Dynamic value sets in a service-oriented business framework

A system comprising:

• a first computer configured to execute a client program;
• a second computer configured to execute a server program;
• a network linking the first and second computers such that the server program is configured to execute the following:
• receive a representation of a service, the service comprising handling of a request for a context-dependent data set derived from one or more collections of data elements, the representation comprising:
• a specification of a first data field;
• a specification of an input data structure comprising two or more data fields and the first data field, the two or more data fields defining a context for the first data set;
• a specification of an output data structure, instances of the output data structure comprising the context-dependent data set;
• and
• a name of a service provider;
• store the representation of the service in a repository;
• receive a request for the service by a software entity, the request comprising an instance of the input data structure;
• check the request against the representation of the service;
• send the request to the service provider;
• receive one or more instances of the output data structure from the service provider;
• and
• send the one or more instances of the output data structure to the software entity.