18. The method as recited in claim 17 , wherein the converting step converts the definitions of the objects by mapping a report definition format of each provider, from elements and containment hierarchy defined in the report definition, to a representation of the elements in a common representation format; and the object model generating step generates the object model using the common representation format.
18. The method as recited in claim 17 , wherein the converting step converts the definitions of the objects by mapping a report definition format of each provider, from elements and containment hierarchy defined in the report definition, to a representation of the elements in a common representation format; and the object model generating step generates the object model using the common representation format. 19. The method as recited in claim 18 , wherein the WSDL generating step generates the WSDL definition by defining web service operations for each named report element object in the object mode.