Business Service Components

Every business application has a set of commonalities that lend themselves to standardization. In the rails, and to some extent grails world, this translates into plugins. The restful authorization plugin being a good example.

But, what if rather than a plugin, you had access to a software service that provide the same functionality? Here is a comparison:

Using a business related plugin:

1. download and install the plugin into your project
2. build out all the required tables
3. hookup your internal logic to insure that the plugin loads correctly
4. use the plugin
   

Using a Software Business Service:

1. use the service

The choice should be obvious. Rather than dealing with database migrations, version control, broken or non-existent tests, integration into your pristine project, you simply use the service. A good example is the captcha service called Captchator from Andreas Schwartz. This service replaces logic that traditionally comes in the form of a plugin with a callable service that does what a captcha component needs to do. No downloads required. No migration of new tables. Just use the service.

Now imagine a full suite of services for business processes. Authentication, company and contact information, time tracking, invoicing, fulfillment--all discrete services that a VAR or software developer can simple use as components in a vertical solution. Wouldn't that be cleaner than installing plugins?