With Web Services Business Activity (WS-BA) support in WebSphere Application Server, Web services on disparate systems can coordinate activities that are more loosely coupled than atomic transactions. Such activities can be difficult or impossible to roll back atomically, and therefore require a compensation process in the event of an error.
WS-BA is a specific coordination type that defines protocols for business activities.
WS-COOR specifies a CoordinationContext and a registration service with which participant Web services can enlist to take part in the protocols that are offered by specific coordination types.
In addition to supporting the WS-BA interoperability protocol, WebSphere Application Server provides a programming interface for creating business activities and compensation handlers. With this programming interface, you can specify compensation data and check or alter the status of a business activity.
You can also use this compensation ability with applications that are not Web services, as long as these applications involve communication between WebSphere Application Servers only. See the related topics for more information.