Entitlement management in an on-demand system

• US 8,959,114 B2
• Filed: 07/24/2012
• Issued: 02/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Rehman, Muhammad
• Primary Examiner(s): Waldron, Scott A
• Application Number:
  US13/557,048
• Publication Number:
  US 20130103640A1
• Time in Patent Office: 938 Days
• Field of Search: 707/609, 707/785, 707/781, 707/784
• US Class Current: 707/784
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/256 in federated or virtual databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0232 Frequent usage rewards other than merchandise, cash or travel

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for on-demand entitlement management. One exemplary method involves a server obtaining entitlement definition information for an entitlement offered by a provider system, receiving user entitlement configuration information corresponding to the entitlement for a customer of the provider system, and creating one or more entitlement objects for the customer in a database based on the entitlement definition information and the user entitlement configuration information, wherein the entitlement definition information includes metadata defining a structure of the one or more entitlement objects.

Claims

1. A method of managing entitlements, the method comprising:

providing, by a server, one or more graphical user interface displays including one or more graphical user interface elements for receiving, via a network, entitlement definition information for an entitlement offered by a provider system, the entitlement definition information including metadata defining fields of one or more custom entitlement objects associated with the provider system;

creating, by the server, an object in a database, the object maintaining an association between the provider system and the entitlement definition information;

receiving, by the server via the network, user entitlement configuration information corresponding to the entitlement for a customer of the provider system;

obtaining, by the server, the entitlement definition information for the entitlement offered by the provider system from the object in the database; and

creating, by the server, the one or more custom entitlement objects for the customer in the database based on the entitlement definition information and the user entitlement configuration information, the one or more custom entitlement objects including the fields defined by the metadata, wherein the user entitlement configuration information provides one or more user-specific values for one or more of the fields of the one or more custom entitlement objects for the customer, wherein creating the one or more custom entitlement objects comprises;

creating a user entitlement object for the customer based on the entitlement definition information and the user entitlement configuration information, the user entitlement object including fields corresponding to one or more resources associated with the entitlement and one or more qualifying criteria that limit the provisioning of the one or more resources; and

creating a user entitlement usage object for the customer based on the entitlement definition information and the user entitlement configuration information, wherein user entitlement usage object includes fields corresponding to a quantity of consumption of a resource of the one or more resources and a qualifying criterion of the one or more qualifying criteria for that resource.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the server, whether the customer is entitled to the resource associated with the entitlement based on the user entitlement usage object after creating the one or more custom entitlement objects in the database, wherein the server provides, to the provider system, an indication of whether the customer is entitled to the resource.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving, by the server, an entitlement status request for the customer with respect to the resource from the provider system, wherein the server provides the indication in response to the entitlement status request.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the server from the provider system, usage information associated with the resource for the customer; and

updating, by the server, the user entitlement usage object of the one or more custom entitlement objects to reflect the usage information.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

creating, by the server, a usage entry associated with the customer in a second database based on the usage information; and

determining, by the server, a usage summary for the customer based at least in part on the usage entry in the second database, wherein updating the user entitlement usage object comprises updating the user entitlement usage object to reflect the usage summary.

6. The method of claim 5, the qualifying criterion comprising a monitoring period for the customer, wherein determining the usage summary comprises determining the usage summary for the monitoring period.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the qualifying criterion comprises:

a monitoring period associated with the resource.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving usage information associated with the resource for the customer;

creating a usage entry associated with the customer in a second database based on the usage information;

identifying the monitoring period associated with the user entitlement usage object for the customer;

determining a usage summary for the customer over the monitoring period based at least in part on the usage entry in the second database;

updating the user entitlement usage object to reflect the usage summary.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving an entitlement status request for the customer from the provider system;

determining an entitlement status for the customer based on the usage summary and one or more qualifiers associated with the user entitlement object, wherein the entitlement definition information includes the one or more qualifiers; and

indicating the entitlement status to the provider system.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating, by the server, the object in the database prior to receiving the user entitlement configuration information, the object including a unique tenant identifier associated with the provider system and the entitlement definition information, wherein the one or more custom entitlement objects include the unique tenant identifier.

11. A system comprising:

a first database; and

an application server comprising a processor and a memory, the application server coupled to the first database to;

provide one or more graphical user interface displays including one or more graphical user interface elements for receiving, via a network, entitlement definition information for an entitlement offered by a provider system, the entitlement definition information including metadata defining fields of one or more custom entitlement objects associated with the provider system;

update the first database to maintain an association between the provider system and the entitlement definition information;

receive, via a network, user entitlement configuration information corresponding to the entitlement for a customer of the provider system; and

update the first database to maintain the one or more custom entitlement objects for the customer based on the entitlement definition information stored in the first database and the user entitlement configuration information, the one or more custom entitlement objects including the fields defined by the metadata, wherein the user entitlement configuration information provides one or more user-specific values for one or more of the fields of the one or more custom entitlement objects for the customer, the one or more custom entitlement objects including;

a user entitlement object for the customer based on the entitlement definition information and the user entitlement configuration information that includes fields corresponding to one or more resources associated with the entitlement and one or more qualifying criteria that limit the provisioning of the one or more resources; and

a user entitlement usage object for the customer based on the entitlement definition information and the user entitlement configuration information that includes fields corresponding to a quantity of consumption of a resource of the one or more resources and a qualifying criterion of the one or more qualifying criteria for that resource.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a second database to maintain usage information for the customer, wherein the application server is coupled to the second database to create a usage entry associated with the customer in the second database in response to receiving usage information from the provider system.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the second database comprises a non-relational database.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the first database comprises a relational database.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the first database comprises a multi-tenant database.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the application server includes an application platform to provide the one or more graphical user interface displays on a client device for receiving the entitlement definition information.

17. A server comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory comprises computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the server to:

provide a graphical user interface display on a client device, the graphical user interface display including one or more graphical user interface elements for receiving, via a network, entitlement definition information for an entitlement offered by a provider system, the entitlement definition information including metadata defining fields of one or more custom entitlement objects associated with the provider system;

create an object in a database, the object maintaining an association between the provider system and the entitlement definition information;

receive user entitlement configuration information corresponding to the entitlement for a customer of the provider system;

obtain the entitlement definition information for the entitlement from the object in the database; and

create the one or more custom entitlement objects for the customer in the database based on the entitlement definition information and the user entitlement configuration information, the one or more custom entitlement objects including the fields defined by the metadata, wherein the user entitlement configuration information provides one or more user-specific values for one or more of the fields of the one or more custom entitlement objects for the customer, the one or more custom entitlement objects comprising;

a user entitlement object for the customer based on the entitlement definition information and the user entitlement configuration information that includes fields corresponding to one or more resources associated with the entitlement and one or more qualifying criteria that limit the provisioning of the one or more resources; and

a user entitlement usage object for the customer based on the entitlement definition information and the user entitlement configuration information that includes fields corresponding to a quantity of consumption of a resource of the one or more resources and a qualifying criterion of the one or more qualifying criteria for that resource.

18. The server of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the server to determine whether the customer is entitled to the resource associated with the entitlement based on the user entitlement usage object in response to receiving an entitlement status request.