Value-based Service Contract Selection

Service contract matchmaking represents a promising path towards the definition of accurate service selection mechanisms. Basically, it consists in evaluating the degree of match between preferences explicitly defined by a service customer and the contractual terms offered by service providers. However, service contract matchmaking assumes that a service customer is always aware of the contractual terms on which to specify preferences. In reality, a service customer often specifies preferences only on a very limited set of common and well-known terms (e.g., price). This paper proposes a new approach to service contract selection that adopts the value in use concept to quantify the trade-off between benefits and sacrifices related to contractual terms on which the customer has omitted to specify preferences. Experimental activities in the car insurance domain demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.