A layer of abstraction is provided for developing, configuring, displaying, selecting, and re-configuring connectors used through stages of predeployment, deployment, and post-deployment. A connector is created with the layer of abstraction, wherein the connector provides a first configuration of added functionality to software components for calling a web service. The connector is used to tie a step of a process-based software application to the web service. A different configuration of added functionality is provided for each of the stages of predeployment, deployment, and post deployment using the layer of abstraction.