Policy Template Management for Network Service Compliance
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Solution Overview
Problem
As service providers offer increasing numbers of network-based services, managing policies becomes more challenging due to the complexity of creating and maintaining service level agreements, preventing misuse, and tying service levels to payment scales.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that include a policy creation, validation, and maintenance environment with a policy template creation system, policy execution engine, and testing environment, allowing for the development, verification, and management of policy templates for network-based services, incorporating service information, operational data, and network performance data to ensure compliance with service level agreements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If service providers offer increasing numbers of service bundles to an increasing population, then service coverage and customer reach are improved, but policy creation and management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments policy management into modular policy templates that can be independently created, stored, and reused. Each policy template represents a discrete unit of service policy that can be combined through composition operations, allowing complex service bundles to be managed through structured decomposition rather than monolithic policy creation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary action by pre-defining policy templates with standardized structures and validation rules before they are needed for actual service deployment. These templates are created in advance using domain-specific languages and stored in repositories, enabling rapid policy instantiation when services are offered without requiring complex ad-hoc policy creation.
2Adaptability or versatility
If manual policy creation methods are used, then flexibility in policy customization is maintained, but time consumption and operational inefficiency increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements copying through template instantiation, where standardized policy templates are stored in repositories and can be repeatedly copied and instantiated for different service scenarios. The composition operation allows templates to be combined through reference rather than duplication of entire policy structures, enabling rapid customization while maintaining consistency across service offerings.
Solution Approach 2:
The system achieves universality through a domain-specific language that provides standardized constructs for policy definition applicable across multiple service types. The same template framework and composition operations can be used for diverse service bundles, eliminating the need for separate manual creation processes for each service while maintaining customization capability through parameter instantiation.
3Reliability
If comprehensive policy validation is performed, then service level agreement compliance is ensured, but system complexity and validation overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary validation by embedding validation rules directly within policy template definitions before templates are instantiated or composed. The domain-specific language includes inherent syntax and semantic rules that automatically validate policy structures during template creation and composition, ensuring compliance with service level agreements before deployment without requiring complex post-creation validation systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The validation mechanism provides immediate feedback during policy template composition and instantiation, checking compliance against predefined service level agreement rules. The system validates policy structures, parameter values, and logical consistency in real-time, providing error messages and compliance status that guide policy creation while maintaining automated enforcement of service level requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of managing a policy related to a network-based service can include receiving a policy request at a policy creation system from a service creation and development (SCD) system, the request identifying a network-based service. The method can also include developing a policy template related to the network-based service based on requirements of a service level agreement associated with the network-based service. The method can also include sending the policy template to the SCD system after verifying that the policy template meets the requirements of the service level agreement.