Enterprise Catalog Service for Software Constraint Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Large enterprises face challenges in managing and updating desktop and server applications across multiple locations, including complexity in deployment, compliance risks, and lack of transparency in software usage and costs, leading to inefficiencies and missed opportunities for license synergies.
Innovation Solution
An enterprise catalog service that allows administrators to create and manage catalogs and portfolios of software products, enforce compliance, and provide on-demand access, while tracking usage and costs, through a service provider platform that integrates with third-party vendors and offers self-service capabilities to end users.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If applications are physically installed on each machine, then applications can be deployed across multiple locations, but deployment complexity and management difficulty increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an application delivery controller as an intermediary component that manages application delivery between the store and client devices. This controller handles the complexity of deployment, authentication, and version management, allowing applications to be distributed across multiple locations without requiring manual installation on each machine. The controller mediates between the centralized store and diverse client environments, resolving the contradiction between deployment versatility and complexity.
2Reliability
If applications are updated centrally, then all machines receive updates, but user productivity may be affected during update deployment
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically manages application updates by allowing users to continue using current versions while updates are prepared and tested. The application delivery controller can push updates to specific user groups or devices based on readiness criteria, rather than forcing simultaneous updates across all users. This dynamic approach maintains update consistency while minimizing disruption to user productivity through phased rollouts and rollback capabilities.
3Reliability
If centralized control is implemented for compliance, then standardization is improved, but user agility and self-service capability are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments compliance control into multiple layers: organizational-level policies defined by administrators, department-level configurations, and user-level preferences where applicable. The application delivery controller enforces compliance rules at the appropriate level while allowing users self-service capabilities within those boundaries. For example, users can select from pre-approved applications in the store without violating compliance policies, maintaining both standardization and user autonomy.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple organizations procure software independently, then organizational autonomy is maintained, but compliance risks and lack of standardization increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal application store and delivery platform that can serve multiple organizations simultaneously, each with their own compliance requirements. The system provides multi-functional capabilities including organization-specific policy enforcement, centralized application management, and standardized delivery mechanisms. This universal platform allows organizations to maintain autonomy in defining their compliance rules while benefiting from standardized, auditable deployment processes that reduce compliance risks across all participants.
Data Source
AI summary
A service provider system may implement an enterprise catalog service that manages software products and portfolios of software products on behalf of service provider customer organizations. Through an administrator interface of the service, a customer organization administrator may create constraints on the use of the software products, and each constraint may include one or more rules about how the products can be launched. These may include environmental constraints (specifying a region in which a product launches), restrictions on input parameter values (including the types of resource instances on which a product can be launched), quotas (controlling the number of product installations), or billing constraints. Constraints may be applied on a user-to-product arc or on a portfolio-to-product arc. Constraints may be stored as objects, and reference to those objects may be added to product or portfolio objects. Constraints may be shared across object versions, portfolios, or service provider customer accounts.