Hi guys! I was thinking lately since we don't have a project as for the time being and we're doing some skills upgrade. We plan to make an ERP system which would be composed of a payroll, leave, cash advance, time-keeping, etc. Would there be a scenario in this kind of system where I might consider using a webservice? Why? Thanks!

generally you'll want to use web services (either as the server or as the client/consumer) if:

1) you want to access services outside your application (e.g. access a list of public holidays, or exchange rates) -- you'll be using web services as a consumer
2) you want to enable other entities/apps to access your application (e.g. you want to expose an API allowing other apps to authenticate to your user store, or to get a list of employees for a given department, etc.) -- you'll be the server then

other than that, don't

Thanks cruizer. So even for example, your app is already finished. Let's say it's already a legacy app, but you would like functionalities from that app to be used by other applications. Perhaps it would  be wise in this scenario to use a webservice now or would it be not? Thanks!

yes...that would be a good reason to use web services or a "service oriented architecture" (SOA).

of course you should also consider how the other apps will make use of your services. your service API shouldn't be chatty or else it'll be dog-slow. dapat dyan isang call, sama na lahat ng data na kailangan para ma-minimize yun round-tripping between client and server.

I see. Thanks for the enlightenment! This would be very very helpful for me in the future!