Towards a service requirements modelling ontology based on agent knowledge and intentions

In this paper, we propose a formalism for service requirements and capability modelling. It adopts concepts from the agent-oriented requirements modelling framework i*, which can be used as a means of studying the requirements and architecture for distributed agent systems. We argue that a social modelling framework such as i*, extended with the necessary service-related concepts and formal reasoning mechanisms, offers a better understanding of the social/organisational relationship in an open services world. By explicitly representing the underlying assumptions and the essential factors of services, a semiformal requirements model in i* can automatically evolve and be refined into a service requirements and capability reasoning framework. Eventually, it will assist intelligent agents with certain knowledge and intentions to make intelligent, rational decisions during service discovery, publication, selection and binding within an open services community.