Hi Ray,
I'm approaching a point where we should take a decision whether to implement the solution using a web service or take some other way. First things first - I have never ever created one and haven't even seen one but from what I've seen on the Net and in the docs shouldn't be too much hassle.
Let me explain what's it about - generally it's the healthcare industry, I'm working in a medical lab that provides services both to patients themselves and medical institutions. We're constantly searching a way to shift some of the weight to other partners in the business - both to free up our resources and try to evade mistakes that are done during the sample collection and
test ordering. Hardly any of the patients you talk to can tell you which test is checking on what. We're happy when they arrive with a piece of paper stating "this, this and this", but in 90% of cases it's hardly readable and to be frank... I want to eliminate those darn papers. After all we're in the 21st century.
Bottom line, I'm thinking of implementing a few web services that will provide a way for a doctor himself to order the tests for the patient and our part would be to only collect either the sample or to draw blood directly, label the tube and put it on the analyzer. That's all. After that, the doctor can check on the status by the means of the other web service or his palm or whatever if he's out of the office.
BTW palms and web services can cooperate...?
So my question basically is this - should I stick to web services or search for some other solution?
TIA,
Bojan