MULTI-TENANT, TENANT-SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS

• US 20160378436A1
• Filed: 06/23/2015
• Published: 12/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Jensen, Morten, Hammond, Michael Steven, Rudolph, Christopher Michael, Racer, Kevin Martin, Hejlsberg, Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 9,996,321 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/70 Software maintenance or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

Customizations, made at various levels in the customization channel, are saved as separate sets of customization deltas that are applied to a base computing system in order to generate a given solution. In a multi-tenant environment, groups of tenants access different solutions or customization deltas. The tenants are automatically grouped, based upon the solution or customization deltas that they access, and the deltas for those customizations are applied to the base system at runtime, for each group.

Claims

1. A multi-tenant computing system, comprising:

a delta identifier component that detects a tenant input accessing a given solution and identifies a hierarchical set of customization deltas, arranged according to a customization hierarchy, that represent customizations to a base system, corresponding to the given solution; and

a delta application component that applies the identified set of hierarchical customization deltas to the base system, in an order identified by the hierarchy, to provide the tenant with runtime access to the given solution.

2. The computing system of claim 1 and further comprising:

a group detection component that detects different tenants accessing a common set of customization deltas in the hierarchical set of customization deltas and groups the different tenants into a tenant group.

3. The computing system of claim 2 and further comprising:

a multi-tenant functionality system that performs multi-tenant processing, for the group of tenants, the multi-tenant functionality system treating the group of tenants as a single tenant with respect to the common set of customization deltas.

4. The computing system of claim 3 wherein the group detection component detects the different tenants accessing the common set of customization deltas by detecting that the different tenants are all accessing a common solution.

5. The computing system of claim 3 wherein the group detection component detects the different tenants accessing the common set of customization deltas by detecting that the different tenants are all accessing a common set of customization deltas at a same level in the customization hierarchy.

6. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the delta application component applies the identified set of hierarchical customization deltas as they are requested by the tenant, during runtime.

7. The computing system of claim 1 and further comprising:

a developer environment that includes development functionality for detecting customization inputs and generating customizations relative to the base system, based on the customization inputs.

8. The computing system of claim 7 wherein the development environment comprises:

a delta generator that detects differences between the base system before the customizations are applied and after the customizations are applied and generates customization deltas representing the detected differences.

9. A computer implemented method, comprising:

detecting a tenant input accessing a given solution in a multi-tenant system;

identifying a hierarchical set of customization deltas, arranged according to a customization hierarchy, that represent customizations to a base system, corresponding to the given solution;

applying the identified set of hierarchical customization deltas to the base system, in an order identified by the hierarchy; and

providing the base system, with the identified set of hierarchical customization deltas applied, to a tenant runtime system for runtime access to the given solution.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9 and further comprising:

detecting a first plurality of different tenants accessing a first common set of customization deltas in the hierarchical set of customization deltas; and

grouping the first plurality of different tenants into a first tenant group.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 10 and further comprising:

detecting a second plurality of different tenants accessing a second common set of customization deltas in the hierarchical set of customization deltas; and

grouping the second plurality of different tenants into a second tenant group.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 11 and further comprising:

performing multi-tenant processing, for the first and second groups of tenants, treating the first group of tenants as a first tenant with respect to the first common set of customization deltas, and treating the second group of tenants as a second tenant with respect to the second common set of customization deltas.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 10 wherein detecting the first plurality of different tenants accessing the first common set of customization deltas comprises:

detecting that the first plurality of different tenants are all accessing a common solution.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 10 wherein detecting the first plurality of different tenants accessing the first common set of customization deltas comprises:

detecting that the first plurality of different tenants are all accessing the common set of customization deltas at a same level in the customization hierarchy.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 9 wherein applying the identified set of hierarchical customization deltas is performed, as they are requested by the tenant, during runtime.

16. The computer implemented method of claim 9 and further comprising:

detecting customization inputs in a development environment;

generating customizations relative to the base system, based on the customization inputs;

detecting differences between the base system before the customizations are applied and after the customizations are applied; and

generating customization deltas representing the detected differences.

17. The computer implemented method of claim 16 and further comprising:

generating the set of hierarchical customization deltas based on a level in a customization channel at which the customization deltas were generated.

18. The computer implemented method of claim 17 wherein generating the set of hierarchical customization deltas comprises:

detecting the level in the customization channel at which the customization deltas were generated; and

assigning the customization deltas to a level in the customization hierarchy based on the level in the customization channel.

19. A computing system, comprising:

a delta identifier component that detects a tenant input accessing a given solution and identifies a hierarchical set of customization deltas, arranged according to a customization hierarchy, that represent customizations to a base system, corresponding to the given solution;

a delta application component that applies the identified set of hierarchical customization deltas to the base system, in an order identified by the hierarchy, to provide the tenant with runtime access to the given solution;

a group detection component that detects different tenants accessing a common set of customization deltas in the hierarchical set of customization deltas and groups the different tenants into a tenant group; and

a multi-tenant functionality system that performs multi-tenant processing, for the group of tenants, the multi-tenant functionality system treating the group of tenants as a single tenant with respect to the common set of customization deltas.

20. The computing system of claim 19 and further comprising:

a developer environment that includes development functionality for detecting customization inputs and generating customizations relative to the base system, based on the customization inputs; and

a delta generator that detects differences between the base system before the customizations are applied and after the customizations are applied and generates customization deltas representing the detected differences.