Measuring Service Value Based on Service Semantics

Service participants can obtain different service values through participating in multiple service solutions with the same function but different performances and these solutions are usually represented as the pre-designed service models. Whether or to what degree the service values can be implemented under the support of the pre-designed service models is as a critical criterion for evaluating and selecting the most appropriate one from these service solutions. Therefore an approach of service value measurement based on service semantics (i.e. meaning of service models) is presented in this paper. Starting from a definition of service value, we present a series of concepts (e.g. value indicators, value profit constraints, etc.) and measure them based on the pre-designed service models. This paper also defines the value dependency relationships among the corresponding service values due to the uncertainty of relationships between multiple quality parameters of service elements, and then analyzes the impact of the value dependency on service value measurement. In order to complement the discussions above, a real-world case study from ocean transportation service is conducted for demonstration.