  Within the service-oriented computing domain, Web service composition is an
effective realization to satisfy the rapidly changing requirements of business.
Therefore, the research into Web service composition has unfolded broadly.
Since examining all of the related work in this area becomes a mission next to
impossible, the classification of composition approaches can be used to
facilitate multiple research tasks. However, the current attempts to classify
Web service composition do not have clear objectives. Furthermore, the contexts
and technologies of composition approaches are confused in the existing
classifications. This paper proposes an effort-oriented classification matrix
for Web service composition, which distinguishes between the context and
technology dimension. The context dimension is aimed at analyzing the
environment influence on the effort of Web service composition, while the
technology dimension focuses on the technique influence on the effort.
Consequently, besides the traditional classification benefits, this matrix can
be used to build the basis of cost estimation for Web service composition in
future research.
