request data (for the A Company Web service)  502  shown in  FIG. 5  is information used to return progress information to the A Company Web service. The progress information request data  502  is generated on the basis of the progress information request data  402  from the A Company Web service. Information ranging from a destination of progress information notification  404  to a degree of details of return information  406  is similar to progress request data  402  from the A Company Web service in  FIG. 4 . Because the progress information request data  502  is passed through the B Company Web service, “1” is specified as the hierarchical level  505  as a result of decrementing its value by one. 
         [0055]    The progress information request data (for the B Company Web service)  503  shown in  FIG. 5  is transmit data used to request transmission of progress information to the B Company Web service. The progress information request data  503  has a format similar to those of the progress information request data  402  and the progress information request data  502 . Information  507  shown in  FIG. 5  is a destination of progress information notification, which specifies an URL indicating a destination of progress and history notification information of the B Company Web service. Information  508  is an ID for identifying a specific order, which is set by the B Company Web service. In this embodiment, a degree of details of return information  509  is specified to be “maximum”; and a hierarchical level  510  is specified to be “2”. 
         [0056]      FIG. 6  illustrates contents of data to be transmitted as the order of the optional device  109  from the B Company Web service to the D Company Web service. The data includes the following: order specification data  601  of the optional device, which shows contents of the order for the optional device; progress information request data (for the A Company Web service) used to request notification of progress information to the A Company Web service  502 ; and progress information request data (for the B Company Web service)  503  used to request notification of progress information to the B Company Web service. 
         [0057]    The order specification data  601  of the optional device shows contents of an order for the optional devices that are included in the order specification data  401  of the custom-ordered system equipment in  FIG. 4 . This order for the optional devices needs to be placed with the C Company Web service. Device types of the order specification data  601  are determined on the basis of the additional optional devices in the order specification data  401  of the custom-ordered system equipment. In this example, “memory” and “NIC” are specified. In addition, the number of orders is specified to be “3”, which is the same as that of the order specification data  401  of the custom-ordered system equipment. As for the delivery date, after the basic configuration equipment and the optional device are delivered, on the basis of the values of the order specification data  401  of the custom-ordered system equipment in  FIG. 4 , a value obtained by subtracting a period of time required for assembling is specified. 
         [0058]    In this embodiment, contents of the progress information request data (for the A Company Web service)  502  and the progress information request data (for the B Company Web service)  503 , which are shown in  FIG. 6 , are the same as those of the progress information request data  502  and  503  included in the data of the order for the basic configuration equipment which is transmitted from the B Company Web service to the C Company Web service. 
         [0059]    In the order specification data  601  of the optional device, a device type, the number of orders, and the delivery date are specified twice as the order specification data of the optional device. 
         [0060]      FIG. 8  is a diagram illustrating contents of the progress information notification data  801  of the B Company Web service, which is transmitted to the A Company Web service when a state of the B Company Web service changes. Reference numeral  1002  of  FIG. 10  denotes definitions in the format of the progress information notification data  801  of the B Company Web service. Reference numerals  803  through  811  shown in  FIG. 8 , which are defined in the definitions of progress information notification data  1002 , denote respectively the following items: a requester of status check, a target service, a requester ID, progress information notification including a current status, a service ID that is a detailed item of the current status, a service name, the date and time, target processing, and a state. Each of the above-mentioned items will be described in detail by use of examples as below. 
         [0061]    Reference numeral  802  in  FIG. 8  denotes progress information notification, which includes information from the requester of status check  803  to the current status  806 . 
         [0062]    The requester of status check  803  indicates a requester that has requested the progress information. The contents of the requester of status check  803  become the same as those of the destination of progress information notification  404  in the progress information request data  402 . 
         [0063]    The target service  804  indicates a target of the progress information which is specified by the progress information notification data  801 . In this case, an URL indicating the B Company Web service is specified. 
         [0064]    Reference numeral  805  denotes a requester ID. Contents specified as the requester ID  805  are the same as those of the requester ID  405  in the progress information request data  402 . This information enables a requester of progress information to identify an order corresponding to the progress information. 
         [0065]    The current status  806  shows a status after a change instate in the B Company Web service. The current status  806  includes information from the service ID  807  to the state  811 . 
         [0066]    The service ID  807  is an ID used to identify a target in the B Company Web service. When a request for the newest progress state is transmitted from the A Company Web service to the B Company Web service in arbitrary timing except at the time of receiving, or when history information is requested, the progress information notification data  801  can be used to specify a target. 
         [0067]    The service name  808  is a service name of the B Company Web service. When progress information collected from a plurality of Web services is displayed in the A Company Web service, using this name makes it possible to indicate how the Web services correspond to the progress information. 
         [0068]    The date and time  809  indicates the date and time when a state has changed. 
         [0069]    If a business process in the B Company Web service includes a plurality of operation steps, the target processing  810  indicates a name of an operation step, a state of which has changed. 
         [0070]    The state  811  indicates a current state of the target processing  810  after the state has changed. The state  811  is provided with one of values each indicating a state. The values include “completed”, “being executed”, “being stopped”, “waiting for receiving”, “not executed”, “forcedly stopped”, “external request is stopped”, “abnormally ended”, “execution is omitted”, or the like. 
         [0071]    The progress information service  812  indicates a Web service to which an inquiry is sent. The progress information service  812  is used, for example, when it is necessary to send an inquiry about the newest progress information to the B Company Web service. 
         [0072]      FIG. 11  illustrates a table for managing progress information request data that is transmitted to the B Company Web service. 
         [0073]    A destination of progress information notification  1101 , a requester ID  1102 , a degree of details of return information  1103 , and a hierarchical level  1104  are items that correspond to the items  404 ,  405 ,  406 ,  407  of the progress information request data  402  of the A Company Web service. The service ID  1105  is data that is obtained as a result of unique numbering in a service. When a state of a transaction is changed, the service ID  1105  is used to identify a destination of progress information notification. 
         [0074]      FIG. 12  illustrates a table for managing progress notification information of the B Company Web service. The service ID  1201  has the same value as that of the service ID  1105 . The service ID  1201  is data that is obtained as a result of unique numbering in a service. A transaction name  1202 , target processing  1203 , a person in charge  1204  are information used for management in the B Company Web service. A progress information service  1205 , a target service ID  1206 , a target service name  1207 , the target update time  1208 , target processing  1209 , and a target state  1210  are areas for storing progress information notified by the other Web services. 
         [0075]      FIG. 13  illustrates a table for managing progress notification information of the A Company Web service. Contents of items  1301  through  1310  are similar to those of the items  1201  through  1210  in the progress notification information of the A Company Web service. 
         [0076]      FIG. 7  is a flowchart illustrating a series of processing from the time when the B Company Web service has received an order of the custom-ordered system equipment  107  from the A Company Web service  101  until the B Company Web service returns progress data to the A Company Web service. 
         [0077]    As soon as the B Company Web service receives an order of custom-ordered system equipment  107  by use of the order and request receiving unit  207  (step  701 ), the B Company Web service checks contents of order data, and then creates, as component order data, the order specification data  501  of the basic configuration equipment, which is transmitted to the C Company Web service, and the order specification data  601  of an optional device, which is transmitted to the D Company Web service (step  702 ). 
         [0078]    Next, a unique ID is created as an ID corresponding to the order of the custom-ordered system equipment  107 . Then, the order data is stored in the order information storing area  209  shown in  FIG. 3  (step  703 ). In addition, contents of the progress information request data  402  are stored in a progress information request management table  1100  (for the B Company Web service) in the progress and history information storing area  211  shown in  FIG. 3  (step  704 ). 
         [0079]    In the progress information request data  402  requesting progress information to be transmitted to the A Company Web service, the hierarchical level indicates two stages. Therefore, the progress information request data  502  is created. In this case, the progress information request data  502  shows a request for progress information to be transmitted to the A Company Web service from the C Company Web service and the D Company Web service, with which the B Company Web service has placed the orders for components. At this time, the hierarchical level  505  is specified to be “1” as a result of decrementing by one. At the same time, the progress information request data  503  which requests progress information to be transmitted to the B Company Web service is created. For the purpose of managing the association of the progress information notification data from the C Company Web service with that from the D Company Web service, the progress information request management table  1100  of the B Company Web service stores information including the service ID  1201 , the transaction name  1202  of a transaction managed in the B Company system, the target processing  1203 , and the person in charge  1204  (step  705 ). The service ID  1201  is the ID created in the step  703 . 
         [0080]    The order data created in the step  702  combined with the progress information request data created in the step  705  is transmitted to the C Company Web service  103  as data of the order of the basic configuration equipment  108  to be transmitted to the C Company Web service, and to the D Company Web service  104  as data of the order of optional device  109  to be transmitted to the D Company Web service (step  706 ). 
         [0081]    On the completion of the step  706 , a state of component order transmission processing of the B Company Web service is changed to “completed”. Because the state is changed, the B Company Web service searches for a destination of progress information notification using as a key the service ID  1105  of the progress information request management table of the B Company Web service. After that, on the basis of the progress information request data  402  from the A Company Web service, the B Company Web service creates the progress information notification data  801  shown in  FIG. 8 , which indicates a progress state in the B Company Web service (step  707 ), and then transmits the progress information notification data  801  to the A Company Web service (step  708 ). 
         [0082]    In addition, as for the C Company Web service, when a state is changed (for example, when the basic configuration equipment which is the ordered product is dispatched), on the basis of the progress information request data  502  from the B Company Web service, by means of processing similar to the processing steps  707  and  708  in the B Company Web service, the C Company Web service creates the progress information notification data  901  of the C Company Web service, and then transmits the progress information notification data  901  to the B Company Web service (step  709 ). 
         [0083]    The B Company Web service, which has received the progress information notification data  902  of the C Company Web service, stores information of the progress information notification data  902  of the C Company Web service in the progress notification information management table  1200  of the B Company Web service. At the same time, the B Company Web service searches the progress information request management table  1100  of the B Company Web service for the service ID  1105 , and thereby identifies a destination of progress information notification. Then, as is the case with the step  707 , the B Company Web service creates the progress information notification data shown in  FIG. 8 , which shows a change in progress status in the B Company Web service (step  717 ). In the progress information notification data which is created in the step  717 , the date and time  809 , the target processing  810 , and the state  811 , of the progress information notification data  801 , which has been transmitted from the B Company Web service to the A Company Web service in advance, are changed according to the progress information notification data  902  of the C Company Web service. Their values, therefore, are replaced with “Aug. 8, 2002 8:00:00”, “receipt of delivery notification of basic configuration equipment”, and “completed” respectively. 
         [0084]    The progress information notification data of the B Company Web service, which has been created in the step  717 , is transmitted to a destination indicated by the destination of progress information notification  1101  in the progress information request management table  1100  of the B Company Web service (step  718 ). 
         [0085]    In the A Company Web service, the progress information notification data which is notified in the steps  708  and  709 , and the progress information notification data which is notified from the C Company Web service, are stored in a progress notification information management table  1300  of the A Company Web service shown in  FIG. 13 . 
         [0086]    When a person in charge of the A Company checks progress, contents of the progress notification information management table  1300  of the A Company Web service are referred to. 
         [0087]    As described above, by setting progress information request data in the format as shown in the progress information request data  402  in  FIG. 4 , and then by transmitting the set progress information request data together with information used to realize functions of a Web service, it is possible to notify progress information by use of a data format, which is common to a plurality of Web services, without individually creating an interface of progress information among individual Web services to create processing that is specific to the individual Web services. Transmitting a progress information request together with a service request for realizing the functions of a Web service makes it possible to individually choose an interface of progress information among Web services. 
         [0088]    According to the present invention, it becomes possible to dynamically control the obtaining of history information and progress information.