Disclosed are a method, computer program product and apparatus for integrating resource and coordinator components in a heterogeneous computer system. The technique disclosed involves the introduction of a negotiation phase into the resource enlistment or registration process wherein the resource component and coordinator component request and respond with indicators showing the quality of service that each supports, thus jointly establishing at runtime a quality of service to be supported for the resource and coordinator pairing. The qualities of service may include commit phase support and recovery support.