Web services are also making it easier for ADP to import and export data between clients and its customized proprietary general-ledger systems, he added.

Third generation

TrueCredit, a San Luis Obispo, California-based division of TransUnion LLC, in October launched the third generation of its SOA to expose reused credit-monitoring and other Web services to banks and other commercial partners in the financial industry, said Scott Metzger, TrueCredit's chief technology officer. The firm already provides reused Web services to consumers. It uses the same Web services interface for both the consumer and partner versions, Metzger said. The Web services that the company wrote for consumers were built using BEA Systems Inc.'s WebLogic application server software.

The provider of credit scoring and related financial services began building Web services in 2000, Metzger said. ADP first began building Web services in 2003.

William Mougayar, an analyst at Aberdeen Group Inc. in Boston, said that companies are beginning to expose Web services because doing so promises to make it possible to more quickly link with partners and customers.