# US 2014/0156519 A1 · Platform-as-a-service billing

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- Number: US 2014/0156519 A1
- Document ID: US20140156519A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 14/056,065
- Filed: 2013-10-17
- Published: 2014-06-05
- Earliest claimed: 2012-12-04
- Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation
- Applicants: International Business Machines Corporation
- Inventors: Timothy J. Thompson
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140156519A1

## CPC

- G06Q 20/145: {Payments according to the detected use or quantity}
- G06Q 10/10: Office automation; Time management
- G06Q 30/04: Billing or invoicing
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

## Abstract

An illustrative embodiment of a process for reconciling billing measures to cost factors, comprising receiving, by one or more processors, a set of billing measures from one or more applications and a set of cost factors from infrastructure feeds. Analyzing the set of billing measures and cost factors received, using a set of defined relationships to create analyzed information and generates, by the one or more processors, a set of reports using the analyzed information. Responsive to a determination to update the set of definitions, update the sets of definitions using information from the generated reports.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A process for reconciling billing measures to cost factors, the process comprising:
receiving, by one or more processors, a set of billing measures from one or more applications;
receiving, by the one or more processors, a set of cost factors from infrastructure feeds;
analyzing the set of billing measures and cost factors received, by the one or more processors, using a set of defined relationships to create analyzed information;
generating, by the one or more processors, a set of reports using the analyzed information;
determining, by the one or more processors, whether to update the set of definitions; and
the one or more processors responsive to a determination to update the set of definitions, updating the sets of definitions using information from the generated reports.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein receiving a set of billing measures from one or more applications further comprises:
receiving, by the one or more processors, a set of definitions representative of billing measures associated with one or more clients or tenants, wherein the one or more applications are software as a service applications.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein receiving a set of cost factors from infrastructure feeds further comprises:
receiving, by the one or more processors, a set of definitions representative of cost factors, wherein the infrastructure feeds are derived from platform as a service components and infrastructure as a service components, wherein the infrastructure as a service components further comprise component supply elements comprising hardware and software elements.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, further comprising:
identifying, by the one or more processors, one or more relationships among the billing measures and the cost factors received to define a set of definitions for a set of relationships.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein analyzing the set of billing measures and cost factors received, by the one or more processors, using a set of defined relationships to create analyzed information further comprises:
performing one or more statistical analysis including least-squares (linear, or non-linear), least-squares mth degree polynomials, and multiple regression least-squares methods wherein cost analysis is decoupled from billing.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein generating, by the one or more processors, a set of reports using the analyzed information further comprises:
at least one of providing or interfacing with one or more accounts-receivable applications to create client statements and billing reports in the set of reports;
creating reports for service providers, in the set of reports, indicating at least utilization of defined resources according to respective tenants;
sending to a respective client and a respective service provider one or more respective generated reports from the set of reports.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The process of claim 1, wherein the updating the sets of definitions using information from the generated reports further comprises:
iteratively adjusting definitions in the sets of definitions, wherein the set of definitions representative of the billing measures and the set of definitions representative of the set of cost factors further include rules to identify inputs and the set of definitions for the set of relationships, wherein the adjusting occurs continually and incrementally on particular information comprising the sets of definitions for multiple applications, having one or more respective billing models, with one or more respective tenants.