Multi-tenancy engine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9734466-B2
Application number	US-26881008-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 11, 2008
Priority date	Nov 11, 2008
Publication date	Aug 15, 2017
Grant date	Aug 15, 2017

Abstract

According to one general aspect, in one embodiment, a method may include establishing a relationship with a plurality of external tenant systems configured to utilize an internal ERP service provider system. In one embodiment, the method may also include receiving an external tenant message from one of the external tenant systems. The method may further include, in various embodiments, converting the received external tenant message to an internal provider message. In some embodiments, the method may include transmitting the converted internal provider message to at least a portion of the internal ERP service provider system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
providing a virtual instance of an internal service provider system to each of two or more external tenant systems associated with the internal service provider system, where
each of the virtual instances are virtually partitioned for each respective external tenant system, each virtual partition including an inbound queue, an outbound queue and configuration data storage configured to store translation information associated with the corresponding external tenant system,
internal indicates any system or application that is under the control of the service provider system, and
external indicates any system or application that is not under the control of the service provider system;

receiving an external tenant message in a tenant format associated with an external tenant system from the external tenant system, the external tenant message including a request for an operation to be performed by the internal service provider system;
converting the received external tenant message having the tenant format to an internal provider message having a service-provider format, the converting of the external tenant message being based on the translation information, the converting of the external tenant message including:
converting the format of the external tenant message from a protocol associated with communicating the external message to a format associated with communicating the internal provider message, and
determining whether data expected to be included in the external tenant message when received from the external tenant system was included in the external tenant message when received from the external tenant system, the data comprising information identifying a specific account for a relationship between a tenant of the external tenant system and the internal service provider system, wherein (i) when the data has been included in the external tenant message, the converting of the external tenant message further comprises providing the data in the converted internal provider message, and wherein (ii) when the data has not been included in the external tenant message, the converting of the external tenant message further comprises replacing data values received as part of the external tenant message in the converted internal provider message with data values corresponding to data values used by the internal service provider system using a mapping function, including including a default data value in the converted internal provider message, the default data selected based upon the external tenant system;

transmitting the converted internal provider message to the internal service provider system via a corresponding inbound queue;
receiving an internal provider response from the internal service provider system that performed the operation in response to the converted internal provider message, the internal provider response including operation results having the service-provider format associated with the internal service provider system that performed the operation;
converting the internal provider response having the service-provider format to an external tenant response having the external tenant format, the converting of the internal provider response including:
converting the format of the internal provider response from a protocol associated with communicating the internal provider response to a format associated with communicating the external tenant response, and
replacing data values of the operation results received as part of the internal provider response in the converted external tenant response with data values corresponding to data values used by the external tenant system using the mapping function; and

transmitting the external tenant response to the external tenant system via a corresponding outbound queue.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the converting the received external tenant message having the tenant format to an internal provider message having a service-provider format includes:
replacing object identifiers (IDs) used by the external tenant system with object IDs used by the internal service provider system.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the transmitting the converted internal provider message to the internal service provider system includes:
publishing the internal provider message to an outbound message queue that is configured to be subscribed to by a plurality of service provider systems including the internal service provider system.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing includes, for each external tenant system:
selecting one of a plurality of input/output (I/O) add-ons via which to communicate with the respective external tenant system; and
wherein each I/O add-on is configured to define a communications channel for communication with the respective external tenant system.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing includes, for each external tenant system:
creating mapping data including rule driven mapping relationships between the external tenant system and the internal service provider system;
creating branding data configured to customize the user interface of the external tenant system;
creating authorization data configured to allow access to the internal service provider by the external tenant system; and
creating processing data configured to dictate how the internal service provider system processes requests from the external tenant system.

6. An apparatus comprising:
a input/output (I/O) interface configured to receive an external tenant message in a tenant format associated with an external tenant system among a plurality of external tenant systems from the external tenant system, wherein
each external tenant system of the plurality of external tenant systems is provided with a respective virtual instance of an internal service,
internal indicates any system or application that is under the control of the service provider system, and
external indicates any system or application that is not under the control of the service provider system;

a translation engine configured to convert the received external tenant message having the tenant format to an internal provider message having a service-provider format, the converting of the external tenant message being based on the translation information, the converting of the external tenant message including:
converting the format of the internal provider response from a protocol associated with communicating the internal provider response to a format associated with communicating the external tenant response, and
determining whether data expected to be included in the external tenant message when received from the external tenant system was included in the external tenant message when received from the external tenant system, data comprising information identifying a specific account for a relationship between a tenant of the external tenant system and the internal service provider system, wherein (i) when the data has been included in the external tenant message, the converting of the external tenant message further comprises providing the data in the converted internal provider message, and wherein (ii) when the data has not been included in the external tenant message, the converting of the external tenant message further comprises replacing data values received as part of the external tenant message in the converted internal provider message with data values corresponding to data values used by the internal service provider system using a mapping function, including including a default data value in the converted internal provider message, the default data selected based upon the external tenant system; and

a data storage including a virtual partition for each virtual instance of an internal service, each virtual

Assignees

• Cvetkovic Boban
• Boban Robert
• Sap Se

Inventors

• Cvetkovic Boban
• Boban Robert

Classifications

• H04L41/00

  Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks · CPC title

• H04L41/08

  Configuration management of networks or network elements (address allocation H04L61/50) · CPC title

• H04L41/02

  Standardisation; Integration · CPC title

• G06Q10/06 Primary

  Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling · CPC title

• G06F17/30

  Physics · mapped topic