Cloud Software Licensing and Provisioning via Management Organization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cloud service providers face challenges in efficiently licensing and provisioning software products across multiple cloud service providers, lacking a unified management system to facilitate seamless communication and order fulfillment between tenants and service providers.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a system that allows for the creation of license definitions, storage in a software application depot, publication in a selected management organization, and assignment of a stock keeping unit (SKU) to make software products available for purchase, with automated provisioning using APIs to configure software products for tenants based on orders received.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a unified management system is implemented for licensing and provisioning across multiple cloud service providers, then ease of operation and productivity are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a management organization as an intermediary entity that mediates between cloud service providers and tenants. This management organization handles licensing and provisioning requests, acting as a central coordinator that simplifies operations for end users while managing the complexity of multi-provider integration in the background.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a universal licensing and provisioning framework that works across multiple cloud service providers and different types of software products. The management organization implements a standardized interface and process that can handle various licensing scenarios (subscription, perpetual, trial) and product types (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS) through a single unified system.
2Productivity
If automated provisioning using APIs is implemented, then productivity and speed are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables automated self-service provisioning where the management organization automatically processes licensing requests through API integrations with cloud service providers. Once a tenant places an order, the system automatically retrieves software identifiers, configures licenses, and provisions access without manual intervention, significantly improving productivity while the automated nature manages the complexity internally.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary configuration and setup actions automatically during the provisioning process. Software identifiers are retrieved and licenses are pre-configured before actual deployment to tenants, ensuring that complex API interactions and configuration tasks are handled in advance rather than during active use.
3Reliability
If license definitions are stored in a software application depot and published in management organization, then reliability and measurement precision are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates and stores standardized license definition templates in the software application depot that can be copied and reused across multiple provisioning instances. These templates contain pre-defined software identifiers, licensing terms, and configuration parameters that ensure consistency and reliability when provisioning the same software product to different tenants.
Solution Approach 2:
License definitions and software identifiers are pre-retrieved and validated from the software application depot before the actual provisioning process. This preliminary validation ensures that only authorized and properly configured license templates are used, improving reliability by preventing errors during active provisioning operations.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, methods, and apparatuses for implementing licensing and provisioning software products within a cloud based computing environment. An exemplary system having at least a processor and a memory therein includes logic for receiving user input defining a plurality of features of a software product, creating a license definition of the software product based on one or more of the plurality of software product features, storing the license definition into a software application depot hosted by a cloud computing service provider, publishing a record for the license definition in a selected management organization for the cloud computing service provider, the record providing a reference to the license definition and an owner thereof, and assigning and linking a stock keeping unit (SKU) to the license definition to make the software product available for purchase.